Characteristics of Neoplasia Flashcards
What makes a cell a “cancer cell”?
○ Unregulated cell division
○ Loss of safeguards against DNA damage
○ Avoidance of cell death (ie. apoptosis)
○ Tissue invasion
○ Angiogenesis
○ Ability to metastasize
Prior to this some thought cancer was contagious, while others thought it was
a metabolic problem
Tumor gene sequencing
T/F Mutations could be random or from exposure to carcinogens
T
Tumor Suppressor genes function normal
Restrain cell growth, DNA damage control, and regulation of cell life cycle - when
inactivated leads to loss of function
(The brake)
loss of function mutations
Proto-Oncogenescan mutate to Oncogenes
Proto-oncogenes have a role in cell regulation, proliferation and differentiation, and when mutated, this normal control is lost
(The gas)
Gain of function mutations
Tumor Suppressor Gene Example
p53
p53 function
Normally, a Tumor Suppressor Gene
codes for the p53 protein, which
recognizes DNA damage, inhibits cell
proliferation, and induces apoptosis
Passenger mutations
not functionally significant; they
simply arose by chance in a single cell that gave rise to an expanding clone
Driver mutations
small number of the mutations that alter the cell cycle and promote tumorigenesis
Point Mutation
○ Single nucleotide substitution, insertion or deletion
○ Point mutation can lead to faulty proteins due to loss of specific RNA expression, or could lead to loss of function of large sections of the chromosome
○ Usually requires several mutations to create cancer
DNA Amplification
Overexpression of a of an DNA sequence/gene product
Chromosomes themselves can be
rearranged via ____. What is an example?
translocation
Eg. Philadelphia chromosome in
Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML)
Tumor cells are said to be _____ compared to normal tissue
poorly differentiated
There is typically ”_____ genetic heterogeneity” found in tumor cells, compared to normal tissue
Less
Precision Medicine
Knowledge of the genetics of cancer and understanding at the molecular level has brought about fine-tuned, patient specific treatment
What is called ____ is actually a group of many diseases with multiple phenotypic and molecular characteristics
“breast cancer”
Neoplasia
“New Growth”
○ Abnormal or uncontrolled division of new cells or cells that fail to die when they should
Well vs. poorly differentiated
■ Well differentiated – looks mostly like normal cells
■ Poorly differentiated – barely resembles normal cells
Can exhibit a mass effect, and compress
surrounding tissue, but does not invade other
tissues (e.g. uterine fibroids, warts)
Benign
Unregulated cell growth with the ability to invade tissues
Malignant – “Cancer”
Provides insight on how the tumor arose
DNA Sequencing
Adenoma
glandular/epithelial tissue
Exceptions of “oma” cancers that are not benign
Lymphoma, Melanoma (melanocytes), Astrocytoma (astrocytes), Seminoma
(testicles)
Histological cancer stages
● Hyperplasia – An increase in the number of cells in an organ or tissue
● Dysplasia – The presence of abnormal cells within a tissue or organ
● Carcinoma in situ – “in the original place.” Abnormal cells that look like cancer, but haven’t spread/invaded surrounding tissue
● Malignancy
○ Anaplasia – undifferentiated cells with the loss of the mature or
specialized features of a cell or tissue
