Everybody knows what cancer is and that a tumour is
a growing lump of cells. Have you ever heard
of a tumour growing hair and teeth before?
This is a special type of tumour known as a
Teratoma.
Interestingly,
the name comes from the Greek word,
Téras,
which means monster and Oma means tumour.
So teratoma,
actually means monster tumour. In this video,
we're going to learn what these tumours are,
how there caused and what the typical course of treatment
looks like for a patient.
Before we begin getting into teratomas,
let's cover some relevant
biology
to make sure we can understand how to tumours concur
in general. In our bodies,
two types of cells exist;
somatic and germline. Somatic cells,
sometimes referred to,
as vegetal cells,
are involved in building the body and it's different components.
Germline cells are the cells that participate in sexual reproduction.
To put
it simply, germline cells are eggs in females and sperms
in the males, while somatic cells are what make up
the rest of our bodies.
Some other examples of somatic cells would be bone cells, muscle
cells, nerve and blood cells.
These cells are differentiated,
meaning,
they've undergone changes that give them their assigned role.
This is why a bone cell looks and acts completely
different than a red blood cell. Germ cells,
on the other hand, are known as pluripotent,
meaning
they can still become any other type of cell in
the body.
Throughout our lives, our cells are dividing.
Somatic cells do this through
a process known as mitosis. Through this process,
the DNA of the cell is condensed and arranged in
a specific manner.
DNA is moved to the opposite ends of the cell.
And then the cell splits into two,
identical daughter cells. Mitosis is responsible for development and growth,
cell replacement and asexual
reproduction. Germline cells undergo division as well in a similar
process called meiosis. The same events occur
here as mitosis, except meiosis has a second division
step, producing four non-identical daughter cells.
This process is mainly needed to make egg and sperm
cells for sexual reproduction,
and ensures that the resulting organism
get the correct number of chromosomes.
Our cells have a cellular cycle that they go through.
It's not necessary to understand every stage of this,
but you should know that mitosis and meiosis are part
of it. As well,
there are multiple checkpoints throughout the cycle where the cell
will assess
everything to make sure the steps were done correctly,
and that there are no mistakes or damages. If something
is wrong,
or is detected during a checkpoint,
the cell will commit suicide via programmed,
cell death, also known as apoptosis. While cell division
and proliferation may be important,
having these controls in place is crucial as well. Problems
with these checkpoints,
or with the mechanisms of apoptosis, will result in cancer
through unchecked and rapid division.
Cancer can happen to a variety of pathways. Problems with
any of the mechanisms mentioned
previously, can lead to a cancerous tumour growth.
What causes teratoma specifically is a little less understood, but
there are a few theories.
It's possible that they arise from remnants of something called
a primitive node,
which is a structure present at the beginning stages of
embryo development. By week
three of pregnancy,
the fetus' primitive
node will normally shorten and disappear.
It is theorized
that if remnants of this node
do not disappear,
it could cause teratomas.
Another theory is that teratomas arise from primordial
germ cells.
These are the germline cells that are present in a
developing fetus before they differentiate into sperm or egg cells.
It is possible that these primordial cells do not migrate
to their target destination correctly,
and they develop into teratomas rather than healthy,
germ cells.
Now, because teratomas are coming from the germline cells
rather than somatic one,
they are able to differentiate into many different types of tissues
as tumour
formation occurs.
This is what makes it possible for hair teeth and
even eyes to grow on them.
Because they,
originate from germline cells,
these tumors are most typically found in the testes, ovaries,
but can be found in other areas such as the
tailbone.
Typically, patients with this
type of tumour will have it removed surgically and require
no further treatment.
This is the case in most patients.
If the tumor became too invasive or is located in
a spot
that's difficult to reach surgically, other methods
such as chemotherapy may be explored.