Chapter 24, Problem 4RTC

Summary Introduction

To write:

The oxygen and nutrient requirements, cells in a tissue must reside within 100 m of a blood vessel and explain that many malignant tumors often possess gain-of-function mutations in one of the following genes: bFGF, TGFa, and VEGF.

Introduction:

The mammalian cells require nutrients and oxygen for survival and hence located within 100 to 200 mm of the blood vessels which is the limit of diffusion for oxygen. If the multi-cellular organisms grow more than this size the new blood vessels are recruited either by angiogenesis or by vasculogenesis. For this process, the regulation is achieved by a balance between the pro and antiangiogenic molecules which get derailed in a disease like cancer.