A 43-year-old member asked:
How can cancer cells escape programmed cell death?
1 doctor answer • 1 doctor weighed in
Dr. Myron Arlenanswered
Surgical Oncology 64 years experience
They are immortalize: Programmed cell death is markedly reduced in cancer due to a phenomenon related to prolongation of chromosomal integrity.
Normal cell that divide have caps on the top on the tops of their chromosomes known as telomeres. With each division, the telomere is reduced until the cell can not divide any further. Cancer has an enzyme known as telomerase that constantly replace the telomeres.
4.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
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A 40-year-old member asked:
In what ways can cancer cells escape programmed cell death?
1 doctor answer • 3 doctors weighed in
Dr. Ed Friedlanderanswered
Pathology 44 years experience
Mutations: Several of the known mutations that contribute to the malignant phenotype work by opposing the normal mechanisms of apoptosis. The discovery of bcl2 mutations driving lymphoma was the first of many. Here's a now-classic paper http://carcin.Oxfordjournals.Org/content/21/3/485.Full.
4.4k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
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Last updated Apr 23, 2014
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