The Cell Cycle and Cancer
Purpose
During the investigation, one will know the similarities and differences between the normal cells and the cells affected by cancer as observed by differences in the cell cycle.
Background
Cancer is the uncontrollable growth of abnormal cells in the body. Cells divide and grow uncontrollably and are divided to reproduce more and more until the body is fully affected. Cancer can be put in numerous ways, there are over 200 types of cancers that affect the human. But cancer is usually treated with radiation therapy and/or surgery.
Hypothesis
I believe that during the cell cycle, the cancerous cells will appear different. A cancer cell looses the surface contact that keeps the cell in it’s place, so it becomes detached from it’s neighboring cell. If I am correct, I will see more cells in cancer tissue versus normal tissue.
Materials
- ovary, stomach, lung cancerous tissue sample
- ovary, stomach, lung healthy tissue samples
- microscope
- slides
Procedure
- Enter this site: Click Here>
- Click the monitor to watch the video about the cell cycle.
- Click the information button to learn about cancer.
- Click on the microscope to begin learning about the phases of mitosis.
- Click and drag the label to the corresponding cell under the microscope.
- Open the data table and begin to record the number of cells in each phase of mitosis in the tissue sample. You can use the calculator to determine the percentage of cells dividing and the percentage of cells at rest. When you have counted the cells in a particular sample, click the “Tissue Slides’ and select a new sample. You can choose from normal or cancerous tissues.
- Open the journal to answer some questions about cell division and cancer.
Data
Journal Questions
- Based on my observations, cancer cells have uncontrolled division. Another thing I noticed was that normal cells spend a lot of more time in interphase and cancer cells don’t spend as much time in interphase.
- Based on my observations the highest mitotic index is the cancerous cell because in the cell cycle it skips interphase and goes straight to mitosis. But it also has less cells at rest than normal tissue because it is being regulated by the cycle.
- I think the kidney would have the highest mitotic index. It has to be working and running blood throughout the whole day and it never stops working. So I think that would have the highest mitotic index.
Conclusion
I believed that during the cell cycle, the cancerous cells would appear different then normal cells when looking at them in that there would be more cancer cells in a given area due to their lack of cell division regulation. I learned that cancerous cells have uncontrollable cell division and undergo mitosis at a rapid rate. If I could improve the lab next time, I would do different types of samples instead of just three tissue samples, so I can have more support to my conclusion. For the cancerous cells, the highest percentage of tissue with cells at rest in lungs was 75% and for the normal lung, cells at rest were 95%. The lowest percent of cells at rest for cancerous tissues was 55% in ovary tissue and the lowest percentage at rest for normal ovary tissue at rest was 5%. Cancerous stomach cells at rest were 70% and the normal stomach cells at rest were 80%. This shows how cancerous and normal tissues divide differently. An unavoidable error in this experiment would be that cells will always be hurt; the cells may get damaged or altered when removed from the body. Cancerous cells are affected by being produced differently than normal cells, as a result of changes in the cell cycle. This results in cancerous cells are not being as much at rest and normal cells being at rest more. This would be helpful when dealing with someone who might be diagnosed, and when you are treating them.