PATH 725

Cancer Pathobiology

This course was specifically designed to complement other components of the course curriculum. Under the direction of the Program faculty Dr. Scott E. Williams and Dr. Andrew Gladden, this critical course covers a variety of topics spanning cancer etiology, progression, and treatment. Sub-topics include epidemiology (both classical and molecular), carcinogenesis, cancer genetics and cancer susceptibility genes, cancer virology, angiogenesis, invasion/metastasis, molecular diagnosis, therapeutic strategies. The remainder of the course focuses on the specific cancers: lung, breast, colon, leukemias and lymphomas, and childhood cancers. In covering specific cancers, the lecturers integrate and build on the earlier themes. Additionally, laboratory sections are included to provide students a histological grounding in the characteristics of different cancers. Clinician researchers are included as faculty participants in order to ensure that students are sufficiently exposed to the clinical perspective. The rationale for including this course in the curriculum is to provide students with a more sophisticated understanding of tumor cell physiology and behavior. For many students, their view of cancer cells is as a homogenous cell culture grown on plastic cell culture dishes or as well-encapsulated xenograft tumors in mice. This course provides students with an appreciation of the complex, heterogeneous nature of tumor tissue and the critical interplay between normal and neoplastic tissue.