Appreciate Cell Cycle
What is the purpose and outcome of mitosis?
growth and repair; two identical daughter cells
What is cancer?
What is the purpose of a cell cycle checkpoint?
ensures the cell is prepared at different stages to proceed to the next stage
What is the difference between apoptosis being induced intrinsically vs extrinsically?
Intrinsic: damage to mitochondria induced apoptotic response
Extrinsic: mediated by receptor recognition of death receptors
What is angiogenesis?
formation of new blood vessels; specifically for tumors to get nourishment
induced by VEGF
What are the main phases of the M phase?
prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase, and cytokinesis
What are the five main groups of cancers?
carcinomas, sarcomas, leukemias, lymphomas, and myelomas
What is apoptosis?
programmed cell death
no inflammation to minimize tissue damage
How is inflammation prevented in apoptosis?
macrophages recognize dying cells and engulf them
secrete cytokines that inhibit inflammation
What is the difference between p53 and pRb?
p53 is intrinsic and signals inside the cell
pRb is extrinsic and signals outside of the cell
What happens in interphase?
G1: growth
S: DNA replication
G2: growth, organelles, prep for mitosis
What are three causes of cancer?
genetics, chronic inflammation, viruses, environmental carcinogens, diet and exercise
What are cell deaths that are highly inflammatory and lytic?
necrosis, pyroptosis, ferroptosis
Why are cyclins needed?
specific cyclins must accumulate to pass each cell cycle checkpoint
How do cancer cells reprogram cellular energy metabolism?
cancers use glycolysis for metabolism and consume large amounts of glucose for very little ATP yield
What is a kinetochore?
site of attachment for a single microtubule that comes from one of the centrosomes
what are standard cancer treatments?
surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants
What does the M checkpoint do?
check spindle assembly and makes sure the spindles line up correctly
What are 3 hallmarks of cancer?
generate and maintain proliferative signals
evade growth suppressive signals
evade cell death
unlimited DNA replication
supportive micro-environment
invade and metastasize
evade immune destruction
reprogram metabolic pathways
Checkpoint inhibiters, adoptive cell transfer, and monoclonal antibodies are all types of what kind of treatment?
immunotherapies
What happens during telophase?
complete set of chromosomes is now at each pole of the cell
microtubules break down completely
nuclear envelope re-forms
chromosomes decondense
What are three newer cancer therapies?
hormone therapy, angiogenesis inhibition, gene therapy, immunotherapy
If a cell underwent mitosis and its daughter cells were immediately exposed to chemicals that damaged the DNA, at which stage of the cell cycle would you predict the arrest of the cell division to occur?
a. G1 checkpoint
b. G2 checkpoint
c. M checkpoint
d. G1, G2, or the M checkpoints
a. G1 checkpoint
What is an example of apoptosis being induced intrinsically and how does it work?
p53 is a transcription factor that turns on the expression of pro-apoptotic proteins
pore is formed in outer membrane of mitochondria
cytochrome c is released into cytoplasm to form apoptosome
activation of caspase 3 causes fragments in DNA and destabilizes cytoskeleton
What is a disadvantage/limitation to chemotherapy and radiation?