ch. 19 (cancer)

Question 1

A genetically controlled program of cell death, activated as part of normal development or as a result of cell damage.

Answer 1

apoptosis

Question 2

Tumor-forming cells in a cancer that can give rise to all the cell types in a particular form of cancer. These cells have the properties of normal stem cells: self-renewal and the ability to differentiate into multiple cell types.

Answer 2

cancer stem cells

Question 3

A mutation in a cancer cell that contributes to tumor progression.

Answer 3

driver mutation

Question 4

A number of closely related genes derived from a common ancestral gene by duplication and sequence divergence over evolutionary time.

Answer 4

gene family

Question 5

The loss of a wild-type allele at a heterozygous locus that also contains a mutant allele. Most commonly, loss of heterozygosity occurs through deletion of a chromosomal region or a recombination event that converts the wild-type allele to the mutant allele sequence.

Answer 5

loss of heterozygosity

Question 6

Tumors that have acquired the ability to spread to distant sites in the body and form new tumors.

Answer 6

malignant tumors

Question 7

Secondary tumors that develop from cancer cells that migrate from the primary tumor and spread to distant sites in the body.

Answer 7

metastases

Question 8

The process by which cancer cells spread from the primary tumor and establish malignant tumors in other parts of the body.

Answer 8

metastasis

Question 9

The high levels of genomic instability that occur in cancer cells.

Answer 9

mutator phenotype

Question 10

A gene whose activity promotes uncontrolled proliferation in eukaryotic cells. Usually a mutant gene derived from a proto-oncogene.

Answer 10

oncogene

Question 11

Mutations that accumulate in cancer cells that have no direct contribution to the development or progression of the cancer.

Answer 11

passenger mutations

Question 12

The product of a reciprocal translocation in humans that contains the short arm of chromosome 9, carrying the C-ABL oncogene, and the long arm of chromosome 22, carrying the BCR gene.

Answer 12

Philadelphia chromosome

Question 13

A gene that functions to initiate, facilitate, or maintain cell growth and division; can be converted to oncogenes by mutation.

Answer 13

proto-oncogene

Question 14

An intercellular or intracellular molecular pathway by which an external signal is converted into a functional biological response.

Answer 14

signal transduction

Question 15

The development of a tumor.

Answer 15

tumorigenesis

Question 16

A gene that encodes a product that normally functions to suppress cell division. Mutations in tumor-suppressor genes result in the activation of cell division and tumor formation.

Answer 16

tumor-suppressor gene