Four Letter Words and Cancer PART 2 Flashcards
What is the first step in cancer metastasis?
Loosening of tumor cells. E-cadherin fails due to mutation, B-catenin activation, or by SNAIL and TWIST.
What is the second step in cancer metastasis?
Local degradation of the basement membrane and interstitial connective tissue.
Proteases and MMPs (matrix metalloproteases) are either secreted by tumor cells or stromal cells.
They remodel the basement membrane and interstitium.
What’s the third step in cancer metastasis?
Changing the attachment of tumor cells to ECM proteins.
Cleavage of the basement membrane, Type IV collagen, and laminin by MMPs generate novel binding sites for tumor surface proteins.
What is the 4th and final step in cancer metastasis?
Migration through the basement membrane, now that tumor cells have established contact.
The tumors generate Autocrine Mobility Factors that influence their movement.
OR - stromal cells secrete mobility cytokines like HGF/SCF (hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor)
Most tumor cells migrate through the vasculature in what form?
Single cells.
What determines WHERE a cancer will metastasize if single cells are already in the vasculature?
- Most cancers metastasize in the first capillary bed they encounter.
- Some have adhesion molecules for a specific organ.
- Some follow chemokines to find their target organ.
How do you know where breast cancer cells in the vasculature will metastasize next?
Breast cancer cells express high levels of chemokine receptors CXCR4 and CCR7. Organs that these cells are attracted to express the ligands for those receptors, so breast cancer naturally follows the chemokines these organs produce.
The switch of tumor cells to aerobic glycolysis is called……
the Warburg Effect.
Tumors that adopt this energy utilization mechanism are the FASTEST GROWING
The survival of a tumor in a secondary site is dependent on what?
The receptive stromal cells in that area.
What proteins are responsible for EMT (Epithelial to Mesenchymal) transition?
SNAIL and TWIST - down regulate E-cadherin and promote metastasis.
Why is the Warburg effect so efficient for rapidly reproducing cells?
Glucose is the main source for carbons that are used for lipid synthesis.
(Need it for membrane of new cells)
We can use the glucose in tumors to scan for them. What is this scanning technique called?
PET scan - inject a radiographic, nonmetabolizable form of glucose and see where it goes.
Most tumors are PET scan +
Positron Emission Tomography
What are the 3 types of DNA repair?
- Mismatch repair
- Nucleotide Excision Repair
- Recombination Repair
HNPCC (Hereditary Non-Polypisis Colon Carcinoma Syndrome) is caused by a defect in what type of DNA repair?
Defect in DNA MISMATCH REPAIR
WHat is a micro satellite and what does it have to do with colon cancer?
Microsatellites are tandem repeats of 1-6 nts found throughout the genome.
Microsatellite instability is found in 15% of sporadic colon cancers
Patients with Xeroderma Pigmentosum have defects in what?
Nucleotide excision repair.
Upon exposure to UV light, thiamin dimers occur, and there is no repair.
What protein detects DNA damage from ionizing radiation and activates p53?
ATM -ataxia tenagiectasia mutated
What type of DNA repair is lost in breast cancers with BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations?
Homologous recombination repair by the protein products of BRCA1/2 genes.
THese genes encode DNA repair proteins.
Without them, cells develop chromosomal breaks and develop sever aneuploidy.
If a patient has mutation in BRCA1 but not BRCA2, can they develop cancer?
No. Much like Tumor Suppressor Genes, BRCA genes must have 2 hits.
Mutations in BOTH genes is necessary for cancer.
WHy?: you can still repair gene breaks from homologous recombination with one protein. The absence of both is what sucks.
Do sporadic breast cancers have BRCA mutations?
NO! These are inherited.
Defects in RAG and AID enzymes result in what types of cancer?
Why?
Lymphoid neoplasms
Makes sense because RAG and AID (cytidine deaminase) are necessary for lymphocyte development.
THEY INTRODUCE GENOMIC INSTABILITY