Most cancers develop in epithelial tissues. Which epithelial tissue characteristic makes them prone to cancer?

Epithelial cells divide regularly.

Most cancers develop in epithelial tissues. Which epithelial tissue characteristic makes them prone to cancer?

So here we have a pretty straightforward practice problem that says most cancers develop in epithelial tissues. Which epithelial tissue characteristic makes them prone to cancer? And we've got these 4 potential answer options down below. And so option a says the epithelial cells have polarity. B says epithelial tissue is avascular but innervated. C says epithelial tissue is supported by connective tissue. And d says epithelial cells divide regularly. And so hopefully, you recall from our previous lesson videos that the correct answer to this practice problem is going to be answer option d, that epithelial cells divide regularly. So we can go ahead and indicate that d here is the correct answer to this practice problem. And so recall that the reason that epithelial tissue cells need to divide regularly is because epithelial tissue needs to be highly regenerative to replace lost or damaged cells. And so with every cell division, it's going to be accompanied by DNA replication to duplicate the DNA. And every time the DNA is replicated, there's a chance of mutations occurring. And so, the more a cell divides, the higher the chances of mutation will occur that leads to cancer. And so, this is why the characteristic of epithelial cells dividing regularly makes them prone to cancer. And so, although all of these other options are characteristics of epithelial tissue, they do not make the epithelial tissue prone to cancer. And so for that reason, we can cross off those options. And again, d here is the correct answer. So that concludes this practice, and I'll see you all in our next video.