The 6 Hallmarks of CancerCollege Level Kirsten Artwohl

What is cancer? Simply stated, cancer is the

uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body.

Multi Hit Hypothesis Cancer is typically a disease of old age. It

requires a succession of greater than four events that each have a low probability.

Your body does an amazing job of fighting off cancer, usually.

6 Hallmarks of Cancer For cancer to go from benign to

malignant, it must undergo the 6 Hallmarks of Cancer.

1. Self Sufficiency in Growth2. Insensitivity to Anti- Growth Factors3. Evading Apoptosis4. “Immortality”5. Angiogensesis6. Metastasis

Self Sufficiency in Growth Normally, your cells need to receive a

signal for them to divide, grow or replicate.

In cancer, however, these signals are always active, leading to mutations and uncontrolled growth of these cells.

Insensitivity to Antigrowth Factors Normally, the body knows when to stop

dividing cells, through proteins known as tumor suppressor genes.

In cancer, these tumor suppressors are lost. Without the signal to stop dividing, the cells will continue to divide.

Evade Apoptosis Apoptosis is a normal process of

programmed cell suicide, in the event that they become damaged.

Cancer cells can evade this crucial process.

“Immortality” Normally, cells will die off after a certain

period of time due to the damages done while replicating.

Cancer cells will bypass this checkpoint and go on to live forever, replicating the mutant cells.

Angiogenesis Angiogenesis is when new blood vessels

are formed. Cancer cells are able to do this

effortlessly to ensure a sufficient and continual supply of oxygen and other nutrients are present.

Metastasis Metastasis is the process by which the

cancer tumor migrates to a secondary site.

Once cancer reaches the metastasis hallmark, it is officially cancer.

Detailed description: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrMq8uA_6iA

Informative links http://www.cancer.gov/ http://www.cancer.org/