Question 1#

The annual age-adjusted cancer incidence rates among men and women are decreasing for all of the following EXCEPT:

A. Colorectal

Incidence rates are declining for most cancer sites, but they are increasing among both men and women for melanoma of the skin, cancers of the liver and thyroid. Incidence rates are decreasing for all four major cancer sites except for breast cancer in women.

Question 2#

Which of the following is NOT a hallmark of cancer?

A. Ability to invade and metastasize

There are six essential alterations in cell physiology that dictate malignant growth: self-sufficiency of growth signals, insensitivity to growth-inhibitory signals, evasion of apoptosis (programmed cell death), potential for limitless replication, angiogenesis, and invasion and metastasis. Recently two additional hallmarks have emerged-reprogramming of energy metabolism and evading immune destruction.

Question 3#

Characteristics of tumorigenic transformation of cells include which of the following?

A. Enhanced surface adherence

Abnormally proliferating, transformed cells outgrow normal cells in the culture dish (ie, in vitro) and commonly display several abnormal characteristics. These include loss of contact inhibition (ie, cells continue to proliferate after a confluent monolayer is formed); an altered appearance and poor adherence to other cells or to the substratum; loss of anchorage dependence for growth; immortalization; and gain of tumorigenicity (ie, the ability to give rise to tumors when injected into an appropriate host).

Question 4#

The cell cycle includes all of the following phases EXCEPT:

A. S phase

The cell cycle is divided into four phases. During the synthetic or S phase, the cell generates a single copy of its genetic material, whereas in the mitotic or M phase, the cellular components are partitioned between two daughter cells. The G 1 and G2 phases represent gap phases during which the cells prepare themselves for completion of the S and M phases, respectively. When cells cease proliferation, they exit the cell cycle and enter the quiescent state referred to as G.

Question 5#

Which of the following factors are suggestive of a hereditary cancer? 

A. Tumor development at a younger than normal age

The following factors may suggest the presence of a hereditary cancer:

1. Tumor development at a much younger age than usual.
2. Presence of bilateral disease.
3. Presence of multiple primary malignancies.
4. Presentation of a cancer in the less affected sex ( eg, male breast cancer).
5. Clustering of the same cancer type in relatives.
6. Occurrence of cancer in association with other conditions such as mental retardation or pathognomonic skin lesions.