Cell Cycle and Cancer Lab
I. Purpose
In this investigation about cancer cells and normal cells I will describe the cells similarities and differences and why they are significant.
II. Background
Knowing about cancer cells is significant because cancer cells can cause cancer and tumors. Cancer develops when the cell is not being controlled. If not controlled, the cell can divide uncontrollably which can be very dangerously to our health. This may be caused by a mutation that does not allow proteins to regulate in the cell cycle. Cancer cells can also cause tumors, even though the tumor suppressor genes make usually make proteins that destroy cancerous cells, the cancer cells can continue to divide and cause a tumor if the tumor suppressor does not perform well enough. Cancerous cells don't die, which means that they divide uncontrollably when they touch other cells. This also means that cancerous cells do not function like healthy cells.
II. Hypothesis
I believe that in the cell cycle, the amount of cells dividing would be greater for cancerous cells than healthy cells because cancerous cells divide uncontrollably due to them not being regulated. If I am right, I will see more of the cells dividing for cancerous organs than healthy organs as measured by the percentage of cells observed in interphase and mitosis.
III. Materials
- Microscope
- Ovary Cells
- Stomach Cells
- Lung Cells
- Cancerous/Normal Tissue Samples
- Tissue Slides
IV. Procedure
- Watch the video cell cycle video on the cell cycle and cancer lab, then learn about cancer cells and why they're important using the information provided on the lab.
- Click on the microscope.
- Drag the label for the corresponding cells under the microscope.
- Open the data table and record the number of cells in each phase of mitosis and the tissue sample.
- Find the percentage of the cells by dividing.
- After counting the cells record the information for the tissue slides.
V. Data
The data table below lists the number of cells per area present in various phases of the cell cycle observed in three different types of tissue in both normal and cancerous cells.
VII. Journal Questions
- Some of differences between normal and cancerous cells are, cancerous cells lack contact inhibition (uncontrollable division) , while normal cells stop dividing while they gain contact. Also, cancerous cells do not die, while normal cells can die.
- The that tissue would have a higher mitotic index is a cancerous tissue because the cancer tissue is usually found with more cells than a normal cell in mitosis. Cancerous tissues have less cells at rest than normal tissues because the cancerous cells have a mutation that keeps them from being regulated, which causes the tissue to divide at a faster rate.
- I would expect for the skin to have the higher mitotic index because the body must always replace dead skin cells, while the other body cells do not require to be replaced as often.
VIII. Conclusion
Earlier in this experiment, I made a hypothesis saying hat the percentage of cells dividing is greater for cancerous cells than normal cells because cancer cells aren't controlled, which causes their mitotic index to increase. My information I gather prove this because it shows the percentage of the cells dividing for the lung, stomach, and ovary tissue cells were all 10% or higher from regular tissues. These results show that cancer cells divide at a higher/faster rate due to their gene mutations which don't let proteins regulate the cell cycle and let it perform. Since the cancerous cells are uncontrollable when in division, the cancerous tissues are most likely to grow and expand to different parts of the body. I was only able to find differences in this experiment, nothing common.