BCB Lecture 1 08/31/26

When and where was the first mention of cancer

Breast cancer in 3000 BCE in Egypt

When did Hippocrates hypothesize about what fluids influencing health

460 BCE: Hippocrates thinks four fluids in body influence health: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile.

Who discovered a link between exposure and subsequent cancer and when

1775: Percival Pott connects cancer to chimney sweeping

Who showed what cancer is made of and when

1838: Johannes Mueller showed that cancer is made of cells, not lymph

What hypothesis was Theodor Heinrich Boveri responsible for

Cancer is the gain and loss of chromosoma

What are the gains and losses in Boveri’s hypothesis

Gain- oncogene
Loss- tumor supressors

What did Boveri study to make his hypothesis

tissue from farm animals with growths their farmers noticed

Who is Sidney Farber

pediatric pathologist at Boston Children's Hospital treating kids with leukemia

What treatment was Sidney Farber responsible for

Aminopterin treatment which achieved first temporary remissions in children with acute leukemia

5 Year Survival

average of how many patients are alive 5 years post diagnosis

Durable response length

betters at least the five year survival rate

Who is Mary Lasker

philanthropist and lobbyist that was married to Albert Lasker (advertising executive)

What did Mary Lasker do in terms of establishing organizations

• Established Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation that supports medical research

• Reorganized American Cancer Society

What did Mary Lasker do in terms of increasing National Cancer Institute and NIH funding

Lobbied for increase in NCI from $14M to $110M and NIH from $3M to $1B

What is the deadliest cancer in the US

lung cancer

What is the most common cancer in the US

reproductive tract

What kind of disease is cancer

Cancer is by and large a disease of the elderly

What is the #1 cause of cancer

Random mutations

What might lead to a premature increase in cancer incidence

increase in diagnosis

What is the average survival rate for all cancers

70%

What is the survival rate for early diagnosed cancer

90%

What caused an increase in colorectal cancer

Processed foods

Who has high incidents of stomach cancer and why

farmers and farmhands get stomach cancer from pesticides + chemicals

Ames test

chemical test uses Salmonella that when exposed to carcinogens that are also mutagens will grow rapidly

Why did cancer survival only increase 2% in the last two decades

because we’ve already found all the easier solutions/treatments for cancer

How to increase cancer survival

• more funding for research and treatment

• increase international collaboration

Why does secondary cancer occur

as people get treated for cancer which damages tumor DNA faster than regular cell DNA, later in life these people are more predisposed to secondary cancers

What are the 4 ways to treat cancers*

1. Surgery

2. Radiation

3. Chemotherapies

4. Targeted therapy

How many mutations minimum to cause cancer

5 mutations

How do some mutations that cause cancer affect mutation rate

Some of the mutations that cause cancer cause your mutation rate to increase

What causes cancer

genetic mutations

What are mutations

random

Driver mutations

actively promote cancer cell growth and survival

Passenger mutations

Occur randomly as a byproduct of damaged DNA repair mechanisms- no affect on genome

Do passenger or driver mutations outnumber each other

passenger mutations always outnumber drivers

What are the 5 types of mutations needed to cause cancer

• Sustaining proliferative signaling

• Evading growth suppressors

• Enabling replicative immortality

• Genome instability & mutation

• Resisting cell death

What is the biggest bottleneck for cancer research

Genetic variation, some people are just more susceptible and some aren’t

What effects 5-year survival

Stage at which a cancer is diagnosed- earlier diagnosis improves 5-year survival

What is the issue with cancer screening

possibility of overdiagnosis/overtreatment

Why does cancer incidence accelerate with age

More DNA replication means more chances to obtain a mutation in DNA repair which leads to more rapid accumulation of mutations

Two hit hypothesis

Both alleles of a tumor suppressor gene must be mutated or inactivated for cancer to develop

What are the first and second hit in the two-hit hypothesis

First hit- one allele is inherited is mutated/nonfunctional

Second hit- remaining functioning allele is mutated/inactivated