GENERAL PATHOLOGY OF CANCER

Question 1

what is a tumour?

Answer 1

an abnormal mass of cells resulting from poorly regulated cell proliferation and growth in absence of initiate event

Question 2

what is metaplasia?

Answer 2

cell adaptation to changes in environment by altering their morphological appearance so its better equipped
this can be reversible if stimulus is removed

Question 3

what is dysplasia?

Answer 3

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

Question 4

what is neoplasia?

Answer 4

the uncontrolled, abnormal growth of cells or tissues in the body

Question 5

what is a hamartoma?

Answer 5

A noncancerous tumor made of an abnormal mixture of normal tissues and cells from the area in which it grows.

Question 6

what is a choristoma?

Answer 6

developmental tumor-like growth (benign) of microscopically normal tissue in an abnormal location.

Question 7

what is carcinoma?

Answer 7

a cancer arising in the epithelial tissues of the skin or the lining of internal organs

Question 8

what is a sarcoma?

Answer 8

a type of cancer that begins in bone or soft tissues of the body

Question 9

what is a teratoma?

Answer 9

a type of germ cell tumour that may contain several types of tissue e.g. hair, muscle, bone

Question 10

what is lymphoma?

Answer 10

cancer of the lymphatic system

Question 11

what is leukaemia?

Answer 11

A malignant progressive disease in which the bone marrow and other blood-forming organs produce increased numbers of immature or abnormal leucocytes

Question 12

what is a carcinogen?

Answer 12

agents that cause genetic damage and induce neoplastic transformation

Question 13

what is metastasis?

Answer 13

the distant spread of neoplastic cells away from the primary neoplasm to form subpopulations of cells not in continuity with primary neoplasm

Question 14

what are some key features of malignant tumours?

Answer 14

sustained proliferation
ability to evade cell death, apoptosis, host immunity and growth suppression
ability to induce angiogenesis and metastasise

Question 15

what is cell growth/inhibition regulated by?

Answer 15

cyclin-dependant kinases and their inhibitors

Question 16

what induces apoptosis?

Answer 16

P53

Question 17

what are some examples of regulatory genes?

Answer 17

proto-oncogenes
tumour suppressor genes
P53
bcl-2
genes that repair DNA

Question 18

what do proto-oncogenes do?

Answer 18

function to stimulate cell division, inhibit cell differentiation, and halt cell death.

Question 19

what does bcl-2 do?

Answer 19

controls cell death primarily by direct binding interactions that regulate mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization

Question 20

how many cancers are hereditary?

Answer 20

10-15%

Question 21

what does oncogenic mean?

Answer 21

it can cause the development of a tumour

Question 22

outline the mechanism of HPV?

Answer 22

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

Question 23

outline the simple steps to a neoplasm?

Answer 23

normal tissue -> chronic exposure to stimulus -> metaplasia -> dysplasia -> neoplasia

Question 24

what is a papilloma?

Answer 24

a benign epithelial tumour of surface epithelium

Question 25

what is an adenoma?

Answer 25

a benign tumour of a gland

Question 26

what is a cystadenoma?

Answer 26

rare cystic tumors of epithelial origin that arise in the liver, the majority in the right lobe, or less commonly in the extrahepatic biliary system.

Question 27

what is a carcinoma?

Answer 27

a malignant neoplasm of any epithlial origin

prefixed by tissue of origin e.g. squamous cell carcinoma

Question 28

how do we name tumours of connective tissue?

Answer 28

tissue of origin with suffix of -oma if benign and -sarcoma if malignant

Question 29

how do we name a benign and a malignant tumour of bone origin?

Answer 29

osteoma

osteosarcoma

Question 30

what are the types of lymphoid malignancies?

Answer 30

Hodgkin lymphoma
non-hodgkin lymphoma
lymphoid leukaemia

Question 31

what is anaplasia?

Answer 31

A condition of cells with poor cellular differentiation,

Question 32

what are the key features of benign tumours?

Answer 32

they’re slow growing, localised, expansile, have a fibrous capsule, resemble normal cells and have no capacity to metastasise

Question 33

what are the key features of malignant tumours?

Answer 33

rapid growth, ill defined borders, infiltrative margins, invades surrounding tissue, ability to metastasise, have a degree of differentiation related to its behaviour, different tu surrounding cells

Question 34

what are 4 routes of metastasis?

Answer 34

haematogeneous : along blood vessels

• -lymphatic : via lymphatic vessels
• transcoelomic : spreads across a body cavity
• along nerve fibres

Question 35

what is cachexia?

Answer 35

a wasting disorder that causes extreme weight loss and muscle wasting, and can include loss of body fat.
caused by increased metabolic rate and energy expenditure and decreased nutrient intake

Question 36

what is paraneoplastic syndrome?

Answer 36

a group of rare disorders that are triggered by neoplasms

10% of cancer patients develop this

Question 37

what is a tumour ‘grade’?

Answer 37

a level of differentiation

Question 38

what is tumour ‘stage’?

Answer 38

the extent of the spread e.g. size and spread

Question 39

what is the most widely used cancer staging system?

Answer 39

the Tumour Node Metastasis (TNM) staging

Question 40

what does the TNM staging refer to?

Answer 40

T- size and extent of primary tumour
N- number of affected nearby lymph nodes
M- metastasised

Question 41

how do we measure primary tumour (T) in the TNM staging?

Answer 41

Tx- tumour cant be measured
T0- tumour cant be found
T1-4 refers to the size with 1 being the smallest and 4 the largest

Question 42

how do we measure lymph nodes (N) in TNM staging?

Answer 42

Nx- cancer in nearby lymph nodes cant be measured
N0- no cancer in nearby lymph nodes
N1-4- refers to the number and location of lymph nodes that have cancer

Question 43

how do we measure metastasis (M) in TNM staging?

Answer 43

Mx- metastasis cant be measured
M0- no metastasis
M1- cancer has spread