Cancer- Neoplasia 

neoplasia: abnormal mass of tissue growth

}}Hallmarks of Cancer:}}

  • self-sufficiency in growth signals
  • insensitivity to anti-growth signals ( because they don’t have receptors)
  • evading apoptosis( telomeres)
  • sustained angiogenesis
  • limitless replicative potential
  • invasion and metastasis
  • escaping immune surveillance (checkpoint inhibitors)
  • variation in population of cells
  • heritable: Mutations in DNA, chromosomes, methylation pattern

^^Terminology^^

  • tissue types

    • carcinoma → epithelial cells
    • sarcoma → connective tissue
    • leukemia → circulatory or lymphatic
  • cell types

    • adenomatous cells → ductal or glandular cells
    • squamous cells → flat cells
    • myeloid → blood cells
    • Lymphoid → lymphocytes or macrophages
  • begin vs malignant

    • benign tumors → suffix “- oma

    • except carcinomas + sarcomas + lymphomas

    • malignant → all other tumors

    • carcinoma in situ (CIS) → epithelial malignant tumors that have not broken through or invade the surrounding stroma (can be cut out cleanly)

Cancer Progression

  • stages of malignant cancers:

    • stage 1: confined to the organ of origin
    • stage 2: locally invasive
    • stage 3: spread to lymph nodes
    • stage 4: spread to distant sites
  • Tumor staging by TNM System

    • Tumor
    • Nodes
    • Metastasis
  • How does cancer progress in the body( from embryo to death)?

    • fertilized egg → toti potent stem cellproliferation(copy-paste) → differentiation (specialization) → ♾ → advantageous driver mutantclonal expansion → saturation the point where tumor is its bigger because there is no more food/ energy/ space) → new advantageous mutant( even more aggressive) → new colonial expansion wave
    • remember:
    • limitless replicated potential ( due to enzymes that elongate the telomeres→ telomerase p53 CANCER! )
    • what is the paradox
      • fast growing tumors are easiest to treat

Tumor Markers

  • → biological markers that are produced by cancer cells
    • enzymes
    • genes
    • Antigens ( PSA -prostate-specific antigens are associated with prostate cancer)
    • antibodies

Bengin vs. Malignant cancer

<<Benign<<<<Maligant<<
grow slowlyGrow rapidly
Well defined capsuleNot encapsulated
Not invasiveInvasive
well differentiatedpoorly differentiated
low mitotic indexHigh mitotic index
Do not metastasizeCan spread distantly(metastasis)
  • \

Viral Infection → Cancer

  • PAP smear- cervical l screaming via a swab, the smear is histologically analyzed and checks if to dysplasia
    • ==red stained cells== are dysplasia or cancer
    • could also show cells is mitosis and multiple nuclei
    • blub that starts to grow → lesion
    • HPV causes cancer in basal cells( because they proliferate the most)
      • due to the alteration of genome of the host develops cancer
      • HVP produced proteins that block p53( hallmark in cancer) if the p53 build-ups and it does not function the cell does not go into apoptosis
    • ^^blue + purple^^ stained cells are normal
  • Other viruses can cause tumors because the disturb normal cell development
    • hepatitis B → liver
    • EBV → kissing disease ( mononucleosis) + Burkitt lymphoma
  • Can bacteria cause cancer?
    • yes → Helicobacter pylori → stomach cancer

\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\