Case studies

• lung cancer: why it needed tackling

  smoking = v. popular WW1 & onwards. 90% of lung cancer cases are smoking-related. 2nd most common cancer. 1985- smoke-related deaths costed the NHS £165 million yearly. no national screening programme
• diagnosing lung cancer


  CT scan detects tumour in lung. bronchoscopy collects sample of cells, doctor determines cancer type and draws up a treatment plan
• treating lung cancer


  surgery (remove tumour), transplant, radiotherapy (gamma knife), chemotherapy (powerful chemicals shrink tumour), genetic treatments not yet developed
• gov prevention of lung cancer

  1950- evidence of smoking's detrimental effect published. 1965- banned advertisement of tobacco on TV. 2006- Health Act banned smoking in work places. 2007- 16 to 18 years old 2015- banned cars with children in.
• final cause of disease

  DNA. 1900- Mendel theorised that genes come in pairs- one from each parent. 1902- Archibald Garrod theorised that hereditary diseases are caused by missing info
• discovering the structure of DNA: Franklin and Wilkins

  Rosalind F used x-ray crystallography to photograph single strands of DNA. Maurice Wilkins = first person to take X-ray photo of DNA
• discovering the structure of DNA: Crick and Watson


  2 German scientists created electron microscope in 1930s using a beam of electrons. Francis C & James W worked together at Cambridge Uni in 1953nand built a model of DNA- double helix.
• how were Crick and Watson helped


  Franklin made a correction using her x-rays. Wilkins shared clearer images of DNA. gov grants allowed them to use the best equipment
• the human genome project

  1986-2001. led b Watson. identified and mapped out each gene in the body using computers
• why was the discovery important

  so that we can now identify, prevent and treat (?) hereditary diseases e.g. breast cancer, CF, type 1 diabetes
• treatments: gene therapy


  2003- Glendicine- China - Cancers. 2012- Glybera- UK/EU- rare inherited disorder
• preventions: screening


  recognising and diagnosing hereditary diseases e.g. BrCA 1 & 2. tests in pregnancy can detect down's syndrome