Cell cycle deregulation in cancer Flashcards
What are the 6 hallmarks of cancer cells?
- Autonomous growth
- Ignore cytostatic signals
- Ignore apoptotic signals
- Stimulate angiogenesis
- Invade and metastasise
- Immortality
What is angiogenesis?
Formation of new blood vessels
What controls normal cell proliferation?
Growth factors (GFs)
What are mitogens? (2)
- Growth factors
- Induce proliferation
How do cancer cells proliferate more than normal? (5)
- Produce growth factors by themselves
- Signal to nearby cells to produce growth factors
- Deregulation in growth factor receptor signalling
- Constitutive activation of signalling downstream from growth factor receptors
- Disruption of negative feedback that prevents proliferative signalling
How can deregulation of growth factor receptor signalling cause uncontrolled cancer cell proliferation? (2)
- Elevated levels of receptors
- Ligand-independent firing (constitutive activation)
What is G0? (2)
- Quiescence
- Can be permanent or transient
What are the stages of the cell cycle? (5)
- G0
- G1
- S
- G2
- Mitosis
What is the restriction (R) point? (2)
- A window in G1 up to a couple of hours before the transition into S phase where the cell decides whether to progress through the cell cycle or revert to G0 based on extracellular signals
- Often deregulated in cancer cells
How can the cell cycle be studied? (3)
- Flow cytometry
- Immunofluorescence
- FUCCI
What is flow cytometry?
Analysis of the cell cycle based on measuring the DNA content
How can immunofluorescence be used to study the cell cycle?
Stain for proteins that are specifically expressed in different phases of the cell cycle
What is BrdU? (3)
- Bromo-2deoxyuridine
- Replaces thymidine during DNA synthesis
- Used to identify cells in S phase
Which marker is used to identify cells in S phase?
BrdU
Which marker is used to identify cells in G2/M?
Cyclin B1
Which marker is used to identify cells undergoing mitosis?
Histone H3
What is histone H3? (2)
- Phosphorylated during chromosome condensation
- Used to identify cells undergoing mitosis
What is the disadvantage of flow cytometry and immunofluorescence?
Can’t be used in vivo because cells need to be fixed
What is FUCCI?
Fluorescence Ubiquitin Cell Cycle Indicator
How does FUCCI work? (3)
- Cdt1 is marked with red fluorescence and is expressed during G1 (low expression to start then increases)
- Geminin is marked with green fluorescence and is expressed during S and G2
- Allows you to observe the dynamics of the cell cycle in living cells
What is the FUCCI transgenic mouse? (2)
- Mouse expressing the red G1 marker was crossed with a mouse expressing the green S/G2/M marker
- Results in a mouse where every somatic cell expressed red or green
What does no/low red fluorescence indicate in the FUCCI system?
Cells in early G1
What does strong red fluorescence indicate in the FUCCI system?
Cells in late G1
What does yellow/orange fluorescence indicate in the FUCCI system?
Cells in G1/S transition (red and green fluorescence)
What does green fluorescence indicate in the FUCCI system?
Cells in S/G2/M
How does the cell cycle stage impact cell fate? (2)
- Cells in early G1 differentiate into endoderm and mesoderm but not neuroectoderm
- Cells in late G1 differentiate into neuroectoderm but not endoderm or mesoderm
What do cells in early G1 differentiate into?
Endoderm/mesoderm
What do cells in late G1 differentiate into?
Neuroectoderm
How does the cell cycle stage impact metastasis? (2)
- Cells in G1 are the most invasive as they express a protease which degrades ECM
- G1 cells migrate first and other cells follow
Why might a drug that blocks the cell cycle be dangerous?
Cells in G1 may be more invasive so blocking cells in G1 would stop tumour growth but would promote metastasis
What are CDKs? (3)
- Cyclin-dependent kinases
- Kinases which drive the progression of the cell cycle
- Require cyclin binding to be active