nursing students

1. Tumor immunology
GRACE ORINA

3. Tumor immunology is the study of:
• The antigenic properties of the tumor cells
• The host Immune Response to these tumor
cells
• The immunologic consequences to the host of
the growth of the malignant cells
• The means e means by which the immune
system can be modulated to recognize tumor
cells and promote tumor eradication

4. • Tumor antigens
• Effectors mechanisms in anti-tumor immunity
• Mechanisms of tumor evasion evasion of the
immune system
• Immunotherapy for tumors

5. CAUSATIVE AGENTS OF TUMOUR
INDUCTION
• Spontaneous
• Chemical carcinogens
• UV an d ionizing radiation
• Virus-induced (HepC, EBV, HPV)
• Genetic abnormalities
• Immunosuppression

6. How cancer starts, grows and spreads
• Our bodies are made up of trillions of cells
grouped to form tissues and organs. Genes
inside the nucleus of each cell tell it when to
grow, work, divide and die. Normally, our cells
follow these instructions and we stay healthy.

7. conti………
• But when there is a change in our DNA or
damage to it, a gene can mutate.
• Mutated genes don’t work properly because
the instructions in their DNA get mixed up.
• This can cause cells that should be resting to
divide and grow out of control, which can lead
to cancer.

8. How cancer starts
• When genes work properly, they tell cells
when it is the right time to grow and divide.
When cells divide, they make exact copies of
themselves. One cell divides into 2 identical
cells, then 2 cells divide into 4, and so on. In
adults, cells normally grow and divide to make
more cells only when the body needs them,
such as to replace aging or damaged cells.

9. Normal Cell Division

10. Starts cont…
• Cancer cells are different.
• Cancer cells have gene mutations that turn
the cell from a normal cell into a cancer cell.
• These gene mutations may be inherited,
develop over time as we get older and genes
wear out, or develop if we are around
something that damages our genes, like
cigarette smoke, alcohol or ultraviolet (UV)
radiation from the sun.

11. • A cancer cell doesn’t act like a normal cell.
• It starts to grow and divide out of control instead
of dying when it should.
• Cancer cells don’t mature as much as normal
cells so they stay immature.
NOTE
• There are many different types of cancer.
• They all start because of cells that are growing
abnormally and out of control.
• Cancer can start in any cell in the body.

12. How cancer grows
• Gene mutations in cancer cells interfere with
the normal instructions in a cell and can cause
it to grow out of control or not die when it
should.
• A cancer can continue to grow because cancer
cells act differently than normal cells.

13. Cancer cells are different from normal
cells because they:
• divide out of control
• are immature and don’t develop into mature cells
with specific jobs
• avoid the immune system
• ignore signals that tell them to stop dividing or to
die when they should
• don’t stick together very well and can spread to
other parts of the body through the blood or
lymphatic system
• grow into and damage tissues and organs

14. • As cancer cells divide, a tumour will develop
and grow.
• Cancer cells have the same needs as normal
cells. They need a blood supply to bring
oxygen and nutrients to grow and survive.
• When a tumour is very small, it can easily
grow, and it gets oxygen and nutrients from
nearby blood vessels.

15. HOW A CANCER CELL GROW

16. • When a tumour grows, it needs more blood to bring
oxygen and other nutrients to the cancer cells.
• So cancer cells send signals for a tumour to make new
blood vessels. This is called angiogenesis and it is one
of the reasons that tumours grow and get bigger.
• It also allows cancer cells to get into the blood and
spread more easily to other parts of the body. There is
a lot of research that is looking at using drugs that stop
blood vessel growth (called angiogenesis inhibitors),
causing a tumour to stop growing and even shrink.

17. How cancer spreads
• As a tumour gets bigger, cancer cells can
spread to surrounding tissues and structures
by pushing on normal tissue beside the
tumour.
• Cancer cells also make enzymes that break
down normal cells and tissues as they grow.
Cancer that grows into nearby tissue is called
local invasion or invasive cancer.

18. HOW CANCER CELL SPREADS

19. • Cancer can also spread from where it first
started to other parts of the body.
• This process is called metastasis.
• Cancer cells can metastasize when they break
away from the tumour and travel to a new
location in the body through the blood or
lymphatic system.

20. Where cancer can spread and staging
• Most cancers have a tendency to spread to certain areas of the
body.
• This has helped doctors develop staging systems that are used to
classify cancers based on information about where the cancer is in
the body and if it has spread from where it started.
• Many cancers follow a staging system from 1 to 4 that is usually
given in Roman numerals I, II, III or IV. Knowing how a cancer
spreads and where a cancer may spread helps doctors predict how
the cancer will grow.
• This also helps them plan treatment and give appropriate
supportive care.
• Cancer can spread anywhere in the body, but it’s most likely to
spread to lymph nodes, bones, the brain, the liver or the lungs.

21. Why does cancer sometimes come
back?
• Cancer sometimes comes back after treatment.
• This is called a recurrence. Even if one cancer cell is left
behind, it can grow and divide to become a new tumour.
• A new tumour can start to grow in the same area of the
body where the cancer first started, or the cancer may have
spread through the blood or lymphatic system to another
part of the body, where it grows into a new tumour.
• This is why doctors sometimes use another treatment right
after the first treatment, such as giving chemotherapy after
surgery. This is called adjuvant therapy.
• The goal of adjuvant therapy is to help prevent the cancer
from coming back in case some cancer cells are left behind
in the body

22. • In some cases, treatment may stop working
(become resistant) so cancer cells are no
longer being destroyed. So cancer that was
shrinking or had disappeared may start to
grow again and get bigger. This can happen
when the genes inside cancer cells mutate.
Some gene mutations make cancer cells
resistant to chemotherapy and other drug
treatments. If you become resistant to a
treatment, your doctor may suggest that you
try another one.

23. Cure or remission
• Many cancers can be cured with treatment.
But cancer that is thought to be cured can still
come back even years later.
• This is why some doctors prefer to say that
the cancer is in remission.
• Remission means there are fewer signs and
symptoms of a disease (such as cancer) or that
they have completely gone away.

24. Comparison
• Tumors are sometimes cancerous but this
does not mean that tumors and cancers are
synonyms (as most people think). Though all
lumps are not cancerous, a few of them are.
So a proper examination of lumps is very
important.

25. Treatment
• Cancer -Surgery, chemotherapy and
radiotherapy.
• Tumor
• Removing a benign tumor is relatively easy
through surgery, and the condition does not
recur.

26. Abnormal Cellular Growth
• Tumors and cancers are different. A tumor
develops when a lesion or lump is formed in
your body due to abnormal cellular growth. In
the case of cancer, this cellular growth is
uncontrollable and it spreads in the body.
Both can be detected with an MRI scan.

27. Not all tumors are cancerous
• It is important to understand that not all
tumors are cancerous. There are benign
tumors where the growth is limited to certain
part of the body. A tumor becomes cancer
when it is malignant. This means that the
primary growth can generate several
secondary growths thus invading vital parts of
your body and spreading everywhere.

28. • Just as all tumors are not cancerous,
all cancer cases are also not
characterized by tumor growth. For
example, in case of blood cancer,
there is no tumor involved. However,
on appearance of a tumor, biopsy
becomes very important to
determine if its growth is malignant
or benign.

29. • A tumor may or may not develop
into cancer. Cancer on the other
hand is a malignant condition in
which the spread of abnormal
cellular growth could become
uncontrollable.

30. Types of Cancers
• Breast cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Lung cancer
• Colon cancer
• Corpus and uterus cancer
• Melanoma (skin cancer)
• Urinary bladder cancer
• Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
• Renal (kidney) cancer
• Leukemia (blood cancer)

31. • While the above list is based on frequency of occurrence
(i.e., new cases), the top 10 list when sorted by mortality or
death rates gives us the deadliest cancers, which are as
follows:
• Lung cancer
• Breast cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Colon cancer
• Pancreatic cancer
• Liver cancer
• Ovarian cancer
• Leukemia (blood cancer)
• Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
• Corpus and uterus cancer
•

32. Cancer vs Psoriasis

33. PSORIASIS
• Psoriasis is a skin disease that causes red,
itchy scaly patches, most commonly on the
knees, elbows, trunk and scalp. Psoriasis is a
common, long-term (chronic) disease with no
cure. It tends to go through cycles, flaring for a
few weeks or months, then subsiding for a
while or going into remission.

34. Chemotherapy vs Radiation Therapy

35. FINISHING WELL
2 john 1:8-ESV
• Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose
what we have worked for, but may win a full
reward.
• Philippians 1: 6-NIV
• being confident of this, that he who began a
good work in you will carry it on to completion
until the day of Christ Jesus.