|
 Growth Factor | a protein that is involved in cell differentiation and growth |
| Apoptosis | Programmed cell death. |
| Cancer | any malignant growth or tumor caused by abnormal and uncontrolled cell division |
| Tumor | a mass of abnormal cells that develop when cancerous cells divide and grow uncontrollably |
| Benign | tumors that remain clustered and can be removed |
| Malignant | tumors that metastasize, or break away, and can form more tumors |
| Metastasize | the process by which cancer spreads from one place to another |
| Carcinogen | any substance that produces cancer |
| Kinases | an enzyme that, when activiated, transfers a phosphate group from one molecule to a specific target molecule, changing the target molecules shape or increasing energy |
| Cyclins | proteins that control kinases, are rapidly made and destroyed at certain points of the cell cycle |
| Chemotherapy | uses certain drugs, often in combination, to kill actively dividing cells (kills both cancerous & healthy cells), systemic- drugs travel throughout the entire body |
| Radiation | uses radiation to kill cancer cells & shrink tumors (damages a cell's DNA so the cell cannot divide) |
| Cell Differentiation | the process by which a cell becomes specialized for a specific structure or function |
| Stem cell | an undifferentiated cell whose daughter cells may differentiate into other cell types (such as blood cells) |