Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Design and conventions of this book
- 1 Introduction: working with the molecules of life in the computer
- 2 Gene technology: cutting DNA
- 3 Gene technology: knocking genes down
- 4 Gene technology: amplifying DNA
- 5 Human disease: when DNA sequences are toxic
- 6 Human disease: iron imbalance and the iron responsive element
- 7 Human disease: cancer as a result of aberrant proteins
- 8 Evolution: what makes us human?
- 9 Evolution: resolving a criminal case
- 10 Evolution: the sad case of the Tasmanian tiger
- 11 A function to every gene: termites, metagenomics and learning about the function of a sequence
- 12 A function to every gene: royal blood and order in the sequence universe
- 13 A function to every gene: a slimy molecule
- 14 Information resources: learning about flu viruses
- 15 Finding genes: going ashore at CpG islands
- 16 Finding genes: in the world of snurpsp
- 17 Finding genes: hunting for the distant RNA relatives
- 18 Personal genomes: the differences between you and me
- 19 Personal genomes: what’s in my genome?
- 20 Personal genomes: details of family genetics
- Appendix I Brief Unix reference
- Appendix II A selection of biological sequence analysis software
- Appendix III A short Perl reference
- Appendix IV A brief introduction to R
- Index
- References
7 - Human disease: cancer as a result of aberrant proteins
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Design and conventions of this book
- 1 Introduction: working with the molecules of life in the computer
- 2 Gene technology: cutting DNA
- 3 Gene technology: knocking genes down
- 4 Gene technology: amplifying DNA
- 5 Human disease: when DNA sequences are toxic
- 6 Human disease: iron imbalance and the iron responsive element
- 7 Human disease: cancer as a result of aberrant proteins
- 8 Evolution: what makes us human?
- 9 Evolution: resolving a criminal case
- 10 Evolution: the sad case of the Tasmanian tiger
- 11 A function to every gene: termites, metagenomics and learning about the function of a sequence
- 12 A function to every gene: royal blood and order in the sequence universe
- 13 A function to every gene: a slimy molecule
- 14 Information resources: learning about flu viruses
- 15 Finding genes: going ashore at CpG islands
- 16 Finding genes: in the world of snurpsp
- 17 Finding genes: hunting for the distant RNA relatives
- 18 Personal genomes: the differences between you and me
- 19 Personal genomes: what’s in my genome?
- 20 Personal genomes: details of family genetics
- Appendix I Brief Unix reference
- Appendix II A selection of biological sequence analysis software
- Appendix III A short Perl reference
- Appendix IV A brief introduction to R
- Index
- References
Summary
In the two preceding chapters a number of diseases with a genetic background have been discussed. Many cancer diseases also have a genetic component; this will be the topic of this chapter. We will focus on a chromosomal aberration that gives rise to a specific type of cancer. From a bioinformatics perspective we will approach the problem of sequence alignments and make use of BLAST to study the effect of the chromosomal aberration.
Cancer as a genetic disease
Characteristic of cancer cells is that they divide in an uncontrolled manner (Hanahan and Weinberg, 2000, 2011). This behaviour may be achieved by an overproduction of proteins that stimulate cell growth, or by the inactivation of functions that normally restrict growth. Cancer is mostly a disease developed as a result of environmental and lifestyle factors. For instance, tobacco and obesity are two significant factors. However, there are also important genetic factors. There are changes present in germline (reproductive) cells which may result in an inherited predisposition to cancer; for example, there are certain inherited mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes that are associated with an elevated risk of breast cancer. However, tumours are more commonly the result of mutations in somatic cells, i.e. cells that are not germline cells.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Genomics and BioinformaticsAn Introduction to Programming Tools for Life Scientists, pp. 74 - 91Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012