BIMM110- 2

• cancer = a malignant and invasive growth of tumor
• tumor = a loss of control of cell proliferation or apoptosis that leads to the formation of a mass of cells

• Benign (adenoma) = a tumor tht remains at its orginial site w/o any potential to spread
• Malignant (adenocarcinoma) = a tumor that invades other tissues

severe tissue damage, organ failure, and eventually death

• Familial = cancers that affect a # of members of a family and are not necessarily inherited
• Hereditary = cancers that are inherited; b/c of germline mutations

• normal tissues have mixture of paternal or maternal X-chromosome inactivation
• in females, tumor cells have same X-chromosome inactivation

a tumor develops through repeated rounds of mutation and proliferation, giving rise eventually to a clone of fully malignant cells

• they include all the genes whose mutation or abnormal expression causes
• 1) oncogenes = expression TURNS the normal growth into cancer
• 2) tumor suppressor genes = expression PREVENTS cancer development

• 1) Human Leukemias involving chromosome translocations
• 2) Retrovirus-induced cancers in Animals
• 3) Using DNA recombinant technology to study cell transformtion using Cell lines

the enhancer of immunoglobin heavy chain gene which is highly active in B cells

• causes excessive production of the Bcl2 proein under IgH enhancer
• stands for beta cell lymphoma 2
• excessive Bcl2 prevents apoptosis and decreases cells' sensitivity to anticancer drugs, which commonly work by causing cancer cells to undergo apoptosis