General Medical Terms

A type of glioma (cancer of the brain that comes from glial, or supportive, cells).

The middle part of the larynx; the area where the vocal cords are located.

A rare pancreatic tumor that produces a hormone called glucagon.

The process of making glucose (sugar) from its own breakdown products or from the breakdown products of lipids (fats) or proteins.

A family of enzymes involved in metabolism and in making toxic compounds less harmful to the body.

A large carbohydrate molecule.

A study of the types of carbohydrate (sugar) molecules attached to proteins in cells.

Glycemic index ranks how quickly a carbohydrate food raises blood glucose compared with a standard reference amount of glucose.

A product from a plant of Asian origin that produces beans used in many food products.

A short chain of amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) that has sugar molecules attached to it.

gp100.

A type of long, unbranched polysaccharide molecule.

Goiter is a visibly or palpably enlarged thyroid gland that can occur whether thyroid hormone levels are normal, low, or high.

Abnormal development of a gonad (ovary or testicle).

A tumor-specific antigen used in the development of cancer vaccines.

A peptide (short piece of protein) made from the tumor-specific antigen gp100, and used to make vaccines being studied in the treatment of melanoma.

A description of a tumor based on how abnormal the cancer cells look under a microscope and how quickly the tumor is likely to grow and spread.

A fast-growing type of central nervous system tumor that forms from glial (supportive) tissue of the brain and spinal cord and has cells that look very different from normal cells.

Healthy skin, bone, or other tissue taken from one part of the body and used to replace diseased or injured tissue removed from another part of the body.

A gram is a small metric unit of mass, widely used in clinical medicine to measure medication doses, body substances, and laboratory quantities.