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Mitogen And Morphogen Signaling Dysregulation: Pathophysiological Influence In Pancreatic Cancer And Alzheimer’S Disease, Eric Cruz

Theses & Dissertations

Although the etiology of a particular disease will vary, there are genetic and epigenetic bottlenecks that frequently converge resulting in dysregulation of mitogenic and morphogenetic signaling. This propensity is acutely experienced in malignancy and neurodegenerative disease.

Here, we have first investigated the role of dysregulated signaling in the context of pancreatic cancer (PC). Morphogenetic signaling has been regarded as a pleiotropic pathway with the potential to promote and inhibit metastatic features. Our investigation of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2), an archetypical member of the BMP superfamily, has revealed the presence of extracellular, intracellular, and long non-coding RNA products. Our findings …

Voltage-Gated K+ Channels And Hiv-1-Induced Neural Injury: Implications For Pathogenesis Of Hiv-1-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders, Han Liu

Theses & Dissertations

Human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1)-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND) is a subcortical disease involving neuronal loss and myelin damage. Myelin is deposited by oligodendrocytes through a complex process including oligodendrocyte progenitor cell (OPC) proliferation and maturation. Oligodendrocytes/OPCs are susceptible to viral proteins such as Tat and that myelin damage is associated with oligodendrocyte number decrease. It has been shown that activation of voltage-gated K⁺ (K_V) channels mediates apoptosis in various cell types. K_V1.3 is the most predominant K_V channel expressed in OPCs/oligodendrocytes and potentially involved in OPC developmental regulation. We studied the involvement of K_{V …}