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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
Genetic Analysis Of The Hippo Pathway In Mouse Liver, Li Lu
Genetic Analysis Of The Hippo Pathway In Mouse Liver, Li Lu
Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)
Cancer therapy and tumor treatment remain unsolved puzzles. Genetic screening for tumor suppressor genes in Drosophila revealed the Hippo-signaling pathway as a kinase cascade consisting of five core components. Disrupting the pathway by deleting the main component genes breaks the balance of cell proliferation and apoptosis and results in epithelial tissue tumorigenesis. The pathway is therefore believed to be a tumor suppressor pathway. However, a corresponding role in mammals is yet to be determined. Our lab began to investigate the tumor suppression function of the potent mammalian Hippo pathway by putting floxed alleles into the mouse genome flanking the functional-domain-expressing …
Taz As A Regulator Of Mesenchymal Transformation And Clinical Aggressiveness In Gliomas, Katrina Salazar
Taz As A Regulator Of Mesenchymal Transformation And Clinical Aggressiveness In Gliomas, Katrina Salazar
Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an aggressive, high grade brain tumor. Microarray studies have shown a subset of GBMs with a mesenchymal gene signature. This subset is associated with poor clinical outcome and resistance to treatment. To establish the molecular drivers of this mesenchymal transition, we correlated transcription factor expression to the mesenchymal signature and identified transcriptional co-activator with PDZ-binding motif (TAZ) to be highly associated with the mesenchymal shift. High TAZ expression correlated with worse clinical outcome and higher grade. These data led to the hypothesis that TAZ is critical to the mesenchymal transition and aggressive clinical behavior seen in …