Number of divisions in mitosis vs meiosis
- mitosis: 1 division
- meiosis: 2 divisions
Location of mitosis vs meiosis
- mitosis: all tissues (somatic)
- meiosis: germ-line tissue (testis and ovary)
Passenger vs driver mutations
- passenger mutations: no effect on cancer cell phenotype, doesn’t driver cancer initiation
- driver mutations: causes clonal expansion
What can relapse after chemotherapy be associated with?
can be associated with resistance mutations (may predate treatment)
How is cancer development analogous to Darwinian evolution?
based on two constituent processes:
- continuous acquisition of heritable genetic variation in individual cells by more-or-less random mutation
- natural selection acting on the resultant phenotypic change
What do mutations that are acquired while the cell lineage is phenotypically normal reflect?
- intrinsic mutations acquired during normal cell division
- effects of exogenous mutagens
How does having an older father affect cancer development?
leads to more de-novo mutations with increasing age of father
Example of a familial disease (germline disease) and precision therapeutics
- cystic fibrosis caused by G551D (glycine to aspartate at codon 551) mutation
- responds extremely well to kalydeco/ivacaftor (only works to improve CFTR protein gating)
Describe CFTR
- CFTR: cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (2 membrane spanning domains (MSD) that forms a channel)
- cAMP-activated chloride ion (Cl-) channel
- expressed in apical membrane of epithelial cells in lungs, liver, pancreas, intestines, reproductive tract, submucosal glands
Different mutations in CFTR
- Class I and II: little to no functional CFTR (quantity at cell surface affected)
- Class V and VI: some functional CFTR (quantity at cell surface)
- Class III and IV: function of CFTR at cell surface affected
Trastuzumab
monoclonal antibody for breast cancer patients with HER2 over expression (blocks ligand binding)
