Cancer: Unit 4

How does cancer make us sick?

The last unit focused on how DNA mutations can interfere with critical cell functions, causing hyperproliferation and leading to tumor formation. This unit draws back and examines the tumor in the context of its environment, emphasizing that for a tumor to become malignant cells must be able to migrate away from their primary location and take up residence elsewhere. The unit explores how and why tumors migrate, where they migrate to, and the consequences of metastasis on health. Finally the unit examines how the immune system keeps most tumors in check, and how cancer cell adaptations can enable them to evade the immune system.

Lesson 1

How does cancer make us sick?

In this lesson, students will learn the difference between benign and malignant tumors, and in particular the criteria that are used to categorize the different types of tumors so that they will be able to distinguish between them. Students will perform a small group activity examining different types of tissues from skin, breast and prostate to identify the characteristics that suggest that a particular tumor is benign while another is malignant.

Objectives – Explain the distinction between benign and malignant epithelial tumors.
– Define the term ‘metastasize’ and describe how a tumor becomes malignant once it can metastasize.
– Explain how tumors are graded on the basis of extent of metastasis.
Activities Tumor diagnosis worksheet
Materials Printed Materials:
– Lesson worksheet
– HW worksheet

Other Materials:
– HW video
Homework Video, Worksheet: Watch Ted Talk about the role of angiogensis in cancer and answer questions on worksheet.

Lesson 2

How do cancer cells leave home?

This lesson demonstrates how tumor cells acquire the capabilities to invade surrounding tissue to become malignant/metastatic. Students will play the Invasion Game that simulates tumor cells invading surrounding tissue and metastasizing to the blood stream. They will explore how interaction between tumor cells and the stromal environment facilitates the process of invasion, and the perils tumor cells encounter in the bloodstream.

Objectives – Explain how a benign tumor cell becomes malignant and therefore able to migrate into surrounding tissue.
– Explain how malignant tumor cells stimulate the surrounding tissue to provide migration signals, and how this capacity is analogous to the process of wound healing.
– Explain the process of angiogenesis and its significance in cancer.
Activities Invasion board game that simulates the processes involved in metastasis
Materials Printed Materials:
– Lesson worksheet
– HW worksheet

Other Materials:
– Invasion game boards
– Mutation cards
– Dice
– Player tokens
Homework Worksheet: Reading on which types of secondary organs primary tumors generally metastasize to and answer questions.

Lesson 3

How do cancer cells find a new home?

This lesson discusses the “seed and fertile soil” theory of metastasis as an explanation for how a metastatic cell is able to find a new home. Students will investigate how metastasis occurs by participating in an interrupted case study that examines the factors involved in promoting the invasion of cancer cells into secondary organs to form secondary tumors.

Objectives – Explain the ‘soil and seed’ hypothesis and how it explains secondary tumor formation.
– Explain why certain sites, like the bone, brain, liver, and lungs, are preferential sites for metastases.
– Explain how malignant tumors become dangerous when they form secondary tumors that disrupt the vital function of organs.
Activities Interrupted case study examining the evidence of the ‘seed and soil’ hypothesis.
Materials Printed Materials:
– Lesson worksheet
– HW worksheet
Homework Worksheet: Reading about the discovery of a factor that promotes chemotherapy resistance and answer questions.

Lesson 4

How does the immune system protect us from cancer?

This lesson introduces the role of the immune system as a counterforce in tumor progression to cancer. At every stage, from the uncontrolled proliferation of tumor cells, through the steps of invasion, metastasis and secondary tumor formation, the immune system tries to limit cancer growth and spread. Nevertheless, because tumor cells are constantly evolving, some cells may find ways to evade immune surveillance and attack. As an activity, students will calculate the rate at which tumor cells would arise in the body, if the immune system wasn’t there to protect us. The answer will probably surprise them!

Objectives – Explain how the immune system typically kills most tumor cells.
– Explain the mechanisms cancer cells use to hide from or evade the immune system.
– Explain how the immune system can have both negative and positive effects on tumors.
Activities Students fill out a worksheet on the role of immune system in tumor prevention and calculate the incidence rates of transforming mutations in the absence of the immune system.
Materials Printed Materials:
– Lesson worksheet
– HW worksheet

Other Materials:
– Calculators
Homework Worksheet: Reading about the use of immunotherapy to cure cancer and answer questions.

Teacher Prep: Unit 4 Lesson Overview Videos

In the YouTube embed below, click the order listing in the upper right to toggle the display for the full playlist.