Introduction to Cancer Biology Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, definitions, and concepts related to cancer biology from the lecture.

Tumor

An abnormal mass or abnormal growth of cellular tissue.

Cancer

A malignant tumor characterized by unregulated cell growth that continuously divides.

Benign tumor

A noncancerous cell growth that grows slowly, is encapsulated, and does not metastasize.

Malignant tumor

A cancerous tumor that grows very quickly, is not encapsulated, and can spread throughout the body.

Neoplasm

A new growth of cellular tissue, used interchangeably with the term tumor.

Tumorigenesis

The beginning, start, or creation of a new tumor or cancer.

Biological transformation

The incorporation of exogenous DNA into a bacterial cell, which then begins expressing that DNA or those genes.

Malignant transformation

The cellular progression and changes that occur as a normal cell transforms into a cancer cell.

Allele

A variant or different version of the same gene.

BRCA1 allele

A gene variant encoding a protein responsible for DNA damage repair, mutations of which increase the incidence of breast and ovarian cancer.

Phenotype

The physical characteristics or appearance resulting from a genotype, or disease manifestations such as cancer development.

Morphology

The study of the shape and physical structure of an entity, such as microscopic cell shapes.

Metastasis

The process by which unencapsulated cancer cells spread from their primary site to surrounding tissues or other areas of the body.

Primary tumor

The original cancer tumor site where cancer first started.

Secondary tumor

A tumor that forms at a new site in the body after primary cancer cells have metastasized.

Incidence

The frequency at which a disease occurs, such as the number of new cancer cases diagnosed per year.

Mortality rate

The death rate, representing the number of individuals diagnosed with a disease who die from it.

Mutagen

An agent that causes structural changes or mutations directly at the DNA level.

Carcinogen

An agent that specifically causes or induces cancer.

Carcinomas

Cancers arising from lining epithelial cells, representing over ninety percent of all cancers.

Leukemias

Cancers originating from white blood cells.

Lymphomas

Solid cancers originating in the lymphoid cells of the lymphatic system.

Myelomas

Cancers originating in the bone marrow where B cells develop.

Sarcomas

Rare cancers arising from mesodermal tissues, such as muscle, bone, and connective tissue.

Neuroepidermal cancers

Rare cancers originating from neuronal tissues, such as brain cancers.

Triple negative breast cancer

A form of breast cancer lacking estrogen, progesterone, and HER2 receptors, making it non-responsive to targeted receptor therapies.

Contact inhibition

A normal cell mechanism where cells halt division upon touching adjacent cells, a property lost in cancer cells.