Neoplasia

Question 1

what is cancer?

Answer 1

uncontrolled cell division

invading other tissues

Question 2

what is neoplasia?

Answer 2

new growth not in response to a stimulus

Question 3

what three classifications could a neoplasm come under?

Answer 3

benign
premalignant
malignant

Question 4

what does malignant mean?

Answer 4

the growth has metastatic potential

Question 5

what are metastases?

Answer 5

cancer cells that have spread to sites distal to the primary tumour

Question 6

name three precursor stages to malignancy

Answer 6

dysplasia
metaplasia
hyperplasia

Question 7

what is dysplasia?

Answer 7

disordered growth, not in response to a stimulus

Question 8

what is invasion?

Answer 8

growth beyond the basement membrane

Question 9

is there invasion is dysplasia?

Answer 9

no

Question 10

what does a high grade/low grade mean in dysplasia?

Answer 10

lower the grade the closer to normal

higher the grade the closer to becoming cancerous

Question 11

what causes metaplasia?

Answer 11

increased stress

Question 12

what is metaplasia?

Answer 12

the reversible change from one mature cell type to another mature cell type

Question 13

what is carcinoma in situ (CIS)?

Answer 13

dysplasia affecting the whole of the epithelium

Question 14

what is the last stage before dysplasia becomes invasive and malignant?

Answer 14

carcinoma in situ

Question 15

what does the double hit hypothesis state?

Answer 15

two faulty copies needed to have a functional problem

one copy = increased risk

Question 16

what effect does UV radiation have on DNA?

Answer 16

causes the formation of pyrimidine dimers in the DNA, which eventually overwhelms nucleotide excision repair (NER)

Question 17

what causes xeroderma pigmentosum?

Answer 17

a genetic defect in NER

Question 18

what oncogenes are produced by HPV?

Answer 18

E6

E7

Question 19

what does E6 do?

Answer 19

increases the destruction of p53

Question 20

what does E7 do?

Answer 20

prevents retinoblastoma protein from acting

Question 21

what is the usual role of Rb and what happens if this doesn’t occur?

Answer 21

usually binds to E2F

if not, E2f promotes transcription of DNA polymerase = increased rate of cell division

Question 22

what cancers are Ras mutations associated with?

Answer 22

colon

lung

Question 23

what cancer is Braf mutation associated with?

Answer 23

melanomas

Question 24

what drug can be used to treat Braf associated melanomas?

Answer 24

vemurafenib

Question 25

what type of cancer can be diagnosed when an Myc translocation is seen?

Answer 25

burkitt lymphoma

Question 26

what is the most commonly mutated kinase in cancer?

Answer 26

P13K