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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

A Look At Gene Control: Tracking The Ccnd1 Gene, Bryan Anders Jan 2020

A Look At Gene Control: Tracking The Ccnd1 Gene, Bryan Anders

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Cancer occurs when the cell does not properly control its own cell cycle. It then replicates in an out of control fashion leading to the death of various organs and then the demise of the organism as a whole. As it seems to have always been a problem for cell-based life, certain safeguards against cancer have been evolved over time. One such method comes in the form of prevention via cyclin proteins, which are encoded from cyclin genes. The gene that is the focus of this research is the CCND1, or cyclin D1, gene that controls the progression through various …


Ototoxicity Of Cisplatin, Pyriplatin, And Phenathriplatin In The Auditory Hybridoma Cell Line, Hei-Oc1, Alexandra Johnston Jan 2020

Ototoxicity Of Cisplatin, Pyriplatin, And Phenathriplatin In The Auditory Hybridoma Cell Line, Hei-Oc1, Alexandra Johnston

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Cisplatin is an anti-cancer drug which is effective against several cancers, but also causes harmful side-effects, including ototoxicity and hearing loss. While cisplatin is a bifunctional compound that forms coordinate covalent bonds with both strands of DNA, recently investigated monofunctional platinum(II) compounds bind to only one DNA strand, and may activate different cell-death mechanisms. As several monofunctional platinum(II) compounds have anti-cancer properties, but could target different cell-death pathways, they could potentially have different and reduced side-effects. In this study, the HEI-OC1 auditory hybridoma cell line was used to investigate the ototoxicity of cisplatin and two monofunctional platinum(II) compounds, phenanthriplatin and …


Effects Of Ef-24 And Cisplatin On Cancer, Renal, And Auditory Cells, Denis Hodzic Apr 2019

Effects Of Ef-24 And Cisplatin On Cancer, Renal, And Auditory Cells, Denis Hodzic

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Cisplatin is a chemotherapy drug effective against several forms of cancer, but can also cause serious side-effects, including nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity. Curcumin, a natural plant compound, can increase cisplatin’s anti-cancer activity and counteract cisplatin’s deleterious effect on the auditory and renal systems. Unfortunately, curcumin exhibits poor bioavailability, which has promoted interest in the development of synthetic curcumin analogs (curcuminoids) that are soluble, target cancer, and do not cause side effects. This study investigated whether the curcuminoid (3E,5E)-3,5-bis[(2-fluorophenyl) methylene]-4-piperidinone (EF-24) increases the anti-cancer effects of cisplatin against a human ovarian cancer cell line (A2780) and its cisplatin-resistant counterpart (A2780cis), while preventing …


Involvement Of Jak/Stat Signaling And A Basement Membrane-Associated Protein During Air Sac Primordium Development In Drosophila Melanogaster, Nathan Anthony Powers Oct 2018

Involvement Of Jak/Stat Signaling And A Basement Membrane-Associated Protein During Air Sac Primordium Development In Drosophila Melanogaster, Nathan Anthony Powers

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Tumor metastasis currently presents the greatest obstacle for effective cancer remediation. Metastatic growth necessitates both degradation of a specialized form of extracellular matrix (ECM) known as the basement membrane (BM) and the invasion of surrounding tissues thereafter. The thoracic air sacs of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), which develop and operate in a fashion comparable to the human lung, provide a unique model for identifying and characterizing factors that contribute to its own development as well as tumoral invasion. We investigated the involvement of both Janus kinase (JAK)/Signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) signaling and a BMassociated protein during the …


Investigating The Synergistic Effects Of Two Curcuminoids And Cisplatin On Cancer Cell Migration, Blaine Patty Apr 2018

Investigating The Synergistic Effects Of Two Curcuminoids And Cisplatin On Cancer Cell Migration, Blaine Patty

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Cisplatin is a common chemotherapy drug used to treat various cancers; however, it is relatively ineffective against many cancers, including several types of lung cancer. One approach that could improve cisplatin’s effect is to combine it with another drug that produces a synergistic response greater than either drug alone. Curcumin, a naturally occurring plant compound, has been investigated for synergisms in conjunction with cisplatin chemotherapy, but curcumin use is hampered by its low bioavailability. This project investigated whether two synthetic curcumin analogs, EF-24 and CLEFMA (curcuminoids), which have greater solubility than curcumin, could, when combined with cisplatin, decrease the migration …


Investigating The Synergistic Effects Of Two Curcuminoids And Cisplatin On Cancer Cell Reactive Oxygen Species, Matthew Millay Apr 2018

Investigating The Synergistic Effects Of Two Curcuminoids And Cisplatin On Cancer Cell Reactive Oxygen Species, Matthew Millay

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Cisplatin is an anticancer drug which can cause the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that kill cancer cells. Curcumin is a naturally occurring plant compound that can increase ROS levels in cancer cells and enhance the activity of cisplatin against cancer, but it exhibits poor bioavailability. We investigated whether two synthetic curcumin analogs (curcuminoids), EF-24 and CLEFMA, with anti-cancer activity and improved bioavailability, increased cisplatin’s effect against cancer. A spectrophotometric fluorescent ROS assay was used to determine if cisplatin, the curcuminoids or combinations of cisplatin with a curcuminoid affected the level of ROS in the A549 non-small cell lung …


Investigating The Apoptotic Effects Of Platinum(Ii) Amine Complexes With Only One Leaving Ligand On Zebrafish Auditory End Organs, Joshua Smith Apr 2018

Investigating The Apoptotic Effects Of Platinum(Ii) Amine Complexes With Only One Leaving Ligand On Zebrafish Auditory End Organs, Joshua Smith

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The FDA-approved platinum compound, cisplatin, is commonly used as a chemotherapy drug to treat many forms of cancer. However, this compound also has several associated side-effects, including ototoxicity. This has made the development of novel platinum compounds that reduce cancer cell viability, while causing fewer and milder side-effects, an area of significant research interest. In the present study, we examined the apoptotic effects that four monofunctional platinum compounds, pyriplatin, phenanthriplatin, Pt(diethylenetriamine)Cl, and Pt(N,Ndiethyldiethylenetriamine) Cl, had on zebrafish inner ear auditory epithelial cells. We then compared the apoptotic effects of these compounds to those of cisplatin, which is a bifunctional platinum …


Investigating The Synergistic Effects Of Cisplatin And Two Curcuminoid Compounds On Cancer, Denis Hodzic Jun 2017

Investigating The Synergistic Effects Of Cisplatin And Two Curcuminoid Compounds On Cancer, Denis Hodzic

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Cisplatin is an anti-cancer drug effective against several cancers which can produce the serious side-effect of hearing loss. Curcumin, a natural plant compound, can increase the activity of cisplatin against cancer and counteract cisplatin’s effect against hearing. Because curcumin exhibits poor bioavailability, there is considerable interest in developing synthetic curcumin analogs (curcuminoids) that are more soluble and which retain anti-cancer activity and otoprotective function. This study investigated whether two curcuminoids, EF-24 and CLEFMA, increase the cytotoxic and ototoxic effects of cisplatin against the lung cancer cell line, A549, and the colorectal cancer cell line, Caco2. Cytotoxicity was measured by using …


Binding Of Oxaliplatin And Its Analogs With Dna Nucleotides At Variable Ph And Concentration Levels, Rippa Sehgal Apr 2016

Binding Of Oxaliplatin And Its Analogs With Dna Nucleotides At Variable Ph And Concentration Levels, Rippa Sehgal

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Oxaliplatin is one of the three FDA-approved platinum anticancer drugs and considered a third generation drug, discovered after the first generation drug cisplatin and second generation drug carboplatin. It is known to react with proteins and DNA nucleotides in the body. Reaction with DNA occurs primarily at guanosine residues and secondarily at adenine residues for oxaliplatin and other platinum drugs. We have previously studied oxaliplatin and an analog with additional steric hindrance in the amine ligand and found that the analog had different reactivity with methionine. Now, we have prepared oxaliplatin and its three analogs Pt(Me2dach)(ox), Pt(en)(ox) and Pt(Me4en)(ox) and …


The Creation Of Α2nc1 Transgenic Drosophila Melanogaster, Jordan Olberding Aug 2013

The Creation Of Α2nc1 Transgenic Drosophila Melanogaster, Jordan Olberding

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The α2 isoform of collagen IV’s noncollagenous 1 domain (α2NC1 or canstatin) has shown promise as an anti-cancer molecule, possessing both angiostatic and pro-apoptotic properties. This work aims to further the knowledge of α2NC1 by conducting a truly in vivo study in which the Gal4-induced endogenous overexpression of α2NC1 in Drosophila melanogaster will be used to assess the effects of α2NC1 upon normal development as well as tumorigenesis. To this end, transgenic fly lines capable of overexpressing α2NC1 were created. Initial overexpression studies indicated no developmental phenotype was caused by abundance of α2NC1. However, future overexpression studies in which α2NC1 …


Development Of Tools To Assess The Effects Of Lunasin On Normal Development And Tumor Progression In Drosophila Melanogaster, Gillian E. Jones Aug 2013

Development Of Tools To Assess The Effects Of Lunasin On Normal Development And Tumor Progression In Drosophila Melanogaster, Gillian E. Jones

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Soy contains many bioactive molecules known to elicit anti-cancer effects. One such peptide, Lunasin, has been shown to selectively act on newly transformed cells while having no cytotoxic effect on non-tumorigenic or established cancer cell lines. In this study we attempt to understand the developmental effects of Lunasin overexpression in vivo and create reagents that will help us understand Lunasin’s anti tumorigenic effects in an intact organism. cDNA encoding lunasin and EGFP-lunasin were cloned into pUAST and microinjected into Drosophila embryos. Tissue-specific overexpression of EGFP-Lun in the resulting transgenic lines was accomplished by crossing transgenics to various GAL4 driver lines. …