ANSWERS
Cancer ✅✅Disease in which abnormal cells divide without control and are able to
invade other tissues
(Derived from Greek work for crab karkinoma)
Tumor ✅✅Originally referred to any swelling that is caused by inflammation but is
now generally reserved for describing new growth, or neoplasm.
Benign Tumors ✅✅Encapsulated, well-organized stroma, grow slowly, non-invasive,
well differentiated, low mitotic index, and do not metasize.
Important to remember that they can become extremely large and depending on their
location can cause morbidity or be life-threatening.
Named according to the tissue from which they arrive, and include the suffix "-oma"
May progress to cancer
Malignant Tumors ✅✅Grow rapidly, non-encapsulated, invasive, poorly differentiated,
high mitotic index, can spread distantly known as metastasis.
Named according to the cell type from which the orginate (i.e. carcinomas- arise from
epithelial tissue)
Carcinoma in Situ ✅✅Perinvasive epithelial malignant tumors of glandular or
epithelial origin that have not broken through the basement membrane or invaded the
surrounding stroma.
CIS lesions can have one of the following three factors:
1) They can remain stable for a long time
2) They can progress to invasive and metastatic cancers
OR 3) they can regress and disappear
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A) All neoplasms are cancerous
B) Benign growths are cancerous
C) Malignant tumors have slow growth
D) Cancer refers to a malignant tumor ✅✅D) Cancer refers to a malignant tumor
, What is cancer? ✅✅The National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of
Health (NH) defines cancer as "diseases in which abnormal cells divide without control
and are able to invade other tissues
Identify major differences between benign and malignant tumors. ✅✅Benign tumors
are usually well encapsulated and well differentiated, retain some normal tissue
structure, and do not invade the capsule. They also do not spread to regional lymph
nodes or distant locations. Malignant tumors have more rapid growth rates and specific
microscopic alterations, including loss of differentiated; absence of normal tissue
organization; lack of a capsule; invasion into blood vessels, lymphatics, and surrounding
structures; and distant spread (metastasis).
What is carcinoma in situ? ✅✅Carcinoma in situ (often abbreviated CIS) refers to
preinvasive epithelial tumors of glandular or squamous cell origin.
Tumor Initiation ✅✅The process that produces the initial cancer cells is dependent of
specific mutations and characteristics of the microenvironment.
Tumor promotion ✅✅The process during which the population of cancer cells
expands with diversity of cancer cell phenotypes, is dependent on additional mutations
and a changing tumor microenvironment.
Tumor Progression ✅✅The process leading to spread of the tumor to adjacent and
distal sites (metastasis), is governed by further mutations and changing
microenvironments as the primary tumor and at sites of metastasis.
T or F: Cancer is predominantly a disease of aging ✅✅True.
Individuals who develop cancer increases dramatically with age; however, cancer can
be both mutational and epigenetic mechanisms.
Describe the differences between point mutations, chromsomal mutations,
chromosomal translocation, and gene amplification in the process of cancer?
✅✅Point mutations are small-scale changes in DNA, the alteration of one or a few
nucleotide base pairs. Chromosome translocations are large changes in chromosome
structure, in which a piece of one chromosome is translocated or moved to another
chromosome. Gene amplification is an intermediate- to large-scale genetic abnormality.
Amplifications are the result of duplication of a small region of a chromosome over and
over again, so that instead of the normal two copies of a gene, tens or even hundreds of
copies are present.
Clonal proliferation or expansion ✅✅The cancer cell has a selective advantage over
its neighbors; its progeny can accumulate faster than its non mutant neighbors.
(Increased growth rate or decreased)