Anaplasia

Anaplasia is a term used to describe cells that have lost the unique characteristics that define them as a certain type of cell type. tissue. In a literal sense from its Greek roots, the word means “to form backwards” in the sense that normal cells become more specialised, not less, with each division. Anaplasia can be explained as when an cell ‘reverts’ to a more stem cell-like state, one that is often distorted. Often seen in cancer cells, the cell no longer functions as part of the surrounding tissue. As the cell undergoes mitosisproduces cells that also show anaplasia. In this way, a malignant tumour is born.

In normal cells, growth stops when a neighbour is reached. Normal cells communicate with each other to give tissues their proper shape. Without this communication, each cell in a tumour showing anaplasia will grow to be much larger than a normal cell and will only be very weakly connected to surrounding cells. Without the ability to form links with the cells around them, malignant tumours can make metastasise or break loose and travel through the bloodstream to other parts of the body. This can become an extremely dangerous situation, as newly colonised tumours will begin to grow rapidly. If the tumour’s new home is a place in your body that is important for it to live, such as inside your braincan kill you quickly. This lack of differentiation, or anaplasia, is often what determines whether a tumour is malignant or benign.

Tumours that show increased mitosis, but still differentiate into the correct type of tissue, are usually benign. It is much more difficult for cells to metastasise if they are still tightly bound to the other cells surrounding them. In the case of a benign tumour, the cells simply replicate too quickly and cause a mass to form. These can often be removed surgically without risk of spread. Malignant tumours with anaplasia are often treated with radiation and chemotherapy after surgery to kill any small tumours that have metastasised to other parts of the body.

Cells or groups of cells with anaplasia often have similar symptoms. They become much larger than the surrounding cells and begin to divide in unequal, often curious, ways. Instead of equal division of cell contents during mitosis, strange phenomena cause the size and shape of the cells to be unequal. The nucleus tends to become much larger, proportionally, to the size of the cytoplasmthan in a normal cell. Some cells with anaplasia will have multiple nuclei. Within the nuclei, the DNA or chromatin, takes on a rough appearance. Cells with anaplasia will also lose their functionality, making them like “stem cells”. For example, a secretion of mucus will no longer secrete mucus and will only exist to undergo mitosis.

Examples of anaplasia

Leiomyosarcoma vs. leiomyoma

The difference that anaplasia can make is staggering. Anaplasia gives cancers a very unpredictable nature, making them difficult to treat with chemotherapy and radiation. This can be seen in the two cancers: Leiomyosarcoma (a malignant tumour of the muscle ) and Leiomyoma (a benign smooth muscle tumour). The only difference between the two cancers is the state of anaplasia that exists in the malignant form.

The lack of differentiation causes the cancer cells to do crazy things, such as divide rapidly and then remain dormant for a period of time. It is not yet known exactly what causes the change in a cell to become anaplastic. While malignant tumours do not have to show anaplasia to be malignant, as in the case of these two cancers, anaplasia can turn a benign tumour into a malignant one.

Adenoma to adenocarcinoma

Another example showing how anaplasia can make a cancer malignant can be seen in the following example. In some adenomas (benign glandular tumours), a change can cause the cells to become less differentiated or show anaplasia. In this case, these benign cells may develop into a malignant adenocarcinoma. Most of the time, they do not.

Again, it is important to recognise that this is only one of the possible outcomes of an adenoma. Most will remain benign. However, other mutations can cause an adenocarcinoma to develop without first developing a benign tumour. The fact that one may come from the other does not mean that this is the only way to develop a malignant tumour.

• Metastatising when cancer cells break away from the tumour from which they originated, travel through the body using the bloodstream and reach a new location, they can colonise a new tumour.
• Differentiate the ability of a cell to specialise in function to perform a very limited set of tasks for the body.
• Carcinoma any cancer that forms from epithelial surfaces, including the epithelium and the epithelium itself. skin and the lining of all internal ducts, tracts and organs.
• Sarcoma any cancer that forms from connective tissues such as smooth muscle, bone and cartilage.