Medical genetics and cancer - Genetic basis of cancer
17 important questions on Medical genetics and cancer - Genetic basis of cancer
What are the different steps of cancer progression?
- Cancer originates in a single cell.
- Because of cell division, more cells get the series of genetic changes. This is called cloning.
- The first growing step is benign growth.
- The next step is malignant growth.
- Finally invasion starts, this is when the surrounding tissue and bloodstream also get 'infected'.
What does 'cancer cells are metastatic' mean?
What is a carcinogen? Give an example.
UV light and certain chemicals.
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How do oncogenes get into our bodies?
- Some oncogenes are carried in viruses.
- Most oncogenes are derived rom normal cellular genes that have been altered by mutation or epigenetic changes.
What is a proto-oncogene?
What are the three possible effects when a gain-of-function mutation produces an oncogene?
- The amount of the encoded protein is greatly increased.
- A change occurs in the structure of the encoded protein that causes it to be overly active.
- The encoded protein is expressed in a cell type where it is not normally expressed.
What are growth factors?
How would a mutation that prevents the Ras protein from hydrolyzing GTP affect a cell-signaling pathway?
What are the four main ways that a proto-oncogene can convert into an oncogene?
- Missense mutation
- Gene amplification (increase in copy number)
- Chromosomal translocation
- Viral integration
Why does this translocation cause leukemia rather than cancer in a different tissue type, such as the lung?
If a cell cannot make any Rb protein, how will this affect the function of E2F?
What are the two function groups of tumor-suppressor genes?
- Negative regulators of cell division
- Maintenance of genome integrity
What is genome maintenance?
What is a checkpoint?
How can tumor-suppressor genes be silenced?
- A mutation
- Epigenetic changes
- Aneuploidy (loss or addition of one or more chromosomes)
What is loss of heterozygosity (LOH)?
Explain why familial breast cancer shows a dominant pattern of inheritance in a pedigree even though it is recessive at the cellular level.
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