Molecular Biology Commons^™

Mechanistic And Translational Studies On Skeletal Malignancies, Jeremy Mcguire

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

New treatment strategies are desperately needed for treating skeletal malignancy. Skeletal malignancies can be either primary cancer that originated in the bone, such as osteosarcoma, or metastatic cancer that spread from another organ to the skeleton, as in the case of breast or prostate cancer. In this thesis, I will detail two projects that focus on the discovery of new treatment strategies for both primary skeletal malignancy and metastatic skeletal malignancy.

The first project focuses on the primary skeletal malignancy, osteosarcoma, a rare cancer that is commonly diagnosed in children and young adults and metastasizes to the lungs. The survival …

Computational Analysis Of Genomic Variants Affecting Predicted Microrna:Target Interactions In Prostate Cancer., Angélica Paola Hernández Pérez

KGI Theses and Dissertations

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common cancer of men in the United States and is third only to lung and colon as a cause of cancer death. Clinical behavior of the disease is variable and the combination of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening and Gleason score staging are currently the best available molecular and pathology tools to predict outcomes. Cancer biology research establishes microRNAs (miRNAs) as key molecular components in both normal and pathological states. Thus, elucidating miRNAs perturbed by genomic alterations will expand our understanding of the molecular taxonomy of PCa with the aim to complement current practices in …

Mechanisms For Survival And Drug Resistance In Cancer Cells, Matthew B. Utter

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

PART I

Prostate cells are hormonally driven to grow and divide. Typical treatments for prostate cancer involve blocking the hormone androgen from activating the androgen receptor (AR) and thus inhibit growth and proliferation of the cancer. Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) can lead to the selection of cancer cells that grow and divide independently of androgen receptor activation. Prostate cancer cells that are insensitive to androgens commonly display metastatic phenotypes and reduced long-term survival of patients. In this study, we provide evidence that androgen-insensitive prostate cancer cells have elevated phospholipase D (PLD) activity relative to the androgen-sensitive prostate cancer cells. PLD …

The Dietary Isoprenoid Perillyl Alcohol Inhibits Telomerase Activity In Prostate Cancer Cells, Tabetha Sundin

Theses and Dissertations in Biomedical Sciences

This is the first evidence that a plant-derived compound–perillyl alcohol regulates telomerase activity via the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway in prostate cancer cells. Telomerase–the enzyme responsible for immortalizing cells through telomeric repeats addition–is de-repressed early in an aspiring cancer cell. We hypothesized that perillyl alcohol regulates hTERT (human telomerase reverse transcriptase) at the translational and post-translational levels via its effects on the mTOR pathway. A rapid suppression of telomerase activity was detected in prostate cancer cell lines (PC-3 and DU145) in response to biologically-relevant concentrations and short incubations of perillyl alcohol or the mTOR inhibitor—rapamycin.

Western blot analysis …

Characterization Of Metastasis-Associated Cell Surface Glycoproteins In Prostate Cancer, Lifang Yang

Theses and Dissertations in Biomedical Sciences

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a major health problem in males in the United States. Its lethality is mostly attributed to the primary tumor metastasizing to distant sites that are highly resistant to conventional therapies. Serum Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) is the only protein biomarker used in clinic for prediction of prostate cancer recurrence following local therapies. Nonetheless, PSA lacks the ability to predict the behavior of an individual tumor in an individual patient. Therefore, development of reliable biomarkers for detection of metastatic potential in primary tumors, as well as discovery of new therapeutic targets, is in a great need for …

Gene Therapy Using Tet-Repressor System To Modulate Prostate Tumor Microenvironment, Nazita Yousefieh

Theses and Dissertations in Biomedical Sciences

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in men in the United States and is projected to be the third most frequent cause of male cancer-related deaths in 2007 after lung and skin cancers. The initial treatment for prostate cancer at early stages is prostatectomy or radiation, which usually is curative. However, approximately 20% of patients are not cured by such treatments and their cancer recurs, sometimes with long latencies. In other patients prostate cancer is diagnosed only after the cancer has metastasized and there are no effective therapies at this stage. Therefore immunotherapy seems to be a promising …

Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen (Psma): Immunoassay Development And Characterization Of Transcriptional Regulation, Zhen Xiao

Theses and Dissertations in Biomedical Sciences

Prostate cancer (PCA) is the most common cancer and the second leading cause of death among American men. The high mortality is greatly attributed to the lack of early detection tools and effective treatment for metastasis and relapses. Biomarkers that can discriminate benign from malignant tumor and signal the development of androgen independent and metastatic tumor are needed. A biomarker designated prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) has the potential to fulfill this need. The objective of this study is to develop a clinically useful immunoassay for quantitation of serum PSMA and to study the molecular mechanism underlying the upregulation of …