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Cancer Cell Biology > Intro > Flashcards

Intro Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the Top 2 cancers in the US?

A

1) lung | 2) colon cancer

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2
Q

What is lung cancer due to?

A

smokers/smoking

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3
Q

What is the #1 common cancer incidence?

A

skin cancer

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4
Q

What are the 2 common types of skin cancer?

A

melanoma and basal cell carcinoma

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5
Q

What is basal cell carcinoma from?

A

keratinocytes

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6
Q

What is melanoma from?

A

melanocytes

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7
Q

What is the main thing a cell must have the ability to do in order to potentially become a cancer cell?

A

ability to divide

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8
Q

Can a cell become a cancer cell if it has lost its ability to divide?

A

no

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9
Q

What are the 2 control mechanisms cells use to control cell growth?

A

growth factors | contact inhibition

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10
Q

What is contact inhibition?

A

density-dependent inhibition | when cell surfaces touch = signal that cells should stop growing at that point

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11
Q

Do tumor cells respond to cell growth control signals?

A

no, they lose anchorage-dependence

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12
Q

What is a primary tumor?

A

when the overgrowth of cells (not responding to contact inhibition) stimulates a tumor

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13
Q

What is a secondary tumor?

A

when primary tumors migrate to other parts of the body and begin proliferating there

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14
Q

Which tumor (primary or secondary) kills the patient/more dangerous and why?

A

secondary tumor = grows inside organs = organs deform and disrupt = organ stops functioning = organ failure

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15
Q

What is neoplasia?

A

new growth of tissue | aka: cancer

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16
Q

What is a tumor?

A

defined mass of tissue distinct from normal physiological growth | aka: cancer growth

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17
Q

What is oncology?

A

study of a mass or bulk

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18
Q

What are tumor suppressor genes?

A

control the cell cycle, cell death and cell survival

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19
Q

What do tumor suppressor genes act as?

A

breaks = so cells don’t replicate faster than they should

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20
Q

What will happen if a tumor suppressor gene has a mutation? Will this result in a tumor cell? Why or why not?

A

protein will not function normally = cell divides faster than normal | will need more than 1 mutation to result in a tumor cell

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21
Q

How are cancer cells independent of growth signaling?

A

due to oncogenes = ignore the stop signals

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22
Q

Which normal cells have a high metabolism such as tumor cells?

A

skin cells and blood cells = die often

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23
Q

Where do we get new cells from?

A

our adult stem cells

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24
Q

What are the 6 traits of cancer cells?

A

independent of growth signal | ignores STOP signal | doesn’t die (no apoptosis) | no limit to cell division | angiogenesis | metastasis

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25
Q

What is angiogenesis?

A

formation of blood vessels from the network of neighboring vessles | source of nutrients for cells

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26
Q

What is metastasis?

A

ability to move to other tissues

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27
Q

What are the 4 types of cell growth? Which one is the normal one?

A

metaplasia (normal one) | hyperplasia | dysplasia | neoplasia

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28
Q

What is metaplasia?

A

normal replacement growth of cells from adult stem cells

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29
Q

What is hyperplasia?

A

increase in cell number (may be benign) | not ok

30
Q

What is dysplasia?

A

cells look different in size, shape, internal structure and organization | does not look normal

31
Q

What is neoplasia?

A

full blown cancer | autonomous growth of tissue

32
Q

What is hypertrophy?

A

increase in cell size

33
Q

What are the characteristics of benign tumors?

A

encapsulated | non-invasive | slow growth | doesn’t spread (no metastasis) | highly differentiated

34
Q

What are the characteristics of malignant tumors?

A

nonencapsulated = can enzymatically break down barriers | invasive | fast growth | metastatic | poorly differentiated

35
Q

What does encapsulated mean when it comes to tumors?

A

surrounded/encapsulated by connective tissue barriers

36
Q

What type of cell growth where we see internal abnormalities of cells?

A

dysplasia

37
Q

What is de-differentiation?

A

terminally differentiated cell began to change genes and mutate = not look like what it was before

38
Q

What is anaplasia?

A

cell regresses and no longer looks the way it’s supposed to

39
Q

What are neoplastic cells?

A

malignant and spreads

40
Q

If looking at the DNA sequence of a gene, what does the DNA sequence mean?

A

amino acid selection

41
Q

How is the protein affected if its DNA sequence is mutated (changed)?

A

build the proteins wrong = won’t function = problems

42
Q

Why is 1 mutation not enough to cause cancer?

A

due to back-up mechanisms

43
Q

What does a 2nd mutation cause?

A

abnormal growth

44
Q

What does a 3rd mutation cause?

A

gives cell an advantage = speed up tumor growth

45
Q

What does a 4th mutation cause?

A

gives way for development of a more aggressive cancer but the tumor is still contained (benign)

46
Q

What happens after the 5th mutation?

A

metastatic tumor but still too small to be detected

47
Q

What is needed to form a secondary tumor?

A

tumor cell needs to attach to vessel wall = travel down vessel and enter tissue

48
Q

What are the 10 characteristics of a cancer cell?

A

genetically unstable | heritable mutations | unresponsive to growth control signals | loss of function | no apoptosis | rapid growth | abnormal shape | high metabolic rate | escape from primary tissue | survive/proliferate in foreign sites

49
Q

Are chemotherapeutic drugs cancer specific?

A

not specific to types of cancers, very generalized

50
Q

Why do physicians prescribe sub-lethal concentration of chemotherapeutic drugs?

A

so it does not kill all cells, only highly metabolized ones since tumor cells are highly metabolic

51
Q

How do tissues connect to blood vessels?

A

via diffusion happening through capillaries

52
Q

Explain the competition for nutrients between highly metabolic cells and normal cells? What does this mean in terms of drug use?

A

highly metabolic cells take up more nutrients = they will take in more drugs than the normal cells too

53
Q

How is cancer a disease of age?

A

the older you get = more you have accumulated DNA mutations

54
Q

What are oncogenes?

A

normal genes made to make the cell divide

55
Q

What are some of the advantages that mutations would give a tumor cell?

A

genes that inhibit proliferationthe invade other tissues via moving (walking genes) | survival genes | drug resistance genes

56
Q

What are walking genes?

A

fibroblast genes

57
Q

What genes do tumor cells have?

A

have the WHOLE genome

58
Q

What are genes a tumor cell would delete?

A

anything inhibiting cell division - control genes

59
Q

What are genes a tumor cell may want to duplicate?

A

replication (a cell cycle gene)

60
Q

Why are tumor cells pseudo-immortalized rather than immortal?

A

referring to tumor population as a whole = tumor cells so unstable that a lot end up dying

61
Q

What are most tumors: polyclonal or monoclonal?

A

monoclonal

62
Q

What are polyclonal tumors?

A

origin is from multiple cell types

63
Q

Why are polyclonal tumors harder to treat?

A

mutations are different

64
Q

How can a tumor population be a heterogenous population?

A

cells can pick up mutations other cells don’t have

65
Q

Why is it important to know that cells are able to pick up mutations to decipher mode of treatment?

A

some cells certain drugs target will die but other mutated cells may survive due to genetic differences

66
Q

What is remission?

A

when cancer goes away

67
Q

What is relapse?

A

cancer comes back

68
Q

Why is stress involved with cancer development?

A

weakens the immune system

69
Q

Why are most cancer treatments regimens and not just one drug?

A

heterogenous tumor population = patients with same cancer may have a different mix of mutations

70
Q

How many genes do we have?

A

20,000

Cancer Cell Biology (17 decks)

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