Pre-Interview

Cells in Pancreatic Cancer

Advanced Pancreatic Cancer


Our interview process for our Service Learning Project has been deemed a little bit more difficult than we expected. After several emails and phone calls to prospective candidates for the interview, we finally received a response from a Pancreatic Cancer survivor. Our interview isn’t for a few more weeks, so we thought we would leave some brief information about Pancreatic Cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is relatively rare but deadly; most patients die within a year of diagnosis, and it is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in the US. At least 10% of pancreatic cancers is thought to be caused by inherited genetic mutations.

Pancreatic Cancer: A disease in which malignant cells are found in the tissues of the pancreas. Also called exocrine cancer.

It is estimated for 2008, that out of 37, 700 new cases of pancreatic cancer patients, over 34,000 of them will die. In up to 95% of cases, pancreatic cancer arises from the exocrine portion of the organ. The least common exocrine cancer comes from acinar cells. Most of the exocrine tumors are from ductal cells those of which line the pancreatic ducts. These tumors are classified as carcinomas, a word that refers to tumors arising from a lining cell.

Treatment:
Pancreatic cancer can be cured only when it is found at an early stage, before it has spread. Surgery for cancer of the pancreas is only offered to patients whose tumor is localized. Only about 15-20% of those individuals with pancreatic cancer will be found to be eligible for surgery. In these cases, surgical removal of the tumor from the pancreas gives the best chance for a cure and generally confers a better overall prognosis in contrast to medical therapy. However, other treatments may be able to control the disease and help patients live a little bit longer and feel better. When a cure or control of the disease is not possible, some patients and their doctors choose palliative therapy. Palliative therapy aspires to improve quality of life by controlling pain and other problems caused by this disease.

Mutated cytoskeletal protein, Palladin, causes pancreatic cancer

References:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pancreatic-cancer/DS00357

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp?level=0

http://www.pancreatica.org/

http://www.oncolink.com/types/article.cfm?c=4&s=7&ss=49&id=1739

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/pancreaticcancer.html

http://www.pancan.org/

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_1X_What_is_pancreatic_cancer_34.asp

Cancer

According to the American Cancer Society, in 2007 7.6 million people died from cancer. Cancer is a term for deadly diseases in which abnormal cells divide uncontrollably. There are many instances when these cells are metastatic, in which it spreads to other locations in the body, as well as invasive, in which these abnormal cells invade and destroy nearby tissue.

There are several core types of cancer. They are divided into three groups, carcinoma, sarcoma, and lymphoma. Carcinoma is cancer that begins in the skin or in tissues that line or cover internal organs. Sarcoma is cancer that begins in bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, blood vessels, or other connective or supportive tissue. Leukemia is cancer that starts in blood-forming tissue such as the bone marrow, and causes large numbers of abnormal blood cells to be produced and enter the bloodstream. Lymphoma is cancer that begins in the cells of the immune system.

Cancer is usually differentiated according to the tissue from which the cancerous cells originate along with the normal cell type they most resemble. Most cancers can be treated and some cured, depending on the specific type, location, and stage. Once diagnosed, cancer is usually treated with a combination of radiotherapy, chemotherapy and or surgery, depending on the extremity of the cancer. However, as research progresses, treatments are becoming more specific for different varieties of cancer.

Cancer Cells Dividing


Breast Cancer Cells


References:
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp
http://www.cancer.gov/
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/cancer.html
http://cancer.about.com/
http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/common/cancer/treatment/721.html

Day One

We decided on our topic of interest today and thought cancer would be most interesting. Though we are a little bit overwhelmed, we are taking it one day at a time. With our grid projects already running, our next task at hand is deciding who we are going to interview as well as the questions we are going to ask. Until then...