19. Cancer Genetics

Which of the following are enzymes are responsible for controlling the cell cycle?

How do we know that cancer cells contain defects in DNA repair?

How do we know that cancer development requires more than one mutation?

How do we know that malignant tumors arise from a single cell that contains mutations?

A tumor is a growing mass of abnormal cells. What must happen for a benign tumor to become malignant?

A tumor is a growing mass of abnormal cells. Give an example from this chapter of a benign tumor that becomes a malignant tumor.

A tumor is a growing mass of abnormal cells. Describe the difference between a benign tumor and a malignant tumor.

For the retinal cancer retinoblastoma, the inheritance of one mutated copy of RB1 from one of the parents is often referred to as a mutation that produces a 'dominant predisposition to cancer.' This means that the first mutation does not produce cancer but makes it very likely that cancer will develop. Define the 'two-hit hypothesis' for retinoblastoma.

Where are the major regulatory points in the cell cycle?

List the functions of kinases and cyclins, and describe how they interact to cause cells to move through the cell cycle.

What is the difference between saying that cancer is inherited and saying that the predisposition to cancer is inherited?

As a genetic counselor, you are asked to assess the risk for a couple with a family history of familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) who are thinking about having children. Neither the husband nor the wife has colorectal cancer, but the husband has a sister with FAP. What is the probability that this couple will have a child with FAP? Are there any tests that you could recommend to help in this assessment?

What is apoptosis, and under what circumstances do cells undergo this process?

Go to the website http://www.cancer.gov and select 'Cancer Types' on the top menu bar. Scroll down to 'Breast Cancer' and click. Select 'Cases & Prevention' from the options. Click 'More information' and select 'BRCA Mutations: Cancer Risk and Genetic Testing'. Use the information on this page to answer the following questions. As a special project, instead of selecting 'Breast Cancer' from the list of types of cancer, select another cancer you would like to know more about and produce a short summary of what you find.

What kind of information will be made available by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)? What sort of role do you think TCGA information will play in cancer diagnosis and cancer treatment in the future?