CANCER CELLS

Definition: CANCER CELLS

CANCER CELLS

1. Cells once believed to be peculiar to cancers, but now know to be epithelial cells differing in no respect from those found elsewhere in the body, and distinguished only by peculiarity of location and grouping.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Crosswords: CANCER CELLS

Books

• Membrane in Cancer Cells (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Vol 551) (reference)

• Molecular Diagnostics of Human Cancer (Cancer Cells, No. 7) (reference)

  (more book examples)

Theater & Movies

• Dissolving & Destroying Cancer Cells "A Guided Imagery Program" (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Animal studies are necessary to confirm in vitro results before trials in human beings can be considered. One new approach is to enclose human cancer cells in microscopic capsules and grow them in laboratory-bred mice, which are then treated with a test drug.Credit: Mike Mitchell (photographer).

This illustration with and without text, titled "How Cancer Spreads" explains the process of metastasis. Once metastatic cells are attached to the basement membrane (a physical barrier that seperates tissue components), they break through with the help of an enzyme called type IV collagenase. Cancer cells then move through the blood stream enabling them to spread to other parts of the body. A secondary tumor may form at another site in the body. See artwork: GA-17.Credit: Jane Hurd (artist).

These are various images of a patient being treated with hyperthermia. Whole body hyperthermia is a method to raise a patient's body temperature for the treatment of advanced cancer. This technique is based on laboratory studies that show cancer cells are more sensitive to heat injury than normal cells. Physicians induce hyperthermia using a high-flow water suit controlled by a microprocessor, a machine which closely monitors body temperature. The patient's body temperature is raised by the insulated build-up of metabolic (body) heat, plus by the heat delivered by the warm-water suit.Credit: Mike Mitchell (photographer).

Pictured is a breast cancer cell, photographed by a scanning electron microscope, which produces a 3-dimensional images. This picture shows the overall shape of the cell's surface at a very high magnification. Cancer cells are best identified by internal details, but research with a scanning electron microscope can show how cells respond in changing environments and can show mapping distribution of binding sites of hormones and other biological molecules.Credit: Unknown photographer/artist.

Anti-cancer drugs can now be tested on human cancer cell lines in vitro for cytotoxicity and effectiveness without the use of animals. In an assay color changes in the wells show what proportion of cultured cancer cells remain alive after they have been exposed to the test drug. The plates are read by computer, and results are automatically sent to a centralized computer where they are converted into graphic reports.Credit: Bill Branson (photographer).

Scientist is performing an amino acid analysis which is used to look at the detail of cellular molecules. Knowing the genetic code and the way it relates to proteins made by the body are tools to understand cancer cells.Credit: Linda Bartlett (photographer).

A computer generated image displays focused, positively charged atomic particles. Proton beam therapy uses protons to destroy cancer cells, rather than electrons which are used in traditional radiation therapy. See artwork: GA-17 Horizons of Cancer Research.Credit: Unknown photographer/artist.

Seen is a "beam of light" traveling along fiber optics for photodynamic therapy for use in an operating room. Its source is a laser beam which is split at two different stages to create the proper "therapeutic wavelength". The patient has been given a photo sensitive drug containing cancer killing substances which are absorbed by cancer cells. During the surgery, the light beam is positioned at the tumor site, which then activates the drug that kills the cancer cells, thus photodynamic therapy.Credit: John Crawford (photographer).

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a procedure to treat cancer. Patients are injected with a photosensitizer which is a light sensitive drug selectively retained by cancer cells. When exposed to laser light, the photosensitizer in the cancer cells produces a toxic reaction which destroys the tumor. This photo shows an argon-ion laser, the first component of the argon pumped-dye laser (630nm red). This argon-ion laser emits blue-green light at 488/514 nm, and is used to excite a dye in the second component, the dye laser head, where the wavelength is changed to 630nm red. Different photosensitizers absorb light at different wavelengths. Some absorb light most efficiently in the blue light region of the spectrum around 400 nanometers(nm) with lesser absorption in the green and red light range. However, red light at 630 nm penetrates deeper into the tumor tissue (3-8 mm) than green or blue light. For this reason, the majority of PDT work has used 630 nm light. See artwork: GA-17.Credit: Unknown photographer/artist.

The photo shows the procedure of photodynamic therapy. In this therapy, patients are injected with a light-activated drug called a photosensitizer which makes cells in their body sensitive to light. The drug is selectively retained by cancer cells as compared with normal tissue. Doctors then use fiber-optic probes to expose the cancer to laser light. This activates the photosensitizer and produces a toxic reaction that destroys the tumor without irreparably damaging the surrounding normal cells There is a close-up of just the hands. See artwork: GA-17.Credit: John Crawford (photographer).

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Health

A sample of CSF is collected and examined for blood and cancer cells. (references)

Cancer cells in the liver would be called metastatic melanoma, not liver cancer. (references)

Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with drugs that can destroy cancer cells. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

French

marqueur précoce de cellule cancéreuse (marker to signal the early presence of cancer cells). (various references)

Italian

marcatore che segnala precocemente la presenza di cellule neoplastiche (marker to signal the early presence of cancer cells). (various references)

Pig Latin

ancercay ellscay

Spanish

marcador que revela la presencia precoz de células cancerosas (marker to signal the early presence of cancer cells). (various references)

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: cancellers.

-2 letters: cancelers, canceller, clarences.

-3 letters: canceler, cenacles, clarence, cleaners, cleanser, nacelles, recleans.

-4 letters: callers, cancels, cancers, carcels, careens, caserne, cellars, cenacle, cereals, cleaner, cleanse, crenels, enlaces, lancers, leaners, nacelle, recalls, recanes, reclean, relaces, rescale, scalene, sclerae, scleral, sneller.

-5 letters: allees, aneles, calces, caller, cancel, cancer, caners, carcel, careen, carles, casern, cellae, cellar, censer, cereal, cleans, clears, cranes, crease, creels, crenel, encase, enlace, lacers, lancer, lances, larees, leaner, learns, leaser, nacres, rances, ranees, reales, recall, recane, recces, relace, resale, reseal, resell, scaler, scarce, sclera, screen, sealer, seance, secern, seller, seneca.

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