While looking at cancer cells under a microscope, the instructor asks the students to describe the cells. Which of the student answers are accurate? Select all that apply

Question

A) The cells are in different sizes and shapes.
B) The nucleoli are larger than normal.
C) The cells are contact inhibited.
D) The cells do not resemble the tissue of origin.
E) The cells are attached to an extracellular matrix.

Answer 1

Ans: A, B, D
Feedback:
Undifferentiated cancer cells are marked by a number of morphologic changes. Both the cells and nuclei display variations in size and shape. Their nuclei are variable in size and bizarre in shape, their chromatin is coarse and clumped, and their nucleoli are often considerably larger than normal. The cells of malignant tumors are characterized by wide changes of parenchymal cell differentiation from well differentiated to completely undifferentiated. Normal cells that are grown in culture tend to display a feature called cell density–dependent inhibition, in which they stop dividing after the cell population reaches a particular density. This is sometimes referred to as contact inhibition since cells often stop growing when they come into contact with each other. In contrast to normal cells, cancer cells often survive in microenvironments different from those of the normal cells. They frequently remain viable and multiply without normal attachments to other cells and the extracellular matrix.