Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Medical Molecular Biology Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Medical Molecular Biology

Novel Mechanisms And Biomarkers In Alcohol-Induced Organ Injury., Christine E. Dolin May 2019

Novel Mechanisms And Biomarkers In Alcohol-Induced Organ Injury., Christine E. Dolin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background. Ethanol (EtOH) consumption is known to affect multiple organs; this is unsurprising, as the concentration of EtOH in the blood at relevant doses reaches the millimolar range. The overarching goal of this dissertation was to elucidate mechanisms of alcohol-induced organ injury, specifically the effects of alcohol on the hepatic extracellular matrix (ECM) proteome, the alcoholic hepatitis (AH) plasma peptidome, and the effects of alcohol on the renal cortex proteome and transcriptome. Methods. Mice were pair-fed ethanol-containing liquid diet chronically, and then some mice were administered lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Liver sections from these mice were processed in a series of increasingly …


Cholesterol Metabolism And Statin Effects On An Fh Class Ii Ldl-Receptor Mutation., Linda Omer Dec 2018

Cholesterol Metabolism And Statin Effects On An Fh Class Ii Ldl-Receptor Mutation., Linda Omer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a common genetic disease and has been studied with the aim of finding a curative measure for decades. FH is caused by mutations in the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) resulting in defects in LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C)-receptor mediated endocytosis and development of premature cardiovascular disease (CVD). Here I describe the use of a corrected and non-corrected LDLR FH cell model to investigate receptor-mediated endocytosis and statin effects. For these studies, we reprogrammed FH fibroblast cells to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and confirmed their pluripotency and ability to differentiate to hepatocyte-like cells (HLC). A clustered regularly interspaced short …


Bayesian Analytical Approaches For Metabolomics : A Novel Method For Molecular Structure-Informed Metabolite Interaction Modeling, A Novel Diagnostic Model For Differentiating Myocardial Infarction Type, And Approaches For Compound Identification Given Mass Spectrometry Data., Patrick J. Trainor Aug 2018

Bayesian Analytical Approaches For Metabolomics : A Novel Method For Molecular Structure-Informed Metabolite Interaction Modeling, A Novel Diagnostic Model For Differentiating Myocardial Infarction Type, And Approaches For Compound Identification Given Mass Spectrometry Data., Patrick J. Trainor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Metabolomics, the study of small molecules in biological systems, has enjoyed great success in enabling researchers to examine disease-associated metabolic dysregulation and has been utilized for the discovery biomarkers of disease and phenotypic states. In spite of recent technological advances in the analytical platforms utilized in metabolomics and the proliferation of tools for the analysis of metabolomics data, significant challenges in metabolomics data analyses remain. In this dissertation, we present three of these challenges and Bayesian methodological solutions for each. In the first part we develop a new methodology to serve a basis for making higher order inferences in metabolomics, …


Ubqln1 : A Multi-Domain Protein With Multiple Functions., Zimple Kurlawala Aug 2017

Ubqln1 : A Multi-Domain Protein With Multiple Functions., Zimple Kurlawala

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There are 5 Ubiquilin proteins (UBQLN1-4, UBQLN-L), which are evolutionarily conserved and structurally similar. UBQLN proteins have 3 functional domains: N-terminal ubiquitin-like domain (UBL), C-terminal ubiquitin-associated domain (UBA) and STI chaperone-like regions in the middle. Alterations in UBQLN1 gene have been detected in a variety of disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis and lung cancer. UBQLN1 has been largely studied in neurodegenerative disorders in the context of protein quality control. Several studies have hypothesized that the UBA domain of UBQLN1 binds to poly-ubiquitin chains of substrate and shuttles it to the proteasome via its UBL domain for degradation. UBQLN1 …


The Discovery Of A Novel, Ras-Mediated Nore1a/Pmliv Tumor Suppressor Complex., Jessica Mezzanotte Sharpe Aug 2016

The Discovery Of A Novel, Ras-Mediated Nore1a/Pmliv Tumor Suppressor Complex., Jessica Mezzanotte Sharpe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ras is the most commonly activated oncogene in human cancer. Activated Ras drives cell growth and proliferation by activating multiple mitogenic signaling pathways. However, Ras also has the paradoxical ability to promote anti-growth, pro-apoptotic, and pro-senescent signaling. The signaling pathways of many of these biological effectors remain poorly defined. One group of proteins capable of promoting Ras-induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest is the RASSF family of tumor suppressors. Novel Ras Effector 1A, or NORE1A, was the first member of this family discovered and is a bona fide tumor suppressor that is lost or inactivated in a number of different …


Microrna-186 And Metastatic Prostate Cancer., Dominique Zilpha Jones May 2016

Microrna-186 And Metastatic Prostate Cancer., Dominique Zilpha Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

MicroRNA (miR) dysregulation alters cancer-associated gene expression, which contributes to cancer pathogenesis. For example, miR-186 over expression lead to enhanced proliferation and migration in pancreatic cancer cell models. However, the role of miR-186 in prostate cancer (PCa) remains controversial. Previously, miR-186-5p was up-regulated in PCa patient serum (stage III/IV) compared to controls. Furthermore, miR-186-5p was up-regulated in metastatic PCa (PC-3, MDA PCa 2b, LNCaP) relative to normal prostate epithelial cells (RWPE1). We hypothesized miR-186 inhibition will reduce aggressive PCa using metastatic cell models. To test this, we evaluated whether miR-186-5p inhibition would reduce aggressive PCa behavior and overexpression induce malignant …


Porphyromonas Gingivalis Gingipains Induce A Pro-Inflammatory Extracellular Microenvironment : The Role Of Par-2 And Fibronectin., Jeffrey S. Marschall May 2016

Porphyromonas Gingivalis Gingipains Induce A Pro-Inflammatory Extracellular Microenvironment : The Role Of Par-2 And Fibronectin., Jeffrey S. Marschall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease that is characterized by severe tissue destruction of the gingiva and other tooth supporting structures; if left untreated, tooth loss and disintegration of the alveolar bone occurs. This chronic inflammatory state has been linked to other systemic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and Alzheimer’s disease. Porphyromonas gingivalis is the major pathogenic microbe in periodontitis. The main virulence factors of P. gingivalis are the Arg-aa and Lys-aa gingipains, which are proteolytic enzymes implicated in a plethora of activities that allow P. gingivalis to subvert the human immune system in the oral cavity …