01132 - Molecular Pathology - Immunology (Integrated Course) (AK-B)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student:

- knows the mechanisms leading  genome alterations to be a disease cause; tumor phenotype; ethiopathogenesis and natural history of neoplasia onset  in the perspective of prevention and innovative preclinical approaches to cancer  disease control.

- is able to apply the kwowledges of basic mechanisms of pathogenesis  to specific pathologies.

Course contents

Chemical Carcinogenesis: general topics, direct and indirect carcinogens, matabolic activation and gene polymorphyms, multistep carcinogenesis, initiation and promotion, selected examples of synthetic and natural, organic and inorganic carcinogenic chemicals belonging to the  main chemical classes (benzo(a)pyrene, aminodiphenyl, benzene, dimethylnitrosamine, aflatoxins, asbestos), information levels  necessary for   carcinogenicity classification   for humans. 

Physical agent induced carcinogenesis:  ionizing radiations, type of tumors induced in humans, estimate of the potency of the effect and  cancer risk assessment  for definite scenarios of human exposure; exciting radiations (UV), skin melanomas and carcinomas, mutagenicity and carcinogenicity of sun light and UV-A, UV-B, UV-C; non ionizing radiations (NIR), precaution principle for magnetic fields generated by ELF-NIR, limitations to human exposure to electric field induced by extremely high frequency radiations.

Radiation-induced non-neoplastic diseases.

Viral carcinogenesis: DNA and RNA viruses, the most relevant human carcinogenic viruses and the related  types of tumors. Other carcinogenic biological agents.

Epidemiology and prevention: trends in carcer mortalities and incidences. Age and  tumors. Tools for analytical epidemiology of tumors (incidence, prevalence, mortality), case-control and cohort studies, relative and absolute risks, the main causes of cancer death in the most developed countries: cigarette smoke and diet, geographic distribution of tumors, risk factors and prevention of the most common tumors. Primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of cancer.

Tumor growth rates: theoretical models, growth rate in in vitro systems and in vivo. Fraction of  proliferating cells  and  of cellls candidate to death (necrosis and apoptosis). Doubling times. Main modificators of  tumor growth.

Biological bases of antitumor therapies and chemoprevention: radiotherapy, chemotherapy and main clases of antiblastics, hormonal therapy,  mechanisms of resistance at cellular and molecular levels. Innovative therapies.

Chemoprevention.

Readings/Bibliography

Robbins "Pathologic basis of disease" .

Moreover,  at the beginning of the integrated course (I.C.),  students will receive indication on  updated didactic materials produced in electronic way by other  professors  teaching in  the B channel of the same I.C.. These materials are stored on AMS Campus AlmaDL University of Bologna  website: http://campus.unibo.it/. Username and password are those given to each student of the University of Bologna.  This link to other professors of channel B  warrants maximal coherence between didactics performed  in the two channels (A  and B) of the Medicine and surgery graduation course.

Teaching methods

ex-cathedra lessons

Assessment methods

Oral final examination,  which can also be performed by written test as to  Immunology,  aims to evaluate achieving of didactic  objectives and therefore the main knowledge as to:

-        immune response

-        genetic pathology

-        oncology,  with special emphasis  on molecular oncology

 

Final vote takes into account the synthesis of  final evaluations of different subjects belonging to the I.C. of Immunology and Molecular Pathology. Each single evaluation is integrated in order to obtain  the unique final vote  (max  performance 30 points). Such vote is the  CFU weighted average of  votes obtained in  specific questions on main objectives of the I.C..  Such I.C. (10 CFU)  is formed by: immunology (5 CFU) and Molecular  pathology (5 CFU). Molecular pathology comprises 2 subjects: Genetic pathology and Oncology.

Examination is passed if  votes in each of the 3 subjects are not lower than 18 points.

Teaching tools

Slide,  video (multimedial) and overhead projectors. For slides, see AMS Campus

Office hours

See the website of Sandro Grilli