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Theses/Dissertations

Life Sciences

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Breast cancer

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Human Milk: From Covid-19 Immunity To Breast Cancer Risk Assessment, Vignesh Narayanaswamy Feb 2023

Human Milk: From Covid-19 Immunity To Breast Cancer Risk Assessment, Vignesh Narayanaswamy

Doctoral Dissertations

Breastmilk is a complex biological fluid containing macromolecules including lipids, oligosaccharides, proteins as well as several types of cells. Several studies have reported in detail of these components. My focus is studying the protein component of breastmilk, specifically antibodies, cytokines, and other secreted factors in the setting of different pathogenicity in women. Studies have demonstrated that the levels of numerous cytokines as well as the levels of pathogen-specific antibodies are altered in milk upon either maternal or infant infections. Additionally, there are reports that the levels of certain inflammatory markers are altered in milk among women with breast cancer or …


Characterizing Mechanical Regulation Of Bone Metastatic Breast Cancer Cells, Boyuan Liu Mar 2022

Characterizing Mechanical Regulation Of Bone Metastatic Breast Cancer Cells, Boyuan Liu

Doctoral Dissertations

Breast cancer most frequently metastasizes to the skeleton. Bone metastatic cancer is incurable and induces wide-spread bone osteolysis, resulting in significant patient morbidity and mortality. Mechanical stimuli in the skeleton are an important microenvironmental parameter that modulates tumor formation, osteolysis, and tumor cell-bone cell signaling, but which mechanical signals are the most beneficial and the corresponding molecular mechanisms are unknown. This work focused on bone matrix deformation and interstitial fluid flow based on their well-known roles in bone remodeling and in primary breast cancer. The goal of our research was to establish a platform that could define the relationship between …


Markov Decision Process Approach To Strategize National Breast Cancer Screening Policy In Data-Limited Settings, Vijeta Deshpande Oct 2019

Markov Decision Process Approach To Strategize National Breast Cancer Screening Policy In Data-Limited Settings, Vijeta Deshpande

Masters Theses

Early diagnosis is a promising strategy to reduce premature mortalities and for optimal use of resources. But the absence of mathematical models specific to the data settings in LMIC’s impedes the construction of economic analysis necessary for decision-makers in the development of cancer control programs. This thesis presents a new methodology for parameterizing the natural history model of breast cancer based on data availabilities in low and middle income countries, and formulation of a control optimization problem to find the optimal screening schedule for mammography screening, solved using dynamic programming. As harms and benefits are known to increase with the …


Influences Of Antroquinonol And 4-Acetylantroquinonol B On Inflammatory Tumorigenesis In The Mcf-7 Breast Cancer Cell Line With Or Without Tnf-Α Stimulation, Ting-Chun Lin Oct 2018

Influences Of Antroquinonol And 4-Acetylantroquinonol B On Inflammatory Tumorigenesis In The Mcf-7 Breast Cancer Cell Line With Or Without Tnf-Α Stimulation, Ting-Chun Lin

Masters Theses

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common cancers among women worldwide that ~25% of new cancer cases diagnosed every year would be BC; moreover, ~15% of cancer deaths per year caused by BC makes it the leading cause of cancer death among women worldwide. To date, though the cause of a large proportion of BC are still unclear, recent studies have revealed that a supportive breast tissue microenvironment is critical for the development and progression of BC, especially the communication with immune cells within breast tissue. Therefore, breast inflammatory microenvironment is currently received a substantial attention in the …


The Effects Of Mechanical Loading And Tumor Factors On Osteocyte Dendrite Formation, Wenbo Wang Apr 2018

The Effects Of Mechanical Loading And Tumor Factors On Osteocyte Dendrite Formation, Wenbo Wang

Masters Theses

Advanced breast cancer predominantly metastasizes to the skeleton, at which point patients suffer bone loss, pain, heightened fracture risk and their prognosis significantly declines. The skeleton is sensitive to its highly dynamic mechanical environment whereby bone mass is increased when applied loads are increased whereas bone loss occurs when applied loads are reduced. Increased mechanical loading inhibited bone metastatic tumor formation and progression in vivo, but the underlying mechanisms are currently under investigation. Here, we focus on the osteocyte, a specialized bone cell well-known as the primary mechanosensor and director of remodeling in the skeleton. Osteocytic dendrites are important for …


Inhibition Of Dna Methylation In Acquired Tamoxifen-Resistant Breast Cancer: Cell Line Model And Clinical Implications, Stephanie Zimmers Jul 2016

Inhibition Of Dna Methylation In Acquired Tamoxifen-Resistant Breast Cancer: Cell Line Model And Clinical Implications, Stephanie Zimmers

Doctoral Dissertations

One out of every eight American women will develop invasive breast cancer throughout their lifetime. Approximately 70% of breast cancers are estrogen receptor alpha (ER)-positive and can therefore be treated with an anti-estrogen such as tamoxifen. Although tamoxifen treatment has been successful at reducing breast cancer death rates, nearly one-third of women treated with tamoxifen for 5 years will have disease recurrence. Therefore, it is imperative that researchers investigate the mechanisms involved in developing acquired tamoxifen resistance and identify biomarkers that are predictive of acquired resistance. DNA methylation is known to play a role in the development of breast cancer …


Dna-Based Epigenetic Changes In Recurrent And Tamoxifen-Resistant Breast Cancer, Kristin E. Williams Jul 2016

Dna-Based Epigenetic Changes In Recurrent And Tamoxifen-Resistant Breast Cancer, Kristin E. Williams

Doctoral Dissertations

Roughly two-thirds of all breast cancers are Estrogen Receptor a (ER)-positive and can be treated with an anti-estrogen such as Tamoxifen, however resistance occurs in 33% of women who take the drug for more than 5 years. In addition to this acquired antiestrogen resistance, de novo- or intrinsic-resistance occurs primarily in ER-negative tumors but also occasionally in ER-positive tumors. Aberrant DNA promoter methylation, a major epigenetic mechanism by which gene expression is altered in cancer, is thought to play a role in this resistance. To date, few studies have examined promoter methylation and Tamoxifen resistance in breast cancer. Of the …


The Investigation Of Rhodiola Crenulata Root Extract Effects On Obesity Associated Inflammation And The Antineoplastic Mechanism In Breast Cancer Cells, Lotfi M. Bassa Nov 2015

The Investigation Of Rhodiola Crenulata Root Extract Effects On Obesity Associated Inflammation And The Antineoplastic Mechanism In Breast Cancer Cells, Lotfi M. Bassa

Doctoral Dissertations

Obesity and breast cancer are two disease models that directly affect the United States population, as more than 35% of the adult population is obese [8], and more than 200,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in the United States per year [34]. Several diseases are associated with obesity including, cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, increased inflammation and increased cancer risk [9,10]. Therefore it essential to understand the risks associated with obesity as well as to investigate possible preventive and/or therapeutic treatment strategies. Rhodiola crenulata is a Tibetan plant that has been used in Eastern traditional medicine to relieve depression, …


From Mouse Mammary Tumor Model To New Therapeutic Method ---Mammary Tumor Development In Balb/C-Trp53+/- Mice And Magnetic Nanoparticle Induced Heating For Cancer Treatment, Haoheng Yan May 2010

From Mouse Mammary Tumor Model To New Therapeutic Method ---Mammary Tumor Development In Balb/C-Trp53+/- Mice And Magnetic Nanoparticle Induced Heating For Cancer Treatment, Haoheng Yan

Open Access Dissertations

Mutation and loss of p53 function are common features among human breast cancers. We use BALB/c-Trp53+/- mice as a model to examine the sequence of events leading to mammary tumors. Mammary epithelium proliferation rates were similar in both BALB/c-Trp53+/- mice and wild type controls. Among the 28 mammary tumors collected from BALB/c-Trp53+/- mice, loss of heterozygosity for Trp53 was detected in more than 90% of invasive mammary tumors. Transplantation of Trp53+/- ductal hyperplasias indicated an association between loss of the wild type allele of Trp53 and progression to invasive carcinomas. Expression of biomarkers such as ERα, PR, Her2/Neu and activated …