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Biology
Cancer Online #2 – More Details
11.15.11
Go to Mr. Mason’s website and follow the link labeled “Cancer – Growth and
Development of Cancer”.
1. Click on “first tumor cell”. Where do most cancers originate? Explain
what this word means, please.
2. Go to the next step. Realistically, do you have any small tumors in your
body right now? What are these tumors called?
3. What does the protein MMP do, and why is this a problem with regards to
cancer?
4. How is lymphangiogenesis different from angiogenesis (which we have
previously studied)?
5. At the point of lymphangiogenesis and/or angiogenesis, what are all of
the possibilities of what cancer can do next? (4 possibilities) This
partially explains why cancer is so difficult to predict and treat.
6. We previously read that a tumor the size of a grape can be detected
relatively easily. Once it is that size, how many cells can it shed per day,
leading to the risk of metastasis?
7. If a cancer patient found cancerous cells in their lymph nodes, why might
this be a troubling discovery?
8. If part or all of an organ were removed and it was found that cancer had
spread to the margin of the tissue, what does this probably mean for the
cancer patient?
9. Are micro-mets harmful in and of themselves (can organs function if these
metastases are present)? Explain.
10. What is it that changes this, and thus causes micro-mets to become
potentially deadly macro-mets?
11. We’ve read about very large tumors in some cases, such as the tangerinesized tumor in the article from the NY Times or the grapefruit-sized one
that my sister had. Tumors don’t necessarily need to be that large to
cause illness or death, though, because some of our organs are quite
small. Your pancreas and spleen, for example, are not large at all. That
being the case, according to the site, how large does a tumor need to be
to cause serious illness or death if located in a small, vitally important
organ?
Go back to Mr. Mason’s website and click on the link for the Inside Cancer
website.
12. Under Diagnosis and Treatment, click on the pathology link. What does a
pathologist do?
13. Click on #3 underneath the slides for pathology. According to Dr. De
Marzo, what is it specifically about a stained (dyed) cell that can indicate if
it is cancerous?
14. Click on #4 under pathology. Why does his analogy of comparing cancer
cells to students make sense? Explain.
15. Click on #5, 6, and 7 and try to correctly guess which samples are from
normal tissues and which are cancerous. How did you do? How could
you tell which were cancerous? (I got one two out of three right, but
missed one of them on my first try.)
16. The other three sections of the Diagnosis and Treatment section are
important, but we don’t have time to cover all of this. If you have a
family history of cancer or know a cancer patient, it is really good stuff to
read. We’ll cover some of this stuff during our genetics unit next
semester. For now, move on to the Pathways to Cancer link at the top.
Watch the first 8 slides (it goes quickly). How is the cell signaling system
related to cancer?
The rest of the animations under this section are really interesting, but
they’re really complex. If you have any interest in biochemistry (I know there
is at least one student in my Bio class that wants to be a molecular biologist),
work your way through these. It’s a good demonstration of how incredibly
complex your cells are – in this case, just in order to send a message.
17. Underneath all of this, click on “Go to blog”. Click on the entry labeled
“Why no cure for cancer?” (about seven entries down the page). There
are two questions here, and these should be answered in paragraph form.
These are not simple questions, nor are there simple answers to them.
Based upon what you read, though, on the back of this page give me at
least a paragraph for each of the following question:
a. Why do different types of cancer have such vastly different survival
rates?
b. Why is there no cure for cancer, and why is the idea of a single
“cure” for cancer not even a realistic idea?
i. Extra Credit: Still want to learn more? Awesome! Either
read through more of the blog entries and reflect on what
you learn or go back to the skipped parts of the Inside
Cancer website (the sections on Diagnosis and Treatment or
Pathways to Cancer) and reflect on what you learn there.
The amount of extra credit will depend on effort shown.