Cancer Case Study
2/6/12
Part One
The most common types of skin cancer rising from simple to very dangerous are:
1. Basal cell Carcinoma
2. Squamous cell carcinoma
3. Melanoma
Symptoms of Melanoma:
Spots on the skin:
Having freckles or moles on the skin is normal; most of the times people are born with moles and
gain more spots on skin as they grow old.
Majority of the moles stays as the moles for rest of the life, but some moles can turn into
dangerous skin cancer Melanoma.
 Asymmetry: One half of the mole is different from the other half.
 Border irregularity: The spot has borders which are not smooth and regular but uneven or
notched.
 Color: The spot has several colors in an irregular pattern or is a very different color than
the rest of your moles.
 Diameter: The spot is larger than the size of a pencil eraser.
Again if two of four conditions match, it does not mean the mole is Melanoma cancer. The
person needs to go through biopsy before being sure about anything.
The risk of melanoma increases:
 If a person has light skin, eyes, or hair.
 If a person has prehistory of maximum exposure on sun.
 More than 100 moles in the body or having larger irregular moles.
The major reason of skin cancer is seen as exposure to sun lights and UV(Ultraviolet rays) rays.
Ultraviolet B rays are burning rays (blocked by window glass) that are the primary cause of
sunburns and skin cancer. Ultraviolet A rays (penetrate through window glass) are able to
penetrate deeper into the dermis or the base layer of the skin. UV A rays also contribute to skin
burning and cancer. Both UV A and B rays can suppress the immune system, which helps protect
against the development and spread of skin cancer.
Questions:
1. What are some differences between Judy and Mariah that might make Judy more "at
risk" for skin cancer than Mariah?
The differences between Mariah and Judy are:
Firstly, Judy has pale white skin. It is mentioned in the case that she has red hair in fact
which verifies that she has Phonmelanin as a melanin pigment. People who have this
melanin pigment are less able to make dark pigment and protect themselves from harmful
rays. Whereas in case of Mariah she has brown hair as Judy mentioned her as “GREEK
GODDESS”, and she has eumelanin as melanin pigment which make her less susceptible to
melanoma.
Secondly, Judy has the previous history of skin burn. Whereas Mariah has never had burn in
before as per said by Judy that Mariah never gets bother by sun.
Thirdly, Judy does have big and irregular moles in her body whereas Mariah did not have
anything like that in her body.
2. What observations did Judy make concerning her mole?
Her mole was itching and bothering her since past few days. Her mole looks little bigger and
different than before. The edges were sort of jagged. One edge was a bit darker than the
other and in the middle was a raised purplish-black dot. She was unable to wipe that purple
black dot.
Part 2
Proto-oncogene- is a normal gene, that codes for proteins that help to regulate cell growth
Biopsy- removals of questionable cells or tissue in order to take a closer look at cells to see if the
are abnormal
A Benign tumor is a mass of normal looking cells, easy to treat by removing them and they stay
in one place
Malignant tumor is a mass of abnormal cells, whose growth cannot be controlled by regular
mechanisms, and they can also spread to other parts of the body, they are cancerous and serious
Treatment: removal of all cancerous cells found and then chemotherapy treatments to kill all the
cancer cells that could have been missed
Genes that get mutated and can cause cancer are of specific type called cell cycle genes.
In normal cells, formation of cell cycle protein is tightly controlled, so the activating proteins are
only made when we really need more cells and the inhibitory proteins are only made when we
don’t need more cells
Mutations can eliminate the tight regulation and lead to uncontrolled cell division
This happens in many types of cancer
A normal cellular process, cell division, is no longer properly controlled
The activating class of these cell cycle genes consists of proto-oncogenes
The normal job of these genes is to code for proteins that promote cell division
Certain mutations in proto-oncogenes result in proteins that are active all the time causing
continuous cell division
Questions
1. Considering the differences between a benign tumor and a malignant tumor, why
might a benign tumor be easier to treat?
A benign tumor would be easier to treat, because they stay in one place and do not spread
throughout the body and they are not cancerous tumors.
2. Judy learned that every single person has these cell cycle genes so cells in our body
can divide when necessary. What are some normal circumstances where out bodies
might need to make more cells?
Some normal circumstances where our bodies need to make more cells would be when new
skin cells are made to replace the old layers, blood cells need to be made when a human
loses blood, and they need to replace the blood cells lost.
3. Every person has these cell cycle proto-oncogenes, but not every person has cancer.
Why might this be?
Although everyone has proto-oncogenes, everyone does not get cancers, because everyone
does not have mutations in their cells that cause cancer, and without the mutation, the
normal cell cycle process continues and cancer is not present in normal healthy cells.