Cancer Immunology
A cancer-inducing gene that can transform cells.
Oncogene
Cancer cells can divide indefinitely because they have increased amounts of telomerase that lengthens telomeres on the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes.
Enabling Replicative Immortality
A cell signaling molecule that normally acts like a "switch that automatically turns itself off".
K-ras
These are difficult to study, make up a small portion of each tissue and rarely divide.
Stem Cells
a condition in which the body or a region of the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply.
Hypoxia
A gene whose partial or complete inactivation in the germ linre or the genome of a somatic cell that leads to an increased likelihood of cancer development.
Tumor Suppressor Gene
Cells that would normally die resist death and survive because of interference with apoptosis.
Resisting Cell Death
The protein encoded by a K-ras gene with a mutation at position 12 that can't be turned off.
oncoprotein
Long lived cells that give rise to all cells within a tissue.
Stem Cells
The primary mediator of angiogenesis.
VEGF
A gene that normally regulates the cell cycle, but once mutated becomes an oncogene.
Proto-oncogene
The abundant production of cell growth factors and mutations in some cellular proteins that increase proliferation allow cells to divide more rapidly than normal.
Sustaining Proliferative Signaling
A receptor for epidermal growth factor
EGFR
List three ways that stem cells are protected from cancer.
Apoptosis - programmed cell death
Multi-drug efflux pump - protects against mutagenic compounds
DNA Repair- increase DNA repair machinary
List the three implications for metastasis.
angiogenic tumor dormancy
angiogenesis-dependant tumor growth
(re)-induced angiogenic tumor dormancy
Only 50% of what we know is correct!
50 % rule
In cancer cells normal growth suppressors are no longer able to limit cell growth because they are missing or mutated.
Evading Growth Suppressors
This causes increased cell signaling (firing) inside the cell resulting in
List three ways that cellular genomes are under attack.
Polymerase Error
Spontaneous base-switching
Exogenous and Endogenous mutagenic agents
Immune cells normally fight against tumors but are unable to because of this...
poor vessel structure/ hypoxia
Dedifferentiated cells mutate and revert to stem cells promoting
Transit-amplifying cells.
This allows tumor cells to move to a new site in the body were a secondary tumor can be formed by proliferation of the cancer cells there.
Activating Invasion and Metastasis
Tumor Suppressor that receives information about metabolic disorders or genetic damage and may cause apoptosis to occur.
p53 protein
Polymerase Error
Spontaneous base-switching
Exogenous and Endogenous mutagenic agents
are all ways that...
Cellular genomes are under attack
The process by which a tumor cell(s) leave the primary site and travel to a distal site.
Metastasis