Cancer+Article+Questions

1. The article begins by mentioning two important people with cancer. Who is Elizabeth Edwards? Who is Tony Snow? (Include their politcal party, job, and current health status-this article was written in April-your answer should have more than what you can find in the article) Elizabeth Edwards is the 57 year old wife of democratic presidential canidate John Edwards, and she has been batteling breast cancer for years. It has come back several times and now moved into her bone. Tony Snow is a 51 year old press secratary to president bush, has had cancer move from his colon to the liver. He like Mrs. Edwards has been fighting cancer for some time in his life.

2. What is a metastatic cancer cell? This is the process of the transfer of cancer from one organ to another. Mr. Snow has metastatic cancer, because it started in his colon and moved into his liver

3. Why does the author call cancer cells barbarians and cannibals? Because they attack everything in your body that is healthy, and eat/destroy them. Its very hard to fight off a disease that keeps reproducing so rapidly, as well as being amune to a lot of medicine.

4. What do we know about the events that transform a normal cell to a cancer cell? When a cell starts to divide rapidly, and then it gives rise to a primary tumor. The cells think that they are being stimulated by growth hormones and then they rapidly divide and grow.

5. Why is harder to study metastatic cancer cells? Its harder, becaues they are constantly on the move to another organ in a person's body. Colon cancer is very different from liver cancer, but these cells are very smart and they quickly adapt to their new enviornment that they are trying to disrupt.

6. How many cells do primary tumors shed each day (in a rodent)? Yet how many metastatic tumors do these rodents have? Cancer cells typically divide anywere from 60 to 70 times a day. Each rodent then has about 60 to 70 of these metastatic tumors that they have then picked up.

7. Describe two ways metastatic cells can travel through the body avoiding detection from our immune system. One way is that they hide them selves as parasites, while others hitchike and attract an entourage of palatelets of red blood cells to their surface.

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?) They typically occur in the mouth, and are first ditected by dentists or oral sergions when you go in to have you teeth cleaned.

9. What is a dormant micrometastasis? Why are they relevant to human health? Once they settle down in your mouth, most of them die while the others addapt making them not really harmful to your health. The average person stores several thousand of them in their body without even noticing a difference.

10. What evidence do we have that metastasis occurs in organs that are similar to the organ of the primary tumor? Give two examples. It can be ditected in bone, one of the places where it rapidly spreads, or in the brain as well. These are two common places where ditection occurs.