mechanisms of disease Flashcards
1
Q
DNA structure
A
- made of base pairs (adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine)
2
Q
RNA structure
A
- single strand
- made of four base pairs (adenine, uracil, guanine, cytosine)
3
Q
genetic code
A
- converts RNA information to amino acid information
4
Q
protein structure
A
- huge chains of amino acids
- Elaborately folded
- shape is important for function
5
Q
central dogma of biology
A
- the flow of information
- DNA to RNA to proteins
6
Q
what is cancer?
A
- diseases of uncontrolled growth
- spreads to other tissues and other parts of the body
- the normal growth control mechanisms are dysregulated
7
Q
what is mestatic cancer
A
- occurs outside of original site
8
Q
how is cancer organized
A
- by tissue/organ of origin
- by mechanism of growth dysregulation (which pathways have lost control)
9
Q
how do control mechanisms get dysregulated
A
- mutations
- mistakes in genetic information
10
Q
inherited mutations
A
- mutation os present in egg/sperm
- is mutated in every cell
11
Q
acquired mutations
A
- does not come from parent and is aquired later
- starts in one cell and is passed to new cells
- most cancers
12
Q
what is chemotherapy
A
- kills fast growing cells
- also kills fast growing healthy cells
13
Q
what is targeted therapy
A
aimed at proteins that are only in cancer cells/more abundant in cancer cells
14
Q
immune system
A
- made of white blood cells, located in blood and lymphatic system, attacks viruses and bacteria
- composed of innate immunity (born with) and acquired immunity (develop when exposed to things)
15
Q
specialized types of immune cells
A
t-cells
- can bind to foreign peptides
- can kill viruses
- can kill cancer cells
b-cells
- have ability to create antibodies, which bind to surfaces of foreign cells
- can create antibodies against cancer
