Case Study: Melanoma

Melanoma Case Study

1. What are some differences between Judy and Mariah that might make Judy more "at risk" for skin cancer than Mariah?

- Some of the big Differences between Mariah and Judy is their skin color. Mariah has darker pigmentation, meaning she has more melanin in her skin which ultimately means her skin can tolerate longer periods of xsun. Judy has red hair and pale white skin, meaning that the melanin in her skin is very little and her skin will burn in long periods of sunlight.

2. What observations did Judy make concerning her mole?

-Judy had observed that her mole had changed shape and turned bigger from the last time she really looked at it. The sides of her mole was jagged and the skin was itchy. The middle turned a purplish-black and its edges were darker than the middle and irregular. As well as ‘

the diameter was bigger than 6mm.

1. Considering the differences between a benign tumor and a malignant tumor, why might a benign tumor be easier to treat?

-Benign tumors do not metastasize to other parts of the body but malignant tumors will. Physical removal of the malignant tumor does not mean that problem is solved. The cancerous cells could have spread to another part of the body, and therefore, this issue must be addressed with further treatment. Also, Benign tumors grow slower than the malignant tumors do.

2. Judy learned that every single person has these cell cycle genes tok cells in our body can divide when necessary. What are some normal circumstances where our bodies might need to make more cells?

-Our body might need to make more cells during repair and anabolism. Usually cells are in contact with outside world like epithelium divide cells more often than others. However those are highly specialized like red blood cells do not divide as often.

3. Every person has these cell cycle proto-oncogenes, but not every person has cancer. Why might this be the case?

-Proto-oncogenes make cell cycle promoting factors...