Exam 4 L5: Cancer II Flashcards
What kind of mutations are commonly found in oncogenes? What do they do to the protein?
What kind of tumors are more commonly found in tumor supressors? What does that do to the protein?
Missense mutations (change in an AA) are more commonly found in oncogenes…. more likely change the activity of the protein rather than lead to its loss.
Truncating mutations (nonsense) are more commonly found in tumor suppressors, where loss of the protein leads to loss of tumor supression, leading to timor formation.
p53 acts as a ______
p53 acts as a tumor supressor
Three Key Signaling Pathways in Cancer:
1.
2.
3.
Three Key Signaling Pathways in Cancer:
- Retinoblastoma: Broad repressor of cell cycle progression and proliferation (tumor supressor)
- PI3k/AKT/m-Tor-Key regulatory pathway of cell growth
- P53 pathway : important for stress response and cell survival
Colorectal Cancer:
Mutation of ___ results in familial colon cancer. ___ is a tumor supressor that limits expansion of stem cells
Colon cancer:
Mutation of Apc results in familial cancer
Apc is a tumor supressor that limits the expansion of stem cells
Explain the genetic changes that happen during colon cancer
What is the step that turns it into a carcinoma
First, there is a loss of Apc (tumor supressor)
Then K-Ras is activated (oncogene)
Then the loss of p53 causes it to be a carcinoma
What is a hallmark of cancer?
Genetic instability is a hallmark of cancer
Explain carcinogens and what they do
Carcinogens are tumor iniators/promoters
They bind to DNA and cause a point mutation
Examples are asbestos (mesothelioma)
Radium
arsenic
Which virus is associated with liver cancer? Why is this the case?
Hepititus is associated with liver cancer
Hepatitus makes the enviornment prone to genetic instability, leading to cancer
Explain the progression of cancer therapies over time
19oo’s: surgery and radiation
1950’s: chemo
1980-90’s: new drugs developed from pathways
2000’s: genetics of cancer
How does knowing the genetics of cancer help with cancer treatment
PERSONALIZATION
Many drugs can block ______ pathways
They can bind to many steps of the pathway
Many drugs can block growth factor pathways
________ are uniquely effective on tumor cells that have lost the Brca1 and brca2 gene products
PARP inhibitors are uniquely effective on tumor cells that have lost brac1 and brac2 gene products
brac1 and brac2 are important for DNA repair
Must lose both repair mechanisms to have cancer
Explain monoclonal antibodies vs normal antibodies
Scientists can now create monoclonal antibodies with one epitope (one target) that are very very specific to cancer
How do cancer cells normally adapt to T cells
Cancers have antigens that mess with T cells
Cancer can interupt the T cell recognizing the cancer cell
Explain T cell Transfer Therapy (CAR-T)
T Cell Transfer therapy (CAR-T)
t cells are specifically engineered for a specific pt’s cancer
they alter someone’s t cells to specifically destroy the tumor
