Tumour physiology Flashcards
in breast cancer what Is in the middle?
tumour cells
in breast cancer, what is surrounding the tumour cells
collagen filaments
function of collagen
tighter so they move through the tissue and can move into blood circulation and disguise into the blood cells and hitch a ride on the back of the cells blood vessels
after the collagen has hitch a ride on back of the cells blood vessels, what happens?
hide behind the blood cells or capillaries so they move into vasculature and go to another part of the body and proliferate and make another tumour the process is mediated by VEGF
what are fibroblasts?
cancer cells recruit these fibroblasts and activate them – known as cancer associate fibroblast
2 functions of fibroblast
1.secrete different factors that helps growth of tumour. 2.Help dissolve the matrix to invade surrounding tissue
Vascular cells(endothelial cells and parasites
help a lot in formation of new blood cells and vasculature for tumour
2 Immune cells
macrophages and lymphocytes
Angiogenesis
formation of new blood cells from pre-existing vessels
what does the process of angiogenesis help with?
growth and development
what happens during angiogenesis?
a positive feedback loop when there is a cut there will be an immune reaction and when they try to repair it there will be angiogenesis which heals the cut. When the cut is healed formation of new blood cells supress.
in cancer what happens during angiogenesis?
wound that doesn’t heal- continues to provide vasculature and new angiogenesis
what do the blood vessels give out?
oxygen and nutrition
if the blood vessels give out oxygen and nutrition in the hypoxic environment what would this lead to?
endothelial factors will be produced – growth factor stimulate growth of new blood vessels towards tumour which provides it nutrition for growth and proliferation
in cancer what is there more of and what job won’t be done
the activators are more and inhibitors will not inhibit
what is a example of activatior
VEGF-vascular endothelial growth factor – stimulates development of vasculature or blood vessels from existing blood cells
Antiangiogenic drugs
inhibit certain formation of blood vessels so cancer doesn’t grow and doesn’t metastasise
2 ways drugs can work
1.block the receptor and cannot cause formation of new blood vessels or can bind certain aspects inside the cells
2.tumour doesn’t get the nutrients and oxygen the tumour can be destructed
The Warburg Effect
aerobic glycolysis: tumour cells can switch their metabolism
what happens during the Warburg effect?
glycolysis goes into oxidative phosphorylation into mitochondria and glucose produced 36 mol of ATP- which is the energy needed for normal cellular function
what happens if there isn’t enough oxygen
the body chooses anaerobic glycolysis , glucose is converted to pyruvate which is converted to lactate
when cells proliferate more they switch to metabolism what do they use?
the body chooses anaerobic glycolysis , glucose is converted to pyruvate which is converted to lactate
in aerobic glycolysis what how many moles do tumour cells make?
4
why do tumour cells make 4 moles?
don’t want to rely too much on availability of oxygen and use all glucose they can-could lead to weight loss in cancer patients.
if the tumour cells use a lot of glucose which releases lactic acid to the environment, what does this do to the environment?
tumour cells use the acidic environment and tumour cells have more chance of survival and normal cells can’t do that
what are the 3 steps of metastasis ?
- tumour cells must infiltrate surrounding-
2.break the membrane and dissolve it and move towards blood circulation and enter the blood circulation
3.attach to endothelium and hitch a ride on lymphocytes – have a ride through blood circulation, they lodge on the side of capillary and move out, go into blood vessel -vasculature called introversion
what happens during cancer niches?
as tumour becomes more invasive, surrounding the environment changes – this is called core tumour -when it becomes more invasive environment changes as well
in immunohistochemistry, what is the marker for staining epithelial cells?
EpCAM in the healthy cells there is a round structure- normal morphology of epithelial cells
what happens to the structure and stain of cell morphology when tumour is present?
structure of cell morphology changes the browner the more staining there is.
what can staining epithelial cells do?
show increased staining of fibroblasts – there is a crosstalk between the cells which lead to the tumour to grow and develop, invade and spread through the body
Immunosuppressive system
Tumour cells are producing factors which fight back immune cells – but they cannot recognise the tumour or attack
Current/precision medicine
people will get medication based on their tumour environment
3 way different cells can be targeted by different medicines
1.patient giving a sample
2.then it getting stained
3. this allows to see which cells there are and which genes are activated, and which mutations are there
3 strategies used to target tumour by trying to recognise the different cells in the tumour
-avoiding new vascularisation
-activating anti-tumour response
-develop different drugs
