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

Cell and Developmental Biology Commons

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

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Cell and Developmental Biology

Development Of A Muc16-Targeted Near-Infrared Antibody Probe For Fluorescence-Guided Surgery Of Pancreatic Cancer, Madeline T. Olson Dec 2021

Development Of A Muc16-Targeted Near-Infrared Antibody Probe For Fluorescence-Guided Surgery Of Pancreatic Cancer, Madeline T. Olson

Theses & Dissertations

Pancreatic cancer (PDAC) is an extremely lethal disease with an overall survival rate of 10%. Surgery remains the only potentially curative treatment option, but resections are complicated by infiltrative disease, proximity of critical vasculature, peritumoral inflammation, and dense stroma. Surgeons are limited to tactile and visual cues to differentiate cancerous tissue from normal tissue. Furthermore, translating preoperative images to the intraoperative setting poses additional challenges for tumor detection, and can result in undetected and unresected lesions. Thus, PDAC has high rates of incomplete resections, and subsequently, disease recurrence. Fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS) has emerged as a method to improve intraoperative detection …


Mutant Kras Alters Extracellular Vesicle Microrna Sorting In Pancreatic Cystic Neoplasms, Rachel L. Dittmar Dec 2021

Mutant Kras Alters Extracellular Vesicle Microrna Sorting In Pancreatic Cystic Neoplasms, Rachel L. Dittmar

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is among the deadliest cancers by organ site with a 5-year survival rate of just 10.8%. This is largely because most patients do not experience symptoms until the disease has already metastasized. The best hope to cure PDAC is surgery, which can only be done with a curative intent at an early stage when the disease is localized. There are no reliable circulating, body-fluid-based biomarkers to detect early stage PDAC or its precursor lesions in a timely manner for effective surgical intervention. When potential PDAC precursor lesions, such as mucinous pancreatic cysts are found, there are …


T Cell Immunity In Pancreatic Cancer Is Undermined By Dendritic Cell Dysfunction, Samarth Hegde Dec 2019

T Cell Immunity In Pancreatic Cancer Is Undermined By Dendritic Cell Dysfunction, Samarth Hegde

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pancreatic cancer carries a dismal prognosis, and desperately needs viable therapeutic interventions beyond chemo-radiation. T cell-dependent immunotherapies have shown great promise in several tumor types, but have not been effective for the vast majority of pancreatic cancer patients. This is, in part, due to our limited understanding of how antigenicity of pancreatic lesions is recognized, and how adaptive immunity is overcome in this disease. We sought to study tumor-immune interactions and identify mechanisms for this immune-failure using several spontaneous and unperturbed mouse models of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. We found that early pancreatic lesions fail to elicit tumor-limiting CD4+ TH1 and CD8+ …


Nano-Pulse Stimulation For The Treatment Of Pancreatic Cancer And The Changes In Immune Profile, Sigi Guo, Niculina I. Burcus, James Hornef, Yu Jing, Chunqi Jiang, Richard Heller, Stephen J. Beebe Jan 2018

Nano-Pulse Stimulation For The Treatment Of Pancreatic Cancer And The Changes In Immune Profile, Sigi Guo, Niculina I. Burcus, James Hornef, Yu Jing, Chunqi Jiang, Richard Heller, Stephen J. Beebe

Bioelectrics Publications

A Pancreatic cancer is a notorious malignant neoplasm with an extremely poor prognosis. Current standard of care is rarely effective against late-stage pancreatic cancer. In this study, we assessed nanopulse stimulation (NPS) as a local treatment for pancreatic cancer in a syngeneic mouse Pan02 pancreatic cancer model and characterized corresponding changes in the immune profile. A single NPS treatment either achieved complete tumor regression or prolonged overall survival in animals with partial tumor regression. While this is very encouraging, we also explored if this local ablation effect could also result in immune stimulation, as was observed when NPS led to …


Evaluation Of Extracellular Matrix Composition And Rheology As Determinants Of Growth, Invasion, And Response To Photodynamic Therapy In 3d Cell Culture Models Of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Gwendolyn M. Cramer Dec 2017

Evaluation Of Extracellular Matrix Composition And Rheology As Determinants Of Growth, Invasion, And Response To Photodynamic Therapy In 3d Cell Culture Models Of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Gwendolyn M. Cramer

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a notoriously lethal disease characterized by prominent stromal involvement, which plays complex roles in regulating tumor growth and therapeutic response. The extracellular matrix (ECM)-rich stroma has been implicated as a barrier to drug penetration, although stromal depletion strategies have had mixed clinical success. It remains less clear how biophysical interactions with the ECM regulate invasive progression and susceptibilities to specific therapies. Here, an integrative approach combining 3D cell culture and quantitative imaging techniques is used to evaluate invasive behavior and motility as determinants of response to classical chemotherapy and photodynamic therapy (PDT), in which light …


Phlpp Negatively Regulates Cell Motility Through Inhibition Of Akt Activity And Integrin Expression In Pancreatic Cancer Cells, Alena J. Smith, Yang-An Wen, Payton D. Stevens, Jingpeng Liu, Chi Wang, Tianyan Gao Jan 2016

Phlpp Negatively Regulates Cell Motility Through Inhibition Of Akt Activity And Integrin Expression In Pancreatic Cancer Cells, Alena J. Smith, Yang-An Wen, Payton D. Stevens, Jingpeng Liu, Chi Wang, Tianyan Gao

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is currently the fourth leading cause for cancer-related mortality. Malignant progression of pancreatic cancer depends not only on rapid proliferation of tumor cells but also on increased cell motility. In this study, we showed that increased PHLPP expression significantly reduced the rate of migration in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells whereas knockdown of PHLPP had the opposite effect. In addition, cell motility at the individual cell level was negatively regulated by PHLPP as determined using time-lapse imaging. Interestingly, the expression of β1 and β4 integrin proteins were decreased in PHLPP overexpressing cells and increased in PHLPP knockdown cells …


Role Of Prostaglandin E2 In The Regulation Of Pancreatic Stellate Cells Hyper Activity Associated With Pancreatic Cancer, Chantale Charo Aug 2011

Role Of Prostaglandin E2 In The Regulation Of Pancreatic Stellate Cells Hyper Activity Associated With Pancreatic Cancer, Chantale Charo

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal type of cancer due to its high metastasis rate and resistance to chemotherapy. Pancreatic fibrosis is a constant pathological feature of chronic pancreatitis and the hyperactive stroma associated with pancreatic cancer. Strong evidence supports an important role of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and COX-2 generated prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) during pancreatic fibrosis. Pancreatic stellate cells (PSC) are the predominant source of extracellular matrix production (ECM), thus being the key players in both diseases. Given this background, the primary objective is to delineate the role of PGE2 on human pancreatic stellate cells (PSC) hyper activation associated …