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Cancer is the mutation of cells where they begin to grow uncontrollably and is also called a malignant tumor. Cancer can spread to other parts of the body such as lymph nodes, the brain, bones, the liver or the lungs. A tumor is a mass of tissue that is formed by the mutation of cells and is either benign or malignant. A benign tumor is a noncancerous tumor which lacks the ability to spread but can be large. A malignant tumor is a cancerous tumor that can spread throughout the body. Malignant means tending to produce death. Stage 0 of cancer means the cancer is not noticeable yet and just beginning to form. Stage 1 cancer means the cancer has entered your body and is localized in one area. Stage 2 and 3 cancer means the cancer has grown and has spread into the tissues. Stage 4 cancer means that the cancer has spread into other parts of the body.
Cancer Type Specifics
I chose lung cancer for my research project because my grandfather had lung cancer and I find it interesting that I hear about so many people dying from lung cancer every year and I wanted to know more about lung cancer. There are three types of lung cancer. Adenocarcinoma is a type of lung cancer that starts in the glandular cells which make mucus and other fluids. These cells are in different parts of your body so Adenocarcinoma can happen in different parts of your body. Adenocarcinoma represents about 40 percent of lung cancer.
Another type is Squamous Cell which makes up about 25 to 30 percent of lung cancer. Squamous cell begins in the tissues that cover the internal organs of the lung. The last type is Large Cell Carcinoma which makes up about 10 to 15 percent of lung cancer. This term describes how some microscopically cancers, like lung cancer, get abnormally large. Some symptoms of lung cancer are wheezing, coughing up blood, vomiting, constant chest pain, swelling in your neck, muscle weakness, high blood pressure, seizures, or a coma. Stage 0 of this cancer is curable just by surgery alone and you don’t need to get chemotherapy and radiation therapy for this stage of lung cancer. Stage 1 of this cancer means that you would need surgery and they would have to take out a piece of your lung.
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Stage 2 of this cancer means that you would need surgery by sleeve resection and some people need their lung removed. Stage 3 of this cancer you would need a combination of surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy to treat this stage. Stage 4 of this cancer you would need immunotherapy with pembrolizumab if you are not healthy enough for surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. Most people with lung cancer are 65 and older and not many people get lung cancer younger than 45. 14% of people a year get it which is a total of more than 200,000 cases in the U.S. Females are more likely to get lung cancer.
Cause
Mitosis goes wrong, which make cells grow uncontrollably, which can lead to mutated cells and if the mutated cells get into a blood vessel, the cancer may spread to other parts of your body. For example, in lung cancer cells that are on the tissues over the lungs, if they begin to grow uncontrollably and begin to mutate, that can cause lung cancer and if the mutated cells spread it just mean that you have lung cancer in that place and not a different cancer.
For example, if lung cancer spreads to your liver, it just means that you have lung cancer in your liver and not liver cancer. The mutations occur in the somatic cells when they replicate themselves using the cell cycle. For example, when tissue of cells try to replicate old or dying cells. Cancer can be inherited from parent to offspring but lung cancer itself can’t be inherited to an offspring, which means that the allele for lung cancer is recessive. Some specific cancers can be inherited like Pancreatic Cancer and Colon Cancer, which means the allele for these cancers, are dominant.
Secondhand smoke (cigarettes) can cause lung cancer along with, air pollution and diesel exhaust, which is some of the leading causes of getting lung cancer from the outside. Offspring’s are more likely to getting lung cancer if they smoke themselves, one of their parent’s smokes, or if they have weak lungs from their mom if she smoked when she was pregnant. It can also cause the cell mutation to be the same in the offspring.
Risks
Cigarette smoking is one leading cause for lung cancer so you should never do it in your life even if one of your friends does it and offers you one, you should just say “No thank you” and walk away. I would also advise doing a job that causes you to not be around a lot of smoke, like in a factory that has a lot of smoke because breathing in smoke can also cause you to have lung cancer. I also want to say that if you do smoke and you don’t want your offspring to have the same habit you do, then you should simply try to not smoke or at least do it a lot less so your child doesn’t think that it is a good idea to start smoking just because you do it. One other way to help not to cause lung or any type of cancer is just to stay healthy and make sure you are giving the body the care it needs to operate properly.
Sickle Cell Disease
The Basics of Genetic Disorder
Genetic Disorder is a disease caused by a mutation in a person’s DNA. A genetic disorder can happen in anyone of your genes in any body system. For example, Down syndrome can affect the genes in your face, mental development, or brain (which can cause you to have cognitive delays). A gene is a unit of heredity which is given from a parent to an offspring and can determine characteristics for the offspring. Genetic Disorders can or cannot be passed down from a parent’s gene. A trait is a distinguishing characteristic. A genetic disorder can affect a person’s trait, like their face or if they have a speech delay. A mutation is changing the structure of a gene.
This can cause a genetic disorder if the parents didn’t have it already inherited. Central Dogma is a phase by Francis Crick. It means that information passes from DNA to RNA (proteins), but RNA cannot pass the information back to DNA. A genetic disorder affects DNA which can affect the RNA (proteins). Transcription is the first step of gene expression, in which DNA is copied into RNA by RNA polymerase. If transcription doesn’t code right, it could cause a mutation which could lead to genetic disorder. Translation is the process in which cellular ribosomes create proteins. In translation, messenger RNA is decoded by a ribosome to make an amino acid chain.
Genetic Disorder Specifics
I choose Sickle Cell Disease because I am curious about what will happen to the red blood cells when sickle cell affects your body. The Circulatory System is the major body system affected by sickle cell disease. Some organs in the body that may be affected are the heart, liver, kidneys, and gallbladder.
Other organs affected are the eyes, bones, and joints. Some symptoms of this disorder are anemia which makes you tired and feel dizzy and acute chest which can be life threatening because when you have an infection, the sickled cells stick together blocking the flow of oxygen in the tiny vessels in the lungs. Some recommended treatments are medications to reduce pain and prevent complications. Also, blood transfusions and bone marrow transplant are recommended treatments. African Americans are the most likely to get sickle cell disease. Sickle cell affects approximately 100,000 Americans. 1 out of every 365 African American births gets sickle cell disease. 1 out of every 16,300 Hispanic American births gets sickle cell disease. About 1 in 13 African American babies are born with the sickle cell gene.
Cause
The faulty hemoglobin can lead to distorted red blood cells, which become crescent-shaped, stiff and sticky. This can prevent brain function. Hemoglobin is a protein that helps red blood cells carries oxygen to other parts of the body. This disease is caused by a single point mutation, in the hemoglobin gene that converts a GAG codon into GUG. This disease can be inherited and is caused by a mutation in the autosomal chromosomes.
Dominant alleles mean that you will get sickle cell disease by inheritance if your parents have/had it. Homozygous means that the alleles are the same (HH) and could mean you can get sickle cell disease by inheritance or not, it depends on if they have homozygous dominant or not. Heterozygous means that the allele are different (Hh) and means it can be inherited because it has a dominant allele. Phenotype is an organism’s observable characteristics/traits. There aren’t observable traits for sickle cell disease. Genotype is the genetic makeup of a cell. This is the alleles of the cell and determines if you inherited sickle cell disease or not.
Work Cited
- Genetic Disease,” BiologyReference.com, 2001,
http://www.biologyreference.com/Fo-Gr/Genetic-Diseases.html
“Lung Cancer”. Cancer.org, March 2019,
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/non-small-cell-lung-cancer/treating/by-stage.html - Emily Burke, Ph.D. “Lung Cancer”. Healthwell.com, February 2019, https://www.healthwellfoundation.org/story/breaking-lung-cancer/
- “Sickle Cell Disease”. Hopkinsmedicine.org, August 2019,
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/sickle cell-disease - “Lung Cancer”. MedlinePlus.gov, August 2019,
https://medlineplus.gov/lungcancer.html - “Genetic Disease”, Ncbi.Nlm.Nih.gov, June 1, 2006,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3525162/“Sickle - Cell Disease”. Nhlbi.nih.gov, December 2018,
https://nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/sickle-cell-disease - “Mitosis”. Sciencing.com, July 2019,
https://sciencing.com/happens-mitosis-goes-wrong-8400.html - “Cancer”. Webmd.com, June 2019,
https://www.webmd.com/cancer/cancer-stages#1 - “Genetic Disorder”. YourGenome.org, May 2019,
https://www.yourgenome.org/facts/what-is-a-genetic-disorder
