ch 25 genetic basis of cancer Flashcards
cancer
a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell division
carcinogen
an environmental agent that can cause cancer
clonal
relating to a clone or the process of cloning; for example, a clonal population of cells is a group of cells that are derived from the same cell
benign
refers to a noncancerous tumor that is not invasive and cannot metastasize
malignant
describes a tumor composed of cancerous cells
invasive
refers to the ability of cancer cells to invade healthy tissue
metastatic
describes cancer cells that have migrated to other parts of the body
oncogene
a mutant gene that is overexpressed and thus promotes cancerous growth
tumor-supressor gene
a gene that functions to inhibit cancerous growth
proto-oncogene
a normal cellular gene that does not cause cancer but may incur a gain-of-function mutation that causes abnormally high expression
growth factors
signaling molecules that bind to cell surface receptors and influence cell division
apoptosis
programmed cell death
caspases
proteolytic enzymes that play a role in apoptosis
genome maintenance
cellular mechanism that prevent mutations from occurring and/or prevent mutant cells from surviving or dividing
checkpoint protein
a protein that monitors the conditions of dna and chromosomes and may prevent a cell from progressing through the cell cycle if an abnormality is detected
