Cells and Inflammation Vocabulary

Question 1

Alloimmunity

Answer 1

An immune response to foreign antigens from another human. (Occurs in blood transfusions, pregnancy, organ transplantation)

Question 2

Angiogenesis

Answer 2

The process of new capillaries forming from pre-existing blood vessels; is controlled by chemical signals in the body. It involves migration, growth and differentiation of endothelial cells that line the wall of the blood vessel.

Question 3

Apoptosis

Answer 3

Programmed and normal cell death, the body’s way of getting rid of unwanted cells

Question 4

Atrophy

Answer 4

A decrease in the size of cells, with a subsequent decrease of the size of tissue or organ affected

Question 5

Autoimmune

Answer 5

The body’s immune system mistakes it’s own healthy tissue and cells as foreign and attacks them. Most autoimmune diseases causes inflammation.

Question 6

Autonomy (Cells)

Answer 6

Property of cells where they act independently from surrounding cells, driven by intrinsic mechanisms rather than external stimuli. (Gene expression, cell division, metabolic pathways)

Question 7

Carcinogen

Answer 7

Substance, agent or organism capable of causing cancer. They damage cell DNA, causing cell mutation.

Question 8

Carcinoma

Answer 8

Cancer that forms in epithelial cells, the cells that line skin, most organs and internal passageways. It is the most common type of cancer.

Question 9

Cell injury

Answer 9

Sequence of events that occur when stresses exceed ability of cells to adapt; when the normal homeostatic balance is disrupted.

Question 10

Chemotherapy

Answer 10

Treatment that uses drugs to stop the growth of cancerous cells, either destroying them or stop them from dividing.

Question 11

Differentiation

Answer 11

The process where stem cells become more specialised cell types and can perform new functions through expression of new genes, mRNA and proteins.

Question 12

Dysplasia

Answer 12

Abnormal development of cells within tissues of organs.

Question 13

Epigenetics

Answer 13

The study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself.

Question 14

Hyperplasia

Answer 14

A condition where an organ or tissue enlarges due to an increase in the number of cells (increased cell division).

Question 15

Hypersensitivity

Answer 15

An exaggerated response by the immune system to a drug or other substance.

Question 16

Hypertrophy

Answer 16

The process of cells thickening or enlarging, which increases the size of the tissue or organ they are part of. The cells do not increase in numbers.

Question 17

Leukaemia

Answer 17

A type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow, causing the body to produce too many abnormal white blood cells. These cells cannot fight infection, and impair the ability of bone marrow to produce red blood cells and platelets.

Question 18

Lymphoma

Answer 18

A broad term for cancer that begins in cells of the lymph system, affects the lymphatic system and immune system.

Question 19

Metaplasia

Answer 19

Transformation of one cell to the other.

Question 20

Metastases

Answer 20

The spread of cancer cells from the place where they first formed to another part of the body. In metastasis, cancer cells break away from the original (primary) tumour, travel through the blood or lymph system, and form a new tumour in other organs or tissues of the body.

Question 21

Mutation

Answer 21

A mutation is a change in the DNA sequence of an organism.

Question 22

Neoplasm

Answer 22

An abnormal mass of tissue that forms when cells grow and divide more than they should or do not die when they should. Neoplasms may be benign (not cancer) or malignant (cancer).

Question 23

Oncogene

Answer 23

An oncogene is a mutated gene that has the potential to cause cancer. Before an oncogene becomes mutated, it is called a proto-oncogene, and it plays a role in regulating normal cell division.

Question 24

Proliferation (Cells)

Answer 24

An increase in the number of cells as a result of cell growth and cell division.

Question 25

Sarcoma

Answer 25

Rare cancers that develop in the bones and soft tissues, including fat, muscles, blood vessels, nerves, deep skin tissues and fibrous tissues.

Question 26

Silencing

Answer 26

An epigenetic modification of gene expression leading to inactivation of previously active individual genes or larger chromosome regions.

Question 27

Stem cell

Answer 27

An undifferentiated cell of a multicellular organism which is capable of giving rise to indefinitely more cells of the same type, and from which certain other kinds of cell arise by differentiation.

Question 28

Transformation (Cell)

Answer 28

In medicine, the change that a normal cell undergoes as it becomes malignant.

Question 29

Tumour marker

Answer 29

A tumour marker is anything present in or produced by cancer cells or other cells of the body in response to cancer or certain benign (noncancerous) conditions that provides information about a cancer, such as how aggressive it is, what kind of treatment it may respond to, or whether it is responding to treatment.

Question 30

Tumour suppression gene (Anti-oncogene)

Answer 30

Encodes a protein that acts to regulate cell division and replication to prevent uncontrolled cell growth. When a tumor suppressor gene is inactivated by a mutation, the protein it encodes is not produced or does not function properly.

Question 31

Diapedesis

Answer 31

The process by which white blood cells, or leukocytes, pass through blood vessel walls and enter tissue

Question 32

Glioma

Answer 32

Cancer growth that starts in the brain.

Question 33

Astrocytoma

Answer 33

Tumors that develop in your central nervous system (CNS) that grow from star-shaped astrocyte cells.

Question 34

Myeloma

Answer 34

A type of bone marrow cancer that grows in plasma cells.