Life Sciences Commons^™

Tunel Apoptotic Cell Detection In Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (Sctld): Evaluation Of Potential And Improvements, E. Murphy Mcdonald

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) is a highly lethal coral disease that has caused a dramatic loss of coral tissue along the Florida Reef Tract and throughout the Wider Caribbean. This study seeks to understand whether programmed cell death (apoptosis) is involved in the pathology of the highly virulent SCTLD tissue loss lesion. Tissues from diseased colonies of Pseudodiploria strigosa collected in 2018 and 2020 were stained using the terminal deoxyribonucleotidyltransferase (TdT) mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay to visualize areas of programmed cell death. The archived tissue samples collected in 2018 exhibited a significantly higher degree of …

Investigating The Role Of Lin-35 And The Dream Complex In Preserving Fertility Under Stress In C. Elegans, Frances Virginia Compere

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Organisms are subjected to environments that can fluctuate and cause them stress. Therefore, organisms must have the ability to adapt to the stress to survive and propagate. Temperature stress is becoming an increasingly relevant type of stress due to climate change and is known to affect fertility in many types of organisms including the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. Here we examine the role of LIN-35, the single C. elegans homolog of the tumor suppressor Retinoblastoma (pRB), in fertility under moderate temperature stress. We found that lin-35 mutants lose fertility more drastically under moderate temperature stress than wildtype worms, and that …

Dimers Of Isatin Derived Spirocyclic Nf-Κb Inhibitor Exhibit Potent Anticancer Activity By Inducing Upr Mediated Apoptosis, Smit Kour

Theses & Dissertations

Activation of NFκB pathway has been implicated in several malignancies and plays a role in many key processes including tumor initiation and progression. The NFκB pathway is activated when TNFα in the tumor microenvironment binds to its receptor, eventually leading to the phosphorylation of the kinase IKKβ. Once active, IKKβ phosphorylates IκBα, a protein that functions to sequester NFκB in the cytosol of resting cells. The phosphorylation of IκBα leads to its degradation in the proteasome and allows NFκB to translocate to the nucleus where it can drive gene transcription. The sulfhydryl groups on solvent-exposed cysteine (Cys) residues of the …

Evaluation Of The Bax-Vdac Interaction And Their Influence On Apoptosis In Drosophila Melanogaster, Frances Marie Gatlin

Honors Theses

Apoptosis, also known as programmed cell death, is a cellular process used for development or for when cells undergo injury or stress. The Bcl2 family of proteins includes both pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic proteins that control the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis. Understanding the mechanisms and influence these proteins have on apoptosis is an important area of research focused on in Dr. Jones’s lab. Evidence shows a homology amongst the Bcl2 family of proteins at the BH3 domain. Dr. Jekabsons' lab has found a potential homology amongst VDAC 1-3 and the Bcl2 family at the BH3 domain.

Specifically, our lab is using …

Novel Regulatory Roles Of Endocytic Membrane Trafficking Proteins In Mitochondrial Homeostasis, Trey Farmer

Theses & Dissertations

Endocytic membrane trafficking is a basic cell process that is critical for regulating the transport of lipids and proteins. Our lab focuses on the cellular functions and mechanisms of the proteins that regulate these pathways. A key family of regulatory proteins is the C-terminal Eps15 Homology Domain (EHD) protein family. The EHD family includes EHD1-4, which are ubiquitously expressed in mammalian tissues. While these isoforms do have some overlapping functions, each protein also has distinct activities in regulating the shape and fission of membranes throughout the endocytic pathways. Specifically, EHD1 uses ATP hydrolysis to induce constriction and fission of endocytic …

Novel Cyanoximates As An Alternative In Cancer Chemotherapy, Kafayat Aderonke Yusuf

MSU Graduate Theses

Chemotherapy is one of the most effective treatment plans for several cancer types. The recurrent side effects derived from chemotherapy agents have warranted the search for novel chemical compounds with better efficacy and minimal side effects. In line with this idea, I investigated effects of a group of newly synthesized metal based chemical compounds called cyanoximates on HeLa human cancer cells. Cyanoximates used were Pt(DECO)₂, Pt(MCO)₂, and Pd(DECO)₂ along with the chemotherapy drug cisplatin as a positive control. I found that the metal cyanoximates reduced cell viability via apoptosis, and that Pt(DECO)₂ was most …

Synthesized Tripodal Amine As Potential Anti-Cancer Therapeutic, Abigail G. Mcnamee

Honors College Theses

Cancer remains a prevalent disease today. This disease may manifest itself in many different ways and affect a variety of tissues with everything from the brain to the blood. With this wide diversity of cancer types, treatment can be complicated since there is not a “one size fits all” treatment for the disease. Surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy are all options that must be weighed with their benefits and side effects. Ultimately though, there are not enough effective treatment options available for every type of cancer. This leaves many with the grim prognosis of never being cured. With this clear need …

Natural Product Berbamine Enhances The Efficacy Of Doxorubicin Treatment For Triple Negative Breast Cancer, Jake Tyler

Theses and Dissertations

According to breast cancer statistics, 279,100 new cases are expected in the United States in 2020 (Siegel et al., 2020). Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer with a significantly shorter median overall survival compared to other subtypes of breast cancer. Unlike hormone-positive or HER2-positve breast cancers with effective hormonal or targeted therapies available, there has been very little clinical success from targeted therapies for TNBC. Doxorubicin (Dox) is one of the most used chemotherapy drugs. The only limitation of Dox treatment is its cytotoxicity. Berbamine dihydrochloride (BBM) is a natural benzylisoquinoline alkaloid that …

Cell-Free Dna Release During Programmed Cell Death In Kidney Ischemia Reperfusion Injury, Alexander Dionne

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Transplantation is invariably associated with ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) which causes organ dysfunction. IRI is also directly linked to several forms of programmed cell death including apoptosis and necroptosis, which increase kidney dysfunction, promote inflammation and may contribute to premature graft failure. The contribution of necroptosis and apoptosis following kidney IRI to cell-free DNA (cfDNA) generation and the potential of cfDNA to activate effectors such as NK cells involved in kidney IRI have not been defined. Our data indicate that necroptotic microvascular endothelial cells (MVECs) release considerably more cfDNA than apoptotic MVECs or untreated controls (p

Addressing The Issue Of Missing Heritability: The Importance Of Apoptosis In Hereditary Breast And Ovarian Cancer And Functional Assessment Of Tp53i3-S252*, Sophia Chaudhry

Wayne State University Dissertations

A quarter of all cases of ovarian cancer (OVCA) cases are due to inherited factors. However, much of the genetic risk remains unknown. We have previously established the importance of whole exome sequencing to answer the question for missing heritability. We identified clinically actionable and novel risk loci in the DNA repair and cell cycle regulation pathways by assessing a cohort of women diagnosed with OVCA, wildtype for BRCA1/BRCA2 and suspected to be hereditary due to family history of breast cancer/OVCA. Equally as important was the exploration and discovery of novel risk loci in the apoptosis pathway. A total of …

Single-Domain Alpaca Antibodies That Disrupt Ricin Toxin Uptake And Trafficking In Mammalian Cells, Amanda Yee Poon

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Ricin is a member of the ribosome-inactivating protein (RIP) family of toxins found throughout the plant and microbial worlds. In its mature form, ricin is a 65 kDa glycoprotein consisting of two subunits, RTA and RTB, joined by a single disulfide bond. RTA (267 amino acids) is an RNA N-glycosidase that mediates the depurination of a universally conserved residue within the Sarcin-ricin loop (SRL) ribosomal RNA element. RTB is a galactose-/N-acetylgalactosamine-specific lectin that facilitates attachment, endocytosis, and intracellular trafficking of ricin in mammalian cells. Following endocytosis, ricin is routed to the trans-Golgi network (TGN) and then shuttled to the endoplasmic …

Apoptosis And Necrosis Drive Muscle Fiber Loss In Lipin1 Deficient Skeletal Muscle, Sandhya Ramani Sattiraju

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Mutations in lipin1 are suggested to be a common cause of massive rhabdomyolysis episodes in children, however, the molecular mechanism involved in the regulation of myofiber death by lipin1 is not known. In this study, we utilized the skeletal muscle from cell-type-specific lipin1 knockout (Lipin1Myf5cKO) mice to define cell death pathways involved in lipin1 deficient muscles. We observed a significant increase in centrally nucleated fibers and embryonic myosin heavy chain (EMyHC)-positive regenerating fibers in Lipin1Myf5cKO mice compared to wild-type (WT) mice, indicating an increased cycle of degeneration and regeneration in lipin1 deficient muscles. Lipin1 deficient muscles had significantly elevated pro-apoptotic …