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Regulation Of Cyclin E Stability In Xenopus Laevis Embryos, Yekaterina Brandt (Webb)

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Cyclin-Cdk complexes positively regulate cell cycle progression. Cyclins are regulatory subunits that bind to and activate cyclin-dependent kinases or Cdks. Cyclin E associates with Cdk2 to mediate G1/S phase transition of the cell cycle. Cyclin E is overexpressed in breast, lung, skin, gastrointestinal, cervical, and ovarian cancers. Its overexpression correlates with poor patient prognosis and is involved in the etiology of breast cancer. We have been studying how this protein is downregulated during development in order to determine if these mechanisms are disrupted during tumorigenesis, leading to its overexpression. Using Xenopus laevis embryos as a model, we have shown previously …