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Full-Text Articles in Cell Biology

Inhibition Of Pi 3-Kinase Signaling Contributes To Metronidazole Resistance In The Protozoan Parasite, Entamoeba Histolytica, Rhonda Powell Dec 2009

Inhibition Of Pi 3-Kinase Signaling Contributes To Metronidazole Resistance In The Protozoan Parasite, Entamoeba Histolytica, Rhonda Powell

All Theses

Amoebiasis is defined as an intestinal infection with the human protozoan parasite, Entamoeba histolytica; approximately 100,000 deaths annually can be attributed to amoebiasis. Disease states range from asymptomatic colonization to invasive amoebiasis, characterized by abdominal pain and dysentery. Dissemination to extraintestinal sites, such as the liver and/or brain, can occur. Vesicle trafficking is critical for parasite virulence, and multiple signaling cascades within the pathogen facilitate these events.
One important regulator of signal transduction is the tightly controlled PI 3-kinase (PI3K), which phosphorylates the lipid, phosphatidylinositol bisphosphate (PIP2), producing phosphatidylinositol trisphosphate (PIP3). Effector proteins, such as Akt, …


Functional Interaction Of Racf2 And The Wasp Family Protein, Scar, In The Rab8 Signaling Pathway Of The Social Amoeba, Dictyostelium Discoideum, Terri Bruce May 2009

Functional Interaction Of Racf2 And The Wasp Family Protein, Scar, In The Rab8 Signaling Pathway Of The Social Amoeba, Dictyostelium Discoideum, Terri Bruce

All Dissertations

The small GTPase, Rab8, has been shown to play a role in cell-cell adhesion and restructuring of the actin cytoskeleton in both mammalian cells and the lower eukaryote, Dictyostelium discoideum. In D. discoideum, cells expressing constitutively activated Rab8 (Rab8CA) display reduced cell-cell adhesion and increased actin-rich protrusions as well as delayed aggregation. Rab8 has been implicated in the restructuring of the actin cytoskeleton, but no specific pathway for this action has been identified. In other systems, actin-rich membrane extension formation is regulated by WASp family proteins, including SCAR. Here we provide evidence of a functional relationship between the WASp family …


Construction And Characterization Of A Novel Fusion Protein From The Extracellular Domain Of Mult1 And Transmembrane And Intracellular Domains Of Fas And Its Therapeutic Evaluation For Cancer Treatment Using An Adenoviral Delivery System, Hari Shankar Kotturi Rajeshwar May 2009

Construction And Characterization Of A Novel Fusion Protein From The Extracellular Domain Of Mult1 And Transmembrane And Intracellular Domains Of Fas And Its Therapeutic Evaluation For Cancer Treatment Using An Adenoviral Delivery System, Hari Shankar Kotturi Rajeshwar

All Dissertations

One of the strategies that tumor cells adopt to evade immunosurveillance mounted by elements of the innate immune system, such as NK cells, is to down-regulate certain cell surface molecules through a process also called shedding. Mouse UL16-binding protein-like transcript 1 (MULT1), which can activate NK cells through NK cell receptor NKG2D, is one of such molecules. Tumor cells can also avoid Fas mediated apoptosis by down-regulating its expression, secreting antagonistic `decoy' receptors, or expressing anti-apoptotic molecules. In this study, we report the design and evaluation of the antitumor activity of a novel fusion protein MULT1E/FasTI, consisting of the extracellular …