W11

• Transformation


  Process of a normal cell becoming cancerous
• Primary tumor


  Abnormal growth of cells that does not spread from its original tissue
• Oncogenes


  Genes that experience gain of function mutations that turn on pathways to promote tumor growth
• Kras


  Oncogene that creates a protein that is active when it is GTP bound
• Tumor suppressor genes


  Genes that experience loss of function to promote tumor growth
• p53


  Tumor suppressor that usually stops cell division in response to DNA damage
• Phosphorylation


  Process of turning on proteins by adding phosphates
• Kinases


  Enzymes that phosphorylate proteins
• Phosphatases


  Enzyme that remove phosphates from proteins
• v-Src


  First viral oncogene that was identified in chickens that caused a massive increase in tyrosine phosphorylation due to a loss of c-terminus tail length
• Western blotting


  Technique used to detect specific proteins using specific antibodies
• Integrins


  Upstream receptors that can increase the activity of Src
• Enzyme-coupled receptors


  Cell surface receptors that work with enzymes
• Ligand-gated channels


  Cell surface receptors that work with ligands i.e. Ion channels
• G-protein coupled receptors


  Surface receptors that work with G-proteins by acting as GEFs across the membrane when activated and cross the membrane 7 times
• Receptor tyrosine kinases


  Type of transmembrane enzyme coupled receptors that respond to ligand binding by forming dimers that activate kinase domains to phosphorylate targets within the cytoplasm
• Growth factor


  The majority of receptors that respond to this hormone are RTKs and signal the growth of cells
• Epidermal growth factor receptor


  Example of an RTK used for EGF
• EGFR


  This receptor dimerizes asymmetrically and its pathway can often be altered to increase signaling in many cancers
• Truncation


  This occurs in the extracellular domain of RTKs to activate them as oncogenes
• Autocrine signaling


  This allows cancer to express growth factor and stimulate its own growth
• Scaffold proteins


  Large proteins that serve to assemble groups of multiple downstream signaling components in cell signaling complexes
• Adaptor proteins


  Smaller proteins that can link proteins together in cell signaling complexes
• MAPK


  Scaffold protein pathway that is activated downstream of a TON of different signals
• Phosphoinositide docking


  Proteins that are phosphorylated to create phospholipid binding sites
• PI3K


  This kinase converts PIP2 to PIP3 to create phosphoinositide docking sites
• PTEN


  This is a phosphatase that opposes the action of PI3K
• Akt


  Protein that gets activated downstream of PI3K
• PKC


  Protein that is activated by Ca used as a second messenger