Tumour Nomenclature Flashcards
What is a neoplasia?
A tumour
Give two classifications of cancer
Sporadic and familial
What is sporadic cancer?
. Due to environmental factors, not genes
. Mutations take time to be expressed as you’re exposed to more and more carcinogens, so most sporadic cancers occur in adulthood
. Usually one primary site of cancer
What is familial cancer?
. Influenced by specific inherited gene
. E.g. two-hit hypothesis, person born with one strike and is matter of time before second hit triggers cancer growth
. Multiple organs can be affected
. Tend to occur at younger age than sporadic cancers
What is the tumour-suppressor two-hit hypothesis?
. Person inherits bad P53 gene (first hit), has another functional copy on other chromosome
. Mutation wipes out remaining good P53 gene (second hit) and neoplasia arises
What is neoplasia?
Formation of new abnormal tissue (tumour or cancerous)
What is hyperplasia?
Over-proliferation of otherwise normal cells
What is dysplasia?
Cells division becomes poorly regulated, underlying changes may predispose cancer
What is an adenoma?
Benign tumour of glandular tissue
What is a polyps?
Abnormal tissue projecting from mucosal membrane
is cancer clonal or non-clonal?
Clonal because all cells share mutations from common ancestors (there are sub-clones though)
What are oncogenes and what are proto-oncogenes?
Oncogenes are cancerous proto-oncogenes that cause uncontrolled cell division
What do tumour-suppressor genes do?
Inhibit cell division
What happens in senescence?
. Cells in G0 irreversibly stop dividing when they reach the Hayflick limit (50 cell divisions)
How does cancer affect senescence?
. P53 not activated so double strand DNA breaks because telomeres so short
. New weird hybrid chromosomes formed
. This is genetic catastrophe, so cells undergo apoptosis
. In cancer cells, telomerase activates, so cells continue to grow with weird hybrid DNA being used= abnormal cell growth
What is a well-differentiated tumour?
Tumour composed of cells which closely resemble the cell of origin
What is a poorly-differentiated tumour?
Tumour composed of cells which bear little resemblance to the cell of origin
What is an undifferentiated or anaplastic tumour?
Tumour composed of cells which are so undifferentiated that their cell of origin is unknown
What does the suffix -osarcoma mean?
Malignant tumour
What does the suffix -oma mean?
Benign tumour
What is leiomyoma?
Benign tumour of smooth muscle
What is rhabdomyoma?
Benign tumour of striated muscle (skeletal)
What is leiomyosarcoma?
Malignant cancer of smooth muscle
What is rhabdomyosarcoma?
Malignant cancer of striated muscle (skeletal)
