12. Initiation is the creation by genotoxic carcinogens of a cell with abnormal
DNA. After initiation, promoters stimulate the replication of these
neoplastic cells and facilitate the development of the tumour.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18. Tumor promoters are substances that accelerate cell turnover
so that genetically damaged cells multiply more rapidly and
have greater likelihood of acquiring additional mutations
needed for malignant transformation.
An enhancer is a short (50–1500 bp) region of
DNA that can be bound by proteins (activators)
to increase the likelihood that transcription of a
particular gene will occur. These proteins are
usually referred to as transcription factors.
Gene amplification is an increase in the number of copies of
a gene without a proportional increase in other genes. This can
result from duplication of a region of DNA that contains
a gene through errors in DNA replication and repair machinery as
well as through fortuitous capture by selfish genetic elements.
Point mutation is a mutation
affecting only one or very few
nucleotides in a gene sequence.
46. COVID-19 & CANCER
• As the new coronavirus, called COVID-19, continues to spread across the world, it has many experts
trying to determine how it affects patients with cancer.
• The patient population consisted of mostly men (60.7%) who were a median age of 65 years old.
Lung cancer was the most frequently seen diagnosis in 25% of patients, followed by esophageal
(14.3%) and breast (10.7%) cancer, and 35.7% of patients had stage 4 disease. In addition, 39.2% of
patients had at least one or more coexisting chronic diseases.
• The researchers learned that eight patients (28.6%) developed COVID-19 while undergoing therapy
in the hospital and 20 (71.4%) contracted the virus from their communities — most (67.9%) were
from Hankou, the starting point of the outbreak. Within two weeks of a COVID-19 diagnosis, 21.4%
of patients received at least one type of cancer treatment, such as chemotherapy (10.7%), targeted
therapy (7.1%), radiotherapy (3.6%) or immunotherapy (3.6%), and one patient received
combination chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
• Upon admission, more than 80% of patients experienced fever, dry cough, abnormally low levels of
lymphocytes in the blood and high levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, which measures
levels of inflammation in the body. Nearly 90% of patients showed hypoproteinemia, a condition
where there is an abnormally low level of protein in the blood. Three quarters of the population
had trouble breathing and half showed signs of anemia.
47. • Patients with cancer are particularly susceptible to respiratory
pathogens and severe pneumonia because they are at an
immunosuppressive state due to malignancy and anti-tumor
therapy,” the researchers wrote. “It was found that within 14 days,
anti-tumor therapies were significantly associated with occurrence
of severe clinical events in COVID-19 infection.”
• They recommended the following for patients with cancer who are
undergoing therapy: vigorous screening for COVID-19 infection,
avoiding treatments that cause immunosuppression or having
dosages decreased in case of COVID-19 co-infection.
48. THANK YOU
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