Learning from Patients: The Science of Medicine

Lecture 1 – Research Mechanics: Putting the Brakes on Cancer

by Bert Vogelstein, MD

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1. Start of Lecture 1
2. Introduction by HHMI President Dr. Thomas Cech
3. Introductory interview with Dr. Bert Vogelstein
4. Outline of the lectures
5. Nature of cancer: Benign tumors
6. Nature of cancer: Malignancy and metastasis
7. Animation: Tumor growth and metastasis
8. Examples of metastatic cancer
9. Many types of cancer
10. Tumors and ratio of cell birth to death
11. Compound-interest analogy
12. Cell birth and death in normal and tumorous cells
13. Review of tumor definitions
14. Q&A: How can you tell if a benign tumor will become malignant?
15. Q&A: Do cancer cells selectively metastasize to specific tissues?
16. Q&A: Are malignant tumors harder to control than metastatic tumors?
17. Q&A: Can we paralyze cells so they stop multiplying?
18. Theories on what causes cancer
19. Cancer compared with other genetic diseases
20. Clonal expansion as a model of cancer
21. Cancer is usually not hereditary
22. Types of genes that are mutated in cancer
23. Why has evolution not made DNA replication perfect?
24. Two main kinds of familial colon cancer: FAP and HNPCC
25. Animation: DNA mismatch repair
26. HNPCC can progress much faster than FAP
27. Colorectal cancer pathway
28. p53 gene is mutated in most cancers
29. Animation: p53 regulates transcription
30. Examples of proteins regulated by p53
31. An example of an oncogene mutation in cancer
32. Q&A: How do mutagens cause such specific mutations?
33. Q&A: Is there a reason why mutagens change bases to thymine?
34. Q&A: Can you fix a mutated gene in hereditary cancer?
35. Q&A: How would I distinguish my tumors as benign or malignant?
36. Q&A: Why aren't growing children affected more by cancer?
37. Q&A: Do cancer cells have multiple mutations in apoptosis factors?
38. Closing remarks by HHMI President Dr. Thomas Cech

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