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Cancer Biology Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Cancer Biology

Activating The Msh2/Msh6 Apoptotic Pathway In Cancer Cells Using Non-Reserpine Compounds, Jacob M. Mauceri May 2015

Activating The Msh2/Msh6 Apoptotic Pathway In Cancer Cells Using Non-Reserpine Compounds, Jacob M. Mauceri

Honors College Theses

DNA mismatch repair (MMR) is a system that is highly conserved in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The heterodimeric protein MutSα and a suite of associated proteins are essential in the recognition and repair of DNA afflicted with mispaired bases and short insertion/deletion loops, but are also implicated in funneling damaged cells towards apoptosis via a key conformational change in a subunit of the MutSα complex. This conformation can be bound specifically by the small molecule reserpine. Molecular dynamics modeling and virtual screening were used to identify additional small molecule novel ligands with the predicted ability to selectively bind this “death” …


Cancer Stem Cells In Recurrent And Drug-Resistant Lung Cancers, Raagini Suresh, Shadan Ali, Aamir Ahmad, Philip Philip, Fazlul Sarkar Mar 2015

Cancer Stem Cells In Recurrent And Drug-Resistant Lung Cancers, Raagini Suresh, Shadan Ali, Aamir Ahmad, Philip Philip, Fazlul Sarkar

Honors College Theses

With a 5-year survival rate of less than 20%, lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Considering the treatments currently in place, this statistic is frankly shocking. A possible explanation for the disconnect between sophisticated treatments and the survival rate can be found in the Cancer Stem Cell (CSC) hypothesis. The CSC hypothesis suggests the idea of a subpopulation of tumor cells with the abilities of self-renewal, cancer initiation, and further maintenance of tumors. Lung CSCs have been associated with resistance to radiation and chemotherapeutic treatments. CSCs have also been implicated in recurrent cancers; …