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The Tumor That Grows Teeth, High school

A dental X-ray showing a row of teeth and their roots, with a pen pointing at the image

Your body has many kinds of cells, like skin cells, bone cells and nerve cells. Some tumors grow in an ovary, the organ where eggs form.

Could a tumor in an ovary grow a tooth?

My ovary tumor grows teeth

A dermoid cyst is a tumor in the ovary that can grow skin, hair and even teeth. It starts from an egg cell that begins dividing with no sperm. The video explains why an egg like that grows into a tumor instead of a baby.

Microscope image of bone tissue that grew inside a teratoma, stained pink and purple
Terabyte starts with tera-, from the same Greek word, téras. In units of measure, tera- means one trillion.

Your word of the day is

ter-uh-TOH-muh

terat-monster, marvelfrom Greek téras
-omatumor, swellingfrom Greek -ōma

A tumor made up of different types of tissue. A dermoid cyst is a teratoma, and doctors also call it a mature cystic teratoma.

Microscope view of a fine glass needle placing one sperm inside a human egg cell

At fertilization, a sperm delivers the father’s chromosomes and activates the egg to start dividing.

When a dermoid cyst starts, which sperm job still happens with no sperm, and which one never does?

Microscope view of an early human embryo made of four cells inside a clear shell

All the cells of a dermoid cyst carry the same chromosomes.

How can cells in a dermoid cyst that carry the same DNA become such different tissues?

Microscope image of pancreas tissue that grew inside a dermoid cyst

Scientists describe the tissues inside a dermoid cyst as a disorganized mix.

Which levels of organization can a dermoid cyst reach? Which level does a dermoid cyst never reach?

Video of a researcher in a lab looking through a microscope

A 2023 review reports teeth in 31% of dermoid cysts, and one New Delhi hospital found teeth in about 4%.

Which reason could explain why two dermoid cyst studies report such different numbers for teeth?

A dentist points at an X-ray of a jawbone and teeth on a computer screen

Which second reason could explain why two dermoid cyst studies report different numbers for teeth?

Microscope image of ovary tissue, with its cells packed in a woven pattern

Claim, evidence, reasoning

In Surti’s 1990 study, 58 of 89 dermoid cysts had a homozygous pair where the patient was heterozygous.

Which claim about where dermoid cysts start has the best support?

Diagram comparing a homozygous gene pair, with two matching versions, to a heterozygous pair, with two different versions

Claim, evidence, reasoning

Which evidence from Surti’s study backs the claim that dermoid cysts start from developing egg cells?

Drawing of a large round egg cell and a small sperm cell with a long tail

Claim, evidence, reasoning

Which reasoning connects the homozygous markers in dermoid cysts to a developing egg cell?

A 3D model of an early mouse embryo at the blastocyst stage

In mammals, some genes are switched on only in the copy from the father. Scientists call this genomic imprinting.

Using genomic imprinting, why does a mammal body plan need DNA from both parents?

The tiny feet of a newborn baby resting on a soft blanket

A dermoid cyst can hold tissues from all three germ layers.

Why is a dermoid cyst still not a body?

Microscope image of cartilage that grew inside a dermoid cyst, stained pink and purple

Lesson complete

Today’s word

teratoma

ter-uh-TOH-muh

A tumor made up of different types of tissue.

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Sources
  1. Urvashi Surti, Lori Hoffner, Aravinda Chakravarti and Robert Ferrell, Magee-Womens Hospital and the University of Pittsburgh, American Journal of Human Genetics, 1990
  2. Ruchi Rathore, Sonal Sharma and Deepshikha Arora, University College of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research, 2017
  3. Luping Cong, David Yiu Leung Chan and colleagues, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2023
  4. Tomohiro Kono and colleagues, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Nature, 2004
  5. D. P. Barlow and M. S. Bartolomei, Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, 2014
  6. Warren Booth and colleagues, Biology Letters, 2023
  7. Vision and Change core concepts and competencies, as summarized in Brownell and others, CBE Life Sciences Education, 2014
  8. Word origins from Dictionary.com: teratoma, terato-, -oma, carcinoma, dermoid, derm-, -oid, tera-, teratogen, metalloid, asteroid, homozygous, heterozygous
  9. “Swelling” for -oma and the 1600s history of ovarian teratomas from the Surti paper’s discussion
  10. Spanish spelling from Wiktionary and French spelling from Wiktionnaire