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- Ablation (ovarian)
- See "Ovarian ablation"
- Acini
- small cavities in the tumour surrounded by secretory cells
- Adenocarcinomas
- malignant tumours occurring in glandular tissue
- Adenomatous
- describing a benign tumour composed of glandular tissue
- Adipose tissue
- A form of connective tissues consisting of fat cells
- Adjuvant therapy
- Also known as additional therapy. Treatment usually given after surgery to destroy any cancer cells still remaining in your body. It is given to help reduce the possibility of the cancer coming back or spreading somewhere else. Adjuvant therapy may include radiotherapy, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy or further surgery.
- Adrenal androgens
- androgens (androstenedione and dehydroepiandro-sterone)
- Adrenal glands
- Glands above the kidneys that make hormones, such as androgens, cortisol, and aldosterone.
- Adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH)
- a hormone made by the pituitary gland.
- Adriamycin
- a cytotoxic antibiotic, chemotherapy agent
- Advanced (metastatic) breast cancer
- Refers to cases when the cancer has spread from the breast to other parts of the body (e.g. bone, lungs, liver, brain).
- Aetiology
- The pathology behind the disease.
- Agent
- A force or substance that causes a change.
- Agonist
- This refers to a characteristic of some types of drug, which means they act by triggering the normal activity of specific cells in the body.
- Alkylating agents
- chemotherapeutic drugs that bind to DNA during cell division, killing the cell
- Alopecia
- Loss of hair from the body and/or the scalp.
- Alpha1-antichymotrypsin
- a serine protease inhibitor, the expression of which has been found in various tumour types. The biological and clinical implications are not fully understood; however, expression appears to be associated with tumour progression and growth
- Amenorrhoea
- The absence of menstrual periods.
- Amplification
- Gene amplification – the production of multiple copies of a particular gene product.
- Anaesthesia
- A drug inhaled or injected into an individual to induce loss of feeling or sensation. There are two types of anaesthesia, general and local. With general anaesthesia, the person is put to sleep by an anaesthetic injected into a vein or inhaled through a mask. With local anaesthesia, a small area is numbed or made insensitive to pain, usually through the injection of an anaesthetic.
- Analgesic
- A medication that relieves pain.
- Anaplasia
- Variation in size, shape and staining properties of cells.
- Anastrozole ("Arimidex")
- See ‘Arimidex’.
- Androgen deprivation
- hormonal or surgical castration to suppress testicular production of testorone with the aim of preventing androgen-stimulated tumour growth
- Androgen receptors (AR)
- cellular receptors that bind androgens
- Androgen response elements
- regions on the genes that bind androgens
- Androgens
- hormones that promote the development and maintenance of male secondary sex characteristics
- Aneuploidy
- Loss or duplication of genes within a tumour cell
- Angiogenesis
- Formation of new blood supplies.
- Angiogenic factors
- growth factors that attract and promote the growth of vascular epithelium and thus promote the formation of new blood vessels.
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