Cancer

malignant tumor or malignant neoplasm

a large group of diseases (over 200)
characterized by uncontrolled growth
Cancer Biology and spread of abnormal cells

Normal Abnormal
cell cell
growth growth

3 4 5

Normal Cells vs Cancer Cells

Tumors evolve by
repeated rounds of
Development of Cancer mutation, proliferation,
and natural selection
mutation
a permanent transmissible change in the
genetic material.

epigenetic
altering the activity of genes without changing
their structure.

6 9 10

Metastasis
PROGRESSION OF CANCER Terminologies
Invasive cancer
Hyperplasia – increased number of cells
In situ cancer

Mutation Dysplasia
Hypertrophy – increased size of cells
Hyperplasia
Dysplasia – disorderly proliferation Blood or
lymphatic
vessel
Neoplasia – abnormal new growth
Anaplasia – lack of differentiation
Metastasis – spread and growth at a
distant site
11 12 13
 Stages of Cancer

pass through
the basement lump in the
membrane lymph node

cancer has spread

within the general
region in which it first
began but not to
other parts of the
body

• A polyp 15 16 17

Types of Cancer Carcinoma vs Sarcoma Types of Cancer

1. Carcinoma
EPITHELIUM => CARCINOMA
Carcinomas (cells
derived from epithelial cells
Basal Lamina
that cover internal and include nearly all those developing in the
external body surfaces) Leukemia
(Blood Cells) Collagen MESENCHYMAL ORIGIN breast, prostate, lung, pancreas, and colon
Lung => SARCOMA
Lymphomas
Breast (Lymph nodes &tissues) fibroblasts
blood vessels 2. Sarcoma
blood cells
Colon muscle Cancers arising from connective tissue (i.e.,
adipocytes (fat) bone, cartilage, fat, nerve), each of which
bone
Bladder cartilage
develops from cells originating in
Sarcomas
Prostate
(Men)
mesenchymal cells outside the bone marrow.
Cells in supportive
tissues – bones &
muscles 20 21 22

The role of genes and environment in the development of cancer

3. Lymphoma and Leukemia Two Main Classes of Genes Are Critical for
arise from hematopoietic (blood-forming) Cancer:
cells that leave the marrow and tend to
mature in the lymph nodes and blood, Proto-oncogenes
respectively.
Tumor suppressor genes
4. Germ Cell Tumor A proto-oncogene is a
derived from pluripotent cells, most often normal gene that could
become
present in the testicle or the ovary an oncogene due to
mutations or increased
expression. Proto-
5. Blastoma oncogenes code for
proteins that help to
derived from immature "precursor" cells or regulate cell growth and
embryonic tissue differentiation.
23 24 26
The variety of proto-oncogenes and tumor
suppressor genes code for proteins of many
different types:

proteins involved in signaling pathways

that regulate cell survival, cell growth, or
cell division
involved in DNA repair, mediate the DNA
damage response, modify chromatin
proteins that help regulate the cell cycle
or apoptosis Cancers that have been linked to alcohol and smoking. Percentages represent the Various cancers that have been linked to obesity. In the USA overweight and
cancer mortality attributable to alcohol and smoking in men and women obesity could account for 14% of all deaths from cancer in men and 20% of
27 30 31
P. Irigaray, et al. Lifestyle-related factors and environmental agents causing cancer: an overview. Biomed. Pharmacother. 61:640–58 (2007) those in women

…only a third of the variation in cancer risk among tissues is

attributable to environmental factors or inherited predispositions.
The majority is due to “bad luck,” that is, random mutations arising
during DNA replication in normal, noncancerous stem cells.

SCIENCE • 2 JANUARY 2015 • VOL 347 ISSUE 6217 • pp.78-81

Cancer deaths (%) linked to diet

32 33 34
W. C. Willett. Diet and cancer. Oncologist. 5:393–404 (2000)

If therapies can be targeted

against cancer stem cells, then
they might more effectively kill
the cancer stem cells, rendering
the tumours unable to maintain
themselves or grow.
Thus, even if cancer stem cell-
directed therapies do not shrink
tumours initially, they may
eventually lead to cures.

Conventional therapies may shrink tumours by killing

mainly cells with limited proliferative potential.
If the putative cancer stem cells are less sensitive to
these therapies, then they will remain viable after
35 39 40
therapy and re-establish the tumour.
REMISSION 5 Curable Cancers (WebMD)
There are two types of remission:
1.Partial remission means the cancer is still there, but your tumor
has gotten smaller -- or in cancers like leukemia, you have less Prostate Cancer
cancer throughout your body.
2.Complete remission means that tests, physical exams, and scans
show that all signs of your cancer are gone. Some doctors also refer
Thyroid Cancer
to complete remission as “no evidence of disease (NED).” That
doesn’t mean you are cured.
3.There’s no way for doctors to know that all of the cancer cells in
Testicular Cancer
your body are gone, which is why many doctors don’t use the word
“cured.” If cancer cells do come back, it usually happens within the 5
years following the first diagnosis and treatment.
Melanoma
42
Breast Cancer 43