Cancers of the Gut

Question 1

What are typical signs of cancer?

Answer 1

Evasion of apoptosis
Self-sufficiency in growth signals
Insensitivity to anti-growth signals
Tissue invasion and metastasis
Limitless replicative potential
Sustained angiogenesis

Question 2

What are the two types of oesophageal cancer?

Answer 2

Squamous cell cancer

Adenocarcinoma

Question 3

What is the survival rate of oesophageal cancer?

Answer 3

8% 5 year survival rate

Question 4

How does Barrett’s metaplasia relate to oesophageal adenocarcinoma?

Answer 4

Barrett’s metaplasia
Affects 1% of adult population
30-120x more likely to develop adenocarcinoma
10% of GORD patients have BM

Question 5

What is the histology of Barrett’s metaplasia?

Answer 5

All cells are columnar epithelium as opposed to normal squamous epithelium

Question 6

What are the stages of adenocarcinoma development?

Answer 6

Normal squamous epithelium
Barrett’s metaplasia
Dysplasia
Adenocarcinoma

Question 7

What are the risk factors for oesophageal adenocarcinoma?

Answer 7

Gender
Age
Reflux
Obesity
H-pylori
Fruit and vegetables
Anti-oxidants

Question 8

What is hereditary diffuse gastric cancer?

Answer 8

Caused by germline mutations in the CDH1 gene

E-cadherin doesn’t function

Question 9

What else can cause E-cadherion repression?

Answer 9

Epigenetic event
Promoter hypermethylation
EMT regulators

Question 10

What population suffers most from colorectal cancer?

Answer 10

Elderly

Question 11

What are risk factors for colorectal cancer?

Answer 11

Meat and fish
Fibre
Obesity
Low activity levels
Alcohol
Low use of NSAIDs

Question 12

What are the two types of colorectal cancer?

Answer 12

Sporadic

Familial

Question 13

What is familial adenomatous polyposis coli?

Answer 13

Multiple benign adenomatous polyps at an early age
Mutated APC gene on chromosome 5q21
Phrophylactic surgery