Biochem-713

BIOCHEM-713       BIOCHEMISTRY OF CANCERS              3(3-0)

1. What the student will be able to do by the end of this course (CLOs)

   1. Oncogenesis, proto-oncogene, and tumor suppressor genes
   2. Cell Cycle Control in the cancer
   3. Metastasis and aggressive cancer
   4. Therapeutics: Evaluate the mechanism of action for standard treatments (chemotherapy/radiation) versus targeted therapies

   Theory:

   Genetics of cells and organisms causing cancer: mutation, expression, epigenetics, chromosomal alteration and other factors, study of techniques of such alterations.

   Nature of cancer cells/tumors: classification, monoclonal and develop progressively, causes of development of cancer.

   Tumor viruses, oncogenes, and growth factors may be responsible of cancer:  different examples and mechanism of each

   Cell cycle clock Rb and tumor suppressor p53: detailed mechanism phenotype and link with other genes.

   Cell immortalization: telomerase and telomeres and other factors

   Tumor microenvironment:

   Cancer immunology and cells involved to control cancer

   Invasion and metastasis: movement of cell, role of e-cadherin, EMT, metastasis to bones

   The Rational Treatment of Cancer: effective therapies, Surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, cell cycle check points can be exploited, candidate drugs and clinical trials, growth factors, b-Raf, mTOR

   SUGGESTED READINGS

   1. Weinberg, R. A., & Weinberg, R. A. (2006). The biology of cancer. WW Norton & Company.
   2. Pezzella, F., Tavassoli, M., & Kerr, D. (Eds.). (2019). Oxford textbook of cancer biology. Oxford University Press.
   3. DeVita, V. T., Hellman, S., & Rosenberg, S. A. (2001). Cancer, principles and practice of oncology. (No Title).
   4. Pecorino, L. (2021). Molecular biology of cancer: mechanisms, targets, and therapeutics. Oxford university press.
   5. Schulz, Wolfgang Arthur. Molecular biology of human cancers: an advanced student’s textbook. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, 2007.
   6. Gabriel, J. A. (Ed.). (2007). The biology of cancer. John Wiley & Sons.
   7. Ruddon, R. W. (2007). Cancer biology. Oxford University Press.
   8. Dakubo, G. D. (2019). Cancer Biomarkers in Body Fluids: Biomarkers in Proximal Fluids. Springer Nature.
   9. Lodish, H., Molecular Cell Biology. 8^th 2016. ISBN-10: 1464183392. W. H. Freeman
   10. Tomas Koltai, (2026) An Illustrated Guide to Cancer Biology 1^st edition Academic press
   11. Greenstein, J. P. (2013). Biochemistry of cancer. Elsevier.
   12. Hejmadi, M. (2014). Introduction to cancer biology. Bookboon.