Cancer Cell Biology

Cancer is a type of…

Neoplasm

Skin squamous cell carcinoma

Neuroectodermal tumors come from

central and peripheral nervous system

origins in outer cell layer of early embryo

Types of neuroectodermal tumors

Retinoblastoma

Glioblastoma

Neuroblastoma

Anaplastic

No longer possible via histopathological criteria to identify tissue from which tumors has risen

hyperplastic growths

Cells are mostly normal but just growing excessively

Metaplasia

one type of normal cell layer within a tissue is displaced by cells of another type that aren’t normally found there (invaders)

Dysplastic

appearance of cell is no longer normal

Adenoma, polyps, papillomas, warts

large growths that can be readily detected by the naked eye

mutations

PERMANENT alteration of genetic material

main driver of cancer causing mutations

Somatic mutations

monoclonal tumor

most cancers

single mutation gets passed to all daughter cells

how many cancers are environmentally induced?

30-85%

how many cancer deaths related to diet

35%

how many cancer deaths related to tobacco

30%

chemical that was found after 200 years to cause cancer

benzopyrene

how does benzopyrene cause cancer

inactivates p53 tumor suppressor gene

two year rodent bioassay

standardized screening to find carcinogens

other assays developed to test mutagenicity

2 classes of agents associated with carcinogenesis

DNA damaging agents

Epigenetic agents

DNA damaging agents

Genotoxic

Are mutagenic in in vitro mutagenicity assays

Epigenetic agents