Individual Assignment 3 Instructions
The global community is plagued by increasing incidence of leukemia; non-Hodgkin lymphoma; lung, colorectal, breast, pancreatic, prostate, liver, ovarian, and esophageal cancers. Other types of cancer exist but are less frequent. What is the scientific community doing to attempt to eliminate the most common forms of cancer that are ravaging society?
1. Read the course textbook’s chapter on cell division, specifically the last section on how cells become cancerous. This is context for completing Individual Assignment 3.
2. Watch the Presentation in Module/Week 4 entitled “Ways to Fight Cancer.” Notice that the presentation outlines essentially 3 approaches to fighting cancer: a) reduction of cancer risks, b) correction of cancer genes, and c) destruction of cancerous tissue.
3. Open the “10 Discoveries in the War on Cancer” document in the Assignment Instructions folder. Scan the discoveries briefly. Then, open the assignment submission link in Module/Week 9. In the text box, number from 1 to 10 for the 10 discoveries.
4. Reflect carefully on discovery 1. Would this discovery be more useful for a) reducing cancer risks, b) correcting/restoring cancer cells to normal, or c) destroying cancerous tissue? After number 1 in your list, place in parentheses the letter representing the approach to fighting cancer that will best be served by this new discovery. (More than 1 approach may be served, but which is most likely to be helped most significantly?)
5. Repeat this analysis for each of the remaining 9 discoveries. Return to the “Ways to Fight Cancer” presentation as needed for additional perspective. When finished, your entire text box must be simple: a numbered (1–10) list of letters (a), (b) or (c). The assignment is now complete.
6. Each correct association up to 8 correct answers is granted 7 points. If you get 9 or 10 out of 10, you get a perfect score (60 pts.) on the assignment.
Submit this assignment by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Monday of Module/Week 4.
Individual Assignment 3 – 10 Discoveries in the War on Cancer
1. Virologists are modifying lentiviruses as vectors for carrying proto-oncogenes into cancer-transformed cells in culture. They are developing this virus for inserting the ras proto-oncogene directly into its correct location in the genome. The correct ras gene will already be linked to human DNA on either side of it and complexed with a recombination enzyme that will insert it into its correct location within the human genome. At the same time, the recombination enzyme will excise the defective oncogenic form of ras. The cells in culture should again come under normal hormonal control and require extra-cellular signals in order to continue dividing.
2. Malignant brain tumors in adults are fast-growing cancers with rates of 15 months, even with aggressive treatment. Researchers have been searching for genetic “signatures” (characteristic groups of cancer-causing genes) that could help in defining the kind of brain tumor the patient has. They hope to be better able to more accurately design the patient’s course of treatment.