Deck 31: Special Topic: Cancer

Question 1

An adult patient has just received a diagnosis of brain cancer and is undergoing treatment. Based on what you know about cell division and cancer, why does this seem unusual?

Answer 1

In adults, neurons typically do not undergo mitosis. Given that cancer is uncontrolled mitosis, it seems odd that neurons would become cancerous. Thus, it must be the glial cells of the central nervous system that are cancerous.

Question 2

Which statement concerning cell division and cancer is incorrect?

A) Normal cells are limited in how many times they can divide.
B) Cancerous cells can become immortal.
C) Oncogenes protect against cancer.
D) Apoptosis can be used to kill cancerous cells in the body.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

________ is a treatment method in which rapidly dividing cells are killed using drugs instead of radiation.

Answer 3

Chemotherapy

Question 4

The removal and analysis of a piece of tissue that is suspected to be cancerous is called a(n) ________.

Question 5

Which of the following cancers is often not detected in women until a late stage because of a lack of routine diagnostic testing?

A) prostate
B) cervical
C) ovarian
D) breast

Question 6

An oncologist (a physician who specializes in cancer) compares two biopsy samples by looking at the percentage of cells in mitosis. Sample 1 has 15% of cells in mitosis, and sample 2 has 8% of cells in mitosis. These samples are of the same tissue type. Which sample is likely to be cancerous, and why? Why is it important that the two samples being compared came from the same tissue type?

Question 7

Which of the following is a typical means of halting normal cell division?

A) the shortening of telomeres
B) increasing the activity of p53
C) activating oncogenes
D) triggering apoptosis

Question 8

An allele known as BRCA1 is often found in women with breast and ovarian cancer. However, some women develop these cancers and do not have the BRCA1 allele. In addition, some women who have BRCA1 never develop breast or ovarian cancer. How can this be explained?

A) It is just chance whether cancer will develop.
B) These types of cancers are in no way associated with specific alleles.
C) Something other than the gene must factor into whether cancer develops.
D) The BRCA1 allele must be dominant.

Question 9

Dietary choices that can increase the risk of certain cancers include ________.

A) diets high in saturated fats
B) diets high in antioxidants
C) high-fiber diets
D) diets low in cured foods

Question 10

The risk of cancer can be reduced by ________.

A) decreasing fruit intake because fruits can be carcinogenic
B) smoking more because nicotine can kill cancerous cells
C) avoiding unnecessary medical x-rays
D) increasing saturated fats in the diet

Question 11

Which of the following is not a characteristic of cancerous cells?

A) immortality
B) contact inhibition
C) unusual shapes and sizes
D) All of the above are characteristics of cancerous cells.

Question 12

Certain new cancer therapies deal with the inhibition of angiogenesis (formation of blood vessels). How would inhibition of blood vessel formation be beneficial in terms of treating cancer?

Question 13

Cells can activate a genetic suicide program in response to a signal in the body. This programmed cell death is called ________.

Question 14

Which type of cancer had the largest percentage of deaths among women in 2012?

A) breast
B) ovarian
C) pancreatic
D) lung and bronchus

Question 15

________ can be detected through a blood test that detects a specific antigen called PSA.

Question 16

A(n) ________ is an abnormal mass of tissue that is surrounded by a capsule of connective tissue and usually remains at the site where it forms.

Question 17

If a person had cancer that had already metastasized by the time of diagnosis, the treatment options at this point would most likely include ________.

A) surgery
B) radiation
C) chemotherapy
D) immunotherapy

Question 18

Explain why malignant tumors are more dangerous than benign tumors.

Question 19

How does chemotherapy work as a treatment for cancer? Why is it not always effective?

Question 20

In order to be successful, chemotherapy drugs have to stop cell division. The most likely method for this would be to ________.

A) denature all the enzymes in the cell so division can't occur
B) speed up the cell cycle in the cancerous cells
C) stop cellular respiration so the cancerous cells don't have energy
D) interfere with the function of the spindle fibers

Question 21

This chapter discussed six different ways to treat cancer. List at least five, and briefly explain each process.

Question 22

Describe the cancer stem cell hypothesis. How might this explain the inability of traditional cancer treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy to completely eradicate tumors?