In eight pages this paper examines cancer in an overview of the role played by proto oncogenes. Six sources are cited in the bibliography.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_BBprotoC.doc
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
is indeed frightening, we are learning more about the disease all the time. Much of our understanding of the biology of cancer has come from studies of cells in
tissue culture; that is through the comparisons of normal cells with cancer cells. This discussion will examine cancer at a cellular level: protocogenes and oncogenes. Cancer Cells
According to Lander (2001), cancer and tumors are generally the result of unregulated growth, and consequent mutation of cells. Cancer cells have three distinct characteristics, which are
not associated with "normal" cells. These are: 1) an "indefinite proliferative life "span; 2) loss of response to normal regulators of cell growth, labeled "transformation;" 3) and
the ability to leave a tumor and to invade other cells/tissues at another location in the body called "metastasis." Genetic damage appears to be present in most cancer cells,
and it appears that this is a heritable trait of all cells of subsequent generations. It is something, which is not deemed "correctable," but, rather something which can
be maintained or regulated, according to other impulses from the body. It should also be noted that, tumor cells also can arise by non-genetic means through the actions of
specific tumor viruses. According to Lander (2001), more than half of all human tumors are associated with defects in the p53 gene (named for its molecular weight
of 53 kD). When p53 is inactive (loss-of-function), this regulatory pathway does not function. Protoncogenes A protoncogene relates to the "protein matter or product" of the gene. Through
heredity we might say that this protein matter is vulnerable if it receives some trauma to the system. This "trauma" can occur through: retroviral transduction or retroviral integration