Neoplasia

Question 1

An abnormal mass of tissue the growth of which exceeds and is uncoordinated with that of the normal tissues and persists in the same excessive manner after the cessation of stimuli, which evoked the change.

Answer 1

Neoplasm

Question 2

Localized neoplasms; usually ends with _oma, except lymphoma, seminoma, dysgerminoma, and hepatoma, and melanoma (these are malignant neoplasms).

Answer 2

Benign neoplasms

Question 3

Neoplasms that invade and destroy adjacent tissues.

Answer 3

Malignant neoplasms

Question 4

Malignant neoplasms of epithelial origin; usually spread by lymphatic route; example: colorectal adenocarcinoma.

Answer 4

Carcinomas

Question 5

Malignant neoplasms of mesenchymal origin; usually spread by hematogenous route; example: uterine leiomyosarcoma.

Answer 5

Sarcomas

Question 6

Benign, but disorganized appearance of tissue indigenous to a particular organ; example: Peutz-Jegher polyp

Answer 6

Hamartoma

Question 7

Cytologically and architecturally normal tissue in an ectopic location; example: Ectopic gastric tissue in Meckel diverticulum

Answer 7

Choristoma

Question 8

Extent to which neoplastic cells resemble their normal forebears morphologically and functionally.

Answer 8

Differentiation

Question 9

Considered a hallmark of malignancy, which literally means to form backward; term used to describe cells with little or no differentiation.

Answer 9

Anaplasia

Question 10

Disorderly but non-neoplastic proliferation of cells; described as a loss in uniformity of individual cells and in their architectural orientation.

Answer 10

Dysplasia

Question 11

Fibrous tissue formation in response to neoplasm.

Answer 11

Desmoplasia

Question 12

Dysplastic changes, which involve the entire thickness of the epithelium.

Answer 12

Carcinoma in situ

Question 13

Development of secondary implants discontinuous with the primary tumor, in remote tissues; more than any other attribute, this identifies a neoplasm as malignant.

Answer 13

Metastasis

Question 14

Next to metastasis, this is the most reliable feature that distinguishes malignant from benign tumors.

Answer 14

Local invasiveness

Question 15

Top 3 common cancers in children.

Answer 15

ALL > CNS tumors > Burkitt lymphoma

Question 16

Top 3 common cancers in males.

Answer 16

Prostate > Lung > Colorectal

Question 17

Top 3 common cancers in females.

Answer 17

Breast > Lung > Colorectal

Question 18

Top 3 common cancer mortalities in males.

Answer 18

Lung > Prostate > Colorectal

Question 19

Top 3 common cancer mortalities in females.

Answer 19

Lung > Breast > Colorectal

Question 20

Hallmarks of cancer.

Answer 20

Self-sufficiency in growth signals; insensitivity to growth inhibitory signals; evasion of cell death; limitless replicative potential; development of sustained angiogenesis; and ability to invade and metastasize

Question 21

Normal cellular genes whose products promote cell proliferation; examples: RAS (most commonly mutated proto-oncogene in human cancers), and ABL (in CML)

Answer 21

Proto-oncogenes

Question 22

Mutant or overexpressed versions of proto-oncogenes that function autonomously without a requirement for normal growth-promoting signals.

Answer 22

Oncogenes

Question 23

Genes whose products apply brakes to the cell proliferation; loss of function mutations of such genes lead to carcinogenesis.

Answer 23

Tumor suppressor genes

Question 24

Governor of the cell cycle; a tumor suppressor gene that antiproliferative effects by controlling G1-S checkpoint in the cell cycle; mutated in Retinoblastoma; key element in HPV tumorigenesis.

Answer 24

Rb

Question 25

Guardian of the genome; a tumor suppressor gene that regulates cell cycle progression, DNA repair, cellular senescence, and apoptosis, and the most frequently mutated tumor-suppressor gene in human cancers; mutated in Li-Fraumeni syndrome.

Answer 25

p53

Question 26

Metabolism unique to cancer cells; High glucose uptake and increased conversion of glucose to lactose (fermentation), which provides carbon moieties necessary for biosynthesis and growth of cancer cells.

Answer 26

Warburg metabolism

Question 27

Most common mechanism of evasion of apoptosis used by cancer cells.

Answer 27

Interference in the intrinsic (mitochondrial) pathway of apoptosis

Question 28

The limitless replicative potential of cancer cells are due to the following mechanisms:

Answer 28

Inactivation of senescence signals and reactivation of telomerase

Question 29

Mechanisms of angiogenesis in cancer cells.

Answer 29

VEGF and oncogenes that stimulate synthesis of VEGF (RAS, MYC and MAPK)

Question 30

Steps in invasion and metastases of cancer cells.

Answer 30

A. Loosening of cell-cell contacts B. Degradation of ECM components C. Attachment of novel ECM components D. Migration of tumor cells

Question 31

Term used to describe the degree of differentiation based on histologic appearance of the tumor.

Answer 31

Tumor grade

Question 32

Term used to describe the degree of localization/spread of the tumor; usual criteria: location and size of the primary tumor, nodal status, and presence of distant metastases; has more prognostic value than tumor grade.

Answer 32

Tumor stage

Question 33

Progressive loss of body fat and lean body mass, accompanied by profound weakness, anorexia, and anemia in cancer patients; main cytokine implicated is TNF.

Answer 33

Cancer cachexia

Question 34

Symptom complexes that occur in patients with cancer that cannot be readily explained by local and distant spread of the tumor of by elaboration of hormones not indigenous to the tissue of origin of the tumor; examples: ectopic ACTH production (Cushing syndrome) in Small cell lung cancer; Hypercalcemia in squamous cell carcinoma (due to PTHrp expression)

Answer 34

Paraneoplastic syndromes

Question 35

Condition secondary to release of products of dying cancer cells during chemotherapy; characterized by: hyperkalemia, hyperphosphatemia, hyperuricemia, and hypocalcemia.

Answer 35

Tumor lysis syndrome