Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology
Elucidating The Signalling Pathway Of Mer Tyrosine Kinase Receptor In Efferocytosis, Ekenedelichukwu Azu
Elucidating The Signalling Pathway Of Mer Tyrosine Kinase Receptor In Efferocytosis, Ekenedelichukwu Azu
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Efferocytosis is the clearance of apoptotic cells and is necessary for homeostasis. Mer Tyrosine Kinase (MerTK) is a crucial efferocytic receptor whose loss is associated with chronic inflammatory diseases and autoimmunity. While previous studies have shown that MerTK mediates efferocytosis through a unique mechanism that requires integrins, MerTK signalling pathway remains unknown. Given this unusual internalization mechanism, I hypothesized that MerTK signals and engages integrins through a novel signalling pathway different from that used by other phagocytic receptors. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the signalling pathways activated by MerTK, utilizing conventional cell biology and pharmacological approaches.
I found that …
Investigating The Interplay Between Protein Kinases And Caspases, Jacob P. Turowec
Investigating The Interplay Between Protein Kinases And Caspases, Jacob P. Turowec
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
The balance between cell survival and death is a crucial process in human development and tissue homeostasis, but is also misregulated in disease. In large part, apoptosis is controlled by caspases, a hierarchical series of cysteine aspartic acid proteases that demolish the cell by cleaving key structural and enzymatic proteins, but emerging paradigms have highlighted the ability of kinases to regulate caspase activity. One way in which kinases can control the progression of apoptosis is through phosphorylation of caspase substrates, which acts to prevent caspase cleavage of that target.
In this thesis, we develop new strategies to study this regulatory …