Cancer+Cells+HW5+MC

1.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.) She is a 57 year old wife of Presidential candidate, John Edwards. Her cancer went from breast to bone. He was a 51 year old press secretary to President Bush. His cancer went form colon to liver. Within the year and a half after the article was written, they cancer returned to the both of them, except Tony Snow died. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20016264,00.html 2.What is a metastatic cancer cell? It’s a cancerous cell that spreads throughout the body, from one part of the body to the next part of the body, spreading cancer throughout the body. Sometimes it may cause tumors. 3.Why does the author call cancer cells barbarians and cannibals? Because they are colonist cells, co-opting all nutrients in their adopted organ and they starve their normal neighbors of air, sugar and salts, and block traffic and clog conduits, and finally, when their greed exceeds their easy grab, they tear open surrounding cells, and they feast like cannibals on the meat of their fellows. 4.What do we know about the events that transform a normal cell to a cancer cell? They have identified genetic mutations and chromosomal aberrations that prompt cells to think they are being stimulated by growth hormones when they are not, that stifle safety signals meant to keep cell division in check, and that shore up the tips of chromosomes and so immortalize cells that otherwise would be slated to die. 5.Why is it harder to study metastatic cancer cells? It’s very challenging because the great majority of cancer cells are not up to the task. They slither into the blood and fail to do anything further. 6.How many cells do primary tumors shed each day (in a rodent)? Yet how many metastatic tumors do these rodents have? They shed a million cells each, but the number of tumors can be counted on one hand. 7.Describe two ways metastatic cells can travel through the body avoiding detection from our immune system. One way is that a few manage to slim down to almost bacterial dimensions by pinching off unnecessary hanks of their cytoplasm. They attract an entourage of platelets and red blood cells to their surface. Another way is that most tumor cells lack the streamlined form of the blood and immune cells that are designed for cross-body trafficking, shear forces in the smaller vessels may rip the intruders apart. 8.Where is the first site (oasis for the cancer cell) that metastasis generally occurs? Why? Why is it an oasis? (What is an oasis?). The first site that it generally occurs is its wounds sites because the chaperone platelets handily stick, enabling their companion cancer cells to gain their first toehold in virgin terrain, and to begin feeding on the rich broth of growth hormones and factors with which wound sites typically teem. An oasis is a waterhole, watering place, or spring. 9.What is a dormant micrometastasis? Why are they relevant to human health? They are malignant cells that have settled onto a new site, their replicative success is hardly guaranteed. They are related to human health because Most appear to either die or lapse into dormancy. Tumors can metastasize into bone tissue. 10.What evidence do we have that metastasis occurs in organs that are similar to the organ of the primary tumor? Give two examples. Different types of primary tumors tend to metastasize to their “preferred” organ: cells learn a skill set from their tissue of origin, and some lessons are more easily applied to one novel setting than to another. Breast tumors, for example, are known to metastasize to bone tissue, where the invasive cells perversely take advantage of their ability to gather calcium ions for breast milk and apply it to the rampant dissolution of calcium-rich bone. Malignant melanoma spreads readily to the brain, presumably because neural tissue and the melanocytes that give rise to melanoma both arise from the same class of cells during gestation. 11.Find a current (published in last 2 months) news article (from a national source) about cancer. Post a link to the article and write a 75-100 word summary. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081110112105.htm

Cancer cells are already stressed by the fast pace they require to grow and spread and scientists believe a little more stress just may kill them. Scientists tested out a new system of finding or detecting cancerous cells quicker, giving the cancer patient a better chance of surviving longer or just surviving period. It takes strategy to kill cancer cells quicker than to detech them. I done heard so many stories of of me quitting.