Biology › Section E · Cell communication and the cell cycle › Topic E.6
Cancer and the cell cycle
Cancer is not one disease but many, all sharing one mechanism: uncontrolled cell growth. The story starts small - one gene mutation, one faulty protein, one checkpoint that lets a damaged cell through - and compounds with every division until controls fail completely and a tumor grows.
In this topic
- One mechanism, many diseases
- Small errors snowball
- Proto-oncogenes: stuck accelerators
- Tumor suppressors: failing brakes
- p53: the guardian of G1
- The p53-p21-Cdk collapse
- Worked example: HPV versus the guardian
- Worked example: a mutant Cdk at G2/M
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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