GENERAL PATHOLOGY

Degree course: 
Corso di Long single cycle degree (6 years) in MEDICINE AND SURGERY
Academic year when starting the degree: 
2017/2018
Year: 
3
Academic year in which the course will be held: 
2019/2020
Course type: 
Compulsory subjects, characteristic of the class
Credits: 
6
Period: 
First Semester
Standard lectures hours: 
72
Detail of lecture’s hours: 
Lesson (48 hours), Exercise (24 hours)
Requirements: 

Students must have passed the exam of Physiology

Written test based on questions with multi-choice answers. 50 questions covering the all program developed through the course are proposed. Score is assigned in the following way: each question with correct answer will receive a score of 0,65. Wrong, incomplete or not given answers will receive a zero score. Test is passed having correctly answered to at least 27 questions.

Assessment: 
Voto Finale

The course of General Pathology should enable the student to acquire the basic knowledge of the modern molecular and cellular pathology with special emphasis to the processes of Inflammation, Cell Death and Oncogenesis. The various cellular and molecular components of Inflammation are described and specific examples of acute and chronic inflammation are provided. Cell Death includes chapters on Apoptosis and Necrosis and on corresponding molecular mechanisms. The study of oncogenesis includes epidemiologic aspects and environmental factors involved in the generation of the neoplasia. The genetic and molecular correlates of cellular transformation, including oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, are dealt in detail.

English version

Cell damage and cell death:
programmed cell death or Apoptosis
a. morphological changes of apoptotic cells
b. death receptors
c. apoptotic signal and activation of intracellular apoptotic program
d. caspases
e. DNA fragmentation
f. Clearing of apoptotic cells

Cell damage and cell death: Necrosis
a. pathologic events causing cell necrosis
b. morphologica changes of necrotic cells
c. mechanisms of necrosis: ubiquitination, ATP depletion, alteration in Calcium homeostasis, active oxygen and nitrogen radicals
d. the defence against oxidative stress

The response to the lesion: Inflammation
a. leukocyte migration, endothelia adhesion, migration, chemotaxis, role of cytokines and chemokines
b. Acute Inflammation: causes, phases and modalities
c. wounded healing
d. acute inflammation generated by IgE-mediated allergy
e. Chronic Inflammation: chronic lesions, chronic inflammation derived from persistent acute inflammation, primary chroni inflammation
f. Chronic inflammation in tuberculosis: genesis and nature of the granuloma

Pathogenesis of aquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)
a. receptors and coreceptors of HIV; mechanism of viral entry and viral spreading
b. diversity in susceptility to HIV infection
c. viral gene products and their action on host cell homeostasis
d. growth and amplification of virus infection during the preclinical stage
e. pathogenesis of CD4-positive cell distruction

Pathogenesis of cell division and cell differentiation
a. control of cell proliferation
b. Hyperlasia, hypoplasia, atrophy, hypertrophy and metaplasia

Oncogenesis
a. physical, chemical and environmental carcinogenesis
b. tumor initiators and tumor promoters
c. multistep carcinogenesis
d. tumor epidemiology
e. differentiation and control of tumor growth oncogenic viruses
f. oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes: discovery, structure and mechanism of action
g. oncogenic viruses

The metastastic process: mechanism of action, molecular and cellular correlates

Host defences against tumors
a. non specific defence against cancer cells
b. antigenicity and immunogenicity of tumor cells
c. mechanisms of tumor elusion/evasion from immunological recognition
d. humoral and cellular responses against tumor cells
e. new strategies for biological therapies and pharmacological therapies against cancer

English version

Cell damage and cell death:
programmed cell death or Apoptosis
a. morphological changes of apoptotic cells
b. death receptors
c. apoptotic signal and activation of intracellular apoptotic program
d. caspases
e. DNA fragmentation
f. Clearing of apoptotic cells

Cell damage and cell death: Necrosis
a. pathologic events causing cell necrosis
b. morphologica changes of necrotic cells
c. mechanisms of necrosis: ubiquitination, ATP depletion, alteration in Calcium homeostasis, active oxygen and nitrogen radicals
d. the defence against oxidative stress

The response to the lesion: Inflammation
a. leukocyte migration, endothelia adhesion, migration, chemotaxis, role of cytokines and chemokines
b. Acute Inflammation: causes, phases and modalities
c. wounded healing
d. acute inflammation generated by IgE-mediated allergy
e. Chronic Inflammation: chronic lesions, chronic inflammation derived from persistent acute inflammation, primary chroni inflammation
f. Chronic inflammation in tuberculosis: genesis and nature of the granuloma

Pathogenesis of aquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)
a. receptors and coreceptors of HIV; mechanism of viral entry and viral spreading
b. diversity in susceptility to HIV infection
c. viral gene products and their action on host cell homeostasis
d. growth and amplification of virus infection during the preclinical stage
e. pathogenesis of CD4-positive cell distruction

Pathogenesis of cell division and cell differentiation
a. control of cell proliferation
b. Hyperlasia, hypoplasia, atrophy, hypertrophy and metaplasia

Oncogenesis
a. physical, chemical and environmental carcinogenesis
b. tumor initiators and tumor promoters
c. multistep carcinogenesis
d. tumor epidemiology
e. differentiation and control of tumor growth oncogenic viruses
f. oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes: discovery, structure and mechanism of action
g. oncogenic viruses

The metastastic process: mechanism of action, molecular and cellular correlates

Host defences against tumors
a. non specific defence against cancer cells
b. antigenicity and immunogenicity of tumor cells
c. mechanisms of tumor elusion/evasion from immunological recognition
d. humoral and cellular responses against tumor cells
e. new strategies for biological therapies and pharmacological therapies against cancer

Textbooks recommended:
- McGee, Isaacson, Wright, Patologia 1: I principi.
- Cotran, Kumar, Collins, Robbins’s Pathologic Basis of Disease 8th or 9th edition in English
- Rubin and Strayer (Rubin’s pathology): Patologia Generale, 6th Edition in English

Lectures ex-cathedra and journal clubs performed by students on specific scientific arguments

Meeting with students
Once a week, for 2 hours based on appointement to be fixed with the teacher writing to the institutional e.mail: roberto.accolla@uninsubria.it

Professors

ACCOLLA ROBERTO