Cancer+article

Elizabeth Edwards is the wife of John Edwards Tony Snow is the press secretary for George Bush Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Snow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Edwards What is a metastatic cancer cell? Metastases are malignant cellular outposts proliferating far from the neoplastic mass that spawned them and are extremely deadly Why does the author call cancer cells barbarians and cannibals? They are called barbarians because they cut off the supply of nutrients to any other type of cells and take all the nutrients for themselves. They are called cannibals because once they have taken all the nutrients and there is none left they turn on neighboring cells and eat them. What do we know about the events that transform a normal cell to a cancer cell? We don’t know much but we do know it’s a chromosomal or genetic mutation that causes cells to keep dividing even when there not supposed to Why is harder to study metastatic cancer cells? Metastatic cancer cells are always on the move in the body they can not be studied not moving around in the human body so they are tricky to study. How many cells do primary tumors shed each day (in a rodent)? Yet how many metastatic tumors do these rodents have? Millions yet they have less than five tumors Describe two ways metastatic cells can travel through the body avoiding detection from our immune system. They either shrink there size down really small or hitch a ride with a red blood cell or other moving object in the body to avoid detection Where is the first site (oasis for the cancer cell) that metastasis generally occurs? Why? Why is it an oasis? (What is an oasis?) In tissues a lot of times where wounds are because they hitch a ride with red blood cell platelets that flock to wounded areas and its good for them to be there because lots of nutrients are going there and the cells are getting impulses to grow to heal the wound. An oasis is a safe haven What is a dormant micrometastasis? Why are they relevant to human health? It’s a cell that at any time could turn into a dangerous deadly cancerous cell in people who have already had metactic cells attack there body.. They are important to watch so theres not a relapse What evidence do we have that metastasis occurs in organs that are similar to the organ of the primary tumor? Give two examples. Cells learn a skill set from from their tissue or origin. Breast cancer to bone. Skin cancer to brain
 * The article begins by mentioning two important people with cancer. Who is Elizabeth Edwards? Who is Tony Snow? (This article was written 03/07/07. As a part of this question find out what has happened in the year and a half since this article was written with respect to the cancer of Ms. Edwards and Mr. Snow. Include a link to your sources.)

Agent Orange http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081110/hl_nm/us_agent_orange_1

Vietnam veterans exposed to a strong herbicide called Agent Orange are now two thirds more likely to get prostate cancer then the average man. Agent Orange is a very strong herbicide that contains toxic materials that were sprayed in the jungles of Vietnam to deforest it. Those exposed are also more likely for other types of cancers and more susceptible to some types of diseases. While many have sued the company’s that made the product money is not a big enough reparation for the increased risk of cancer these men face. Special care needs to be taken care in the future to take care of our soldiers better.