Life Sciences Commons^™

Investigation Of Moringa Oleifera Leaf Extract And Its Cancer-Selective Antiproliferative Properties, Reagen H. Welch, Ashlee H. Tietje

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Moringa oleifera is a tree native to a number of Asian, African, and Central American countries and has been used in traditional medicine for an assortment of medicinal uses for centuries. Due to bioactive compounds within Moringa leaves, it is believed that Moringa leaf extract may possess cancer-selective antiproliferative properties. Previous research has been conducted in regards to this topic, but poor experimental design due to lack of necessary controls limits the legitimacy of anticancer claims. While previous research has shown that Moringa leaf extract has the potential to kill cancer cells, the research fails to demonstrate the effects of …

Mechanisms And Regulation Of Resection In Dna Damage Response, Sharad C. Paudyal

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) encodes genetic information essential for cell survival and function. However, it is constantly under assault from endogenous and exogenous damaging agents that not only threaten our own survival but also affect the faithful transmission of genetic information to our offspring. Double-strand breaks (DSBs) are one of the most hazardous forms of DNA damage, which if unrepaired or improperly repaired could lead to plethora of systemic human diseases including cancer. To deal with this problem, cells have evolved with a mechanism called DNA damage response (DDR) to detect, signal, and repair the breaks by inducing multiple cellular events. …

Basigin-2 Mediated Activation Of Erk1/2 Signaling In Human Glioblastoma Multiforme Cells, Erik R. Peterson

All NMU Master's Theses

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common malignant form of human brain cancer. GBM tumor cells overexpress the protein Basigin (Bsg) at the cell surface where it contributes to malignancy via stimulation of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) expression in surrounding normal tissues, resulting in the degradation of the extracellular matrix (ECM) surrounding tumors, promoting remodeling of the tumor borders, stimulating growth. In work by Belton et al. (2008), human uterine endometrial cells treated with a recombinant form of human basigin possessing the extracellular domain of the Bsg protein (rBsg-ECD) showed activation of the Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway proteins, ERK1/2. …

Clinical And Therapeutic Significance Of Obesity In Melanoma, Jennifer L. Mcquade

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

While the FDA approval of targeted and immune therapies in metastatic melanoma (MM) have dramatically improved outcomes in this disease, de novo and/or acquired resistance can limit the clinical benefit of these agents. The IGF-1/PI3K/AKT pathway has been implicated in resistance to both targeted and immune therapy. The IGF-1/PI3K/AKT pathway has also been shown to play a key role in the pathogenesis of obesity in other malignancies. To date, the impact of energy balance on clinical outcomes and therapeutic response in MM has not been studied. I hypothesized that energy balance would impact the molecular biology, behavior, and drug sensitivity …

Transition From Cardiovascular Disease To Cancer As The Leading Cause Of Death In Us States, 1999-2014, Michael C. Harding, Evan Thacker

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In 1900 the three leading causes of death in the United States were pneumonia and influenza; tuberculosis; and gastritis, enteritis, and colitis.¹ However, through a combination of improved sanitation, the discovery of antibiotics, and the advent of vaccination programs, deaths from infectious diseases subsided and soon gave way to chronic diseases.² Shortly after the turn of the century, diseases of the heart became of the number one cause of death, and in the 1940s, cancer began consistently appearing at number two. Since then, heart disease and cancer have remained firmly entrenched as the number one and two causes …

Splice Site Predictor, Mark Wadsworth, Dr. Perry G. Ridge

Journal of Undergraduate Research

With the advent of nextgeneration sequencing, one of the unintended consequences is the sheer number of genomic variations requiring interpretation. Mutations in splice sites have been shown to contribute to the development of cancer [1], and dementia [2] among other potentially deadly disorders. Roughly 14 million people are diagnosed with cancer every year [3], and roughly 7 million with dementia [4]. Since these diseases cause an incredible amount of suffering, scientists in all fields are driven to search for ways to identify and treat them. These have been particularly difficult to interpret and have been largely ignored by the bioinformatics …

Mitochondrial Dynamics Controls T Cell Fate Through Metabolic Programming, Michael Buck

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Activated effector T (TE) cells augment anabolic pathways of metabolism, such as aerobic glycolysis, while memory T (TM) cells engage catabolic pathways, like fatty acid oxidation (FAO). However, signals that drive these differences remain unclear. Mitochondria are metabolic organelles that actively transform their ultrastructure. Therefore, we questioned whether mitochondrial dynamics controls T cell metabolism. We show that TE cells have punctate mitochondria, while TM cells maintain fused networks. The fusion protein Opa1 is required for TM, but not TE cells after infection, and enforcing fusion in TE cells imposes TM cell characteristics and enhances antitumor function. Our data suggest that, …

The Effect Of Nullomer-Derived Peptides 9r, 9s1r And 124r On The Nci-60 Panel And Normal Cell Lines, Abdelkrim Alileche, Greg Hampikian

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Nullomer peptides are the smallest sequences absent from databases of natural proteins. We first began compiling a list of absent 5-amino acid strings in 2006 (1). We report here the effects of Nullomer-derived peptides 9R, 9S1R and 124R on the NCI-60 panel, derived from human cancers of 9 organs (kidney, ovary, skin melanoma, lung, brain, lung, colon, prostate and the hematopoietic system), and four normal cell lines (endothelial HUVEC, skin fibroblasts BJ, colon epithelial FHC and normal prostate RWPE-1).

Methods: NCI-60 cancer cell panel and four normal cell lines were cultured in vitro in RPMI1640 supplemented with 10% Hyclone …

Th1 Cells In Cancer-Associated Inflammation, Güneş Di̇nç Akbulut, Di̇dem Özkazanç, Güneş Esendağli

Turkish Journal of Biology

The immune system is not only evolved to protect the body from pathogens, but it also recognizes and eliminates cancer cells. CD4+ helper T (Th) lymphocytes are central intercessors differentiated according to the character of physiological or pathological status. Generation of type 1 Th (Th1) cells is primarily associated with a pathological insult that must be removed through immune elimination. Upon interacting with other immune and transformed cells, Th1 cells can hamper cancer progression. Therefore, it is a major obstacle for tumor cells to become insensitive or resistant to Th1-oriented actions. The organism employs various mechanisms to return to a …