GENERAL PATHOLOGY OF CANCER Flashcards
what is a tumour?
an abnormal mass of cells resulting from poorly regulated cell proliferation and growth in absence of initiate event
what is metaplasia?
cell adaptation to changes in environment by altering their morphological appearance so its better equipped
this can be reversible if stimulus is removed
what is dysplasia?
the presence of abnormal cells within a tissue or organ.
removal of adverse stimulus can make it reversible but this can also progress to a neoplasm
what is neoplasia?
the uncontrolled, abnormal growth of cells or tissues in the body
what is a hamartoma?
A noncancerous tumor made of an abnormal mixture of normal tissues and cells from the area in which it grows.
what is a choristoma?
developmental tumor-like growth (benign) of microscopically normal tissue in an abnormal location.
what is carcinoma?
a cancer arising in the epithelial tissues of the skin or the lining of internal organs
what is a sarcoma?
a type of cancer that begins in bone or soft tissues of the body
what is a teratoma?
a type of germ cell tumour that may contain several types of tissue e.g. hair, muscle, bone
what is lymphoma?
cancer of the lymphatic system
what is leukaemia?
A malignant progressive disease in which the bone marrow and other blood-forming organs produce increased numbers of immature or abnormal leucocytes
what is a carcinogen?
agents that cause genetic damage and induce neoplastic transformation
what is metastasis?
the distant spread of neoplastic cells away from the primary neoplasm to form subpopulations of cells not in continuity with primary neoplasm
what are some key features of malignant tumours?
sustained proliferation
ability to evade cell death, apoptosis, host immunity and growth suppression
ability to induce angiogenesis and metastasise
what is cell growth/inhibition regulated by?
cyclin-dependant kinases and their inhibitors
what induces apoptosis?
P53
what are some examples of regulatory genes?
proto-oncogenes tumour suppressor genes P53 bcl-2 genes that repair DNA
what do proto-oncogenes do?
function to stimulate cell division, inhibit cell differentiation, and halt cell death.
what does bcl-2 do?
controls cell death primarily by direct binding interactions that regulate mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization
how many cancers are hereditary?
10-15%
what does oncogenic mean?
it can cause the development of a tumour
outline the mechanism of HPV?
the E6 protein binds to P53 and promotes its degradation = no cell death
E7 protein inactivates pRb= this is a tumour suppressor protein so we get excessive cell growth
outline the simple steps to a neoplasm?
normal tissue -> chronic exposure to stimulus -> metaplasia -> dysplasia -> neoplasia
what is a papilloma?
a benign epithelial tumour of surface epithelium
