1. The 6 Hallmarks of Cancer College Level Kirsten Artwohl

2. 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.

3. 6 Hallmarks of Cancer  For cancer to go from benign to malignant, it must undergo the 6 Hallmarks of Cancer. 1. Self Sufficiency in Growth 2. Insensitivity to Anti- Growth Factors 3. Evading Apoptosis 4. “Immortality” 5. Angiogensesis 6. Metastasis

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. “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.

8. 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.

9. 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=rrMq 8uA_6iA

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