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Cancer Biology Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Cancer Biology

The Effects Of Cucurbitacin B And Silmitasertib On Metastasis And Itga6 Using The Zebrafish Tumor-Xenograft, Alexandra Griffis Jan 2023

The Effects Of Cucurbitacin B And Silmitasertib On Metastasis And Itga6 Using The Zebrafish Tumor-Xenograft, Alexandra Griffis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ninety percent of cancer deaths are resultant from the metastasis of cancer cells. When cancer cells translocate through blood vessels or the lymphatic system, they may form tumors outside of their primary site. The processes of metastasis can begin quickly; after onset, metastasis is unforgiving, as it does not participate with the body’s physiological systems in an orderly way. In the past, our lab produced results indicating that a cell adhesion molecule, Integrin Alpha-6, may contribute to cancer cells' ability to metastasize. Integrins mediate interactions between the cell and the Extracellular Matrix (ECM), regulating cell attachment and cell migration. With …


A Forward Genetic Screen To Identify Human Genes Of Interest And Their Roles In Ovarian Cancer, Susan A. Ihejirika May 2021

A Forward Genetic Screen To Identify Human Genes Of Interest And Their Roles In Ovarian Cancer, Susan A. Ihejirika

Honors College Theses

Drosophila melanogaster, fruit flies, are very important for modeling and studying human diseases. This study identifies human genes of interest and their contributions to epithelial ovarian carcinogenesis and progression as well as the roles orthologs of these genes play in Drosophila melanogaster. This is important because ovarian cancer is the most common cause of death among the gynecological cancers. This identification of genes was carried out using a forward genetic screen employing the widely used GMR-Gal4 driver/UAS-transgene system. The GMR-Gal4 driver is commonly utilized to express transgenes in the developing eye of the fruit fly. Transgenes that are expressed using …


Examining The Mechanistic Roles Of Integrin Alpha-6 In Cancer Metastasis., Chase T. Clark Mar 2021

Examining The Mechanistic Roles Of Integrin Alpha-6 In Cancer Metastasis., Chase T. Clark

Honors College Theses

Metastasis- the spread of cancer cells from the primary tumor to the surrounding tissues- is responsible for 90% of cancer deaths. Integrin alpha-6 (ITGA6) is a specific transmembrane cell surface protein that functions in cell surface adhesion and signaling. ITGA6 is upregulated in many types of cancers and promotes the migration and invasion of cancer cells to surrounding tissues. It is my objective to determine the mechanism through which ITGA6 facilitates the migration of cancer cells through the extracellular matrix (ECM). These experiments helped to establish the role of ITGA6 in tumor development and provide focus for possible chemotherapeutic treatment. …


Evaluating The Effects Of Antibody-Conjugated Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes In Combination With Microwave Irradiation, Amy Chall Jan 2019

Evaluating The Effects Of Antibody-Conjugated Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes In Combination With Microwave Irradiation, Amy Chall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cancer remains one of the largest public health concerns of our day, particularly in developed countries where technological advances have allowed populations to live well into their eighth decade. In America, those in their 80’s have a 1 in 2 chance of developing cancer in their lifetime. Prostate cancer, specifically is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in males. Traditional cancer therapies cause high levels of toxicity to the patient due to mechanisms of action that often attack cancer cells and healthy cells alike. The holy grail of cancer research is to find a treatment that targets the cancer …


Dynamics Of Gene Networks In Cancer Research, Paul Scott Jan 2017

Dynamics Of Gene Networks In Cancer Research, Paul Scott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cancer prevention treatments are being researched to see if an optimized treatment schedule would decrease the likelihood of a person being diagnosed with cancer. To do this we are looking at genes involved in the cell cycle and how they interact with one another. Through each gene expression during the life of a normal cell we get an understanding of the gene interactions and test these against those of a cancerous cell. First we construct a simplified network model of the normal gene network. Once we have this model we translate it into a transition matrix and force changes on …


Synthesis And Characterization Of Nanoparticle-Coupled Proteins In Human Serum Albumin, Kyle M. Mahoney Apr 2016

Synthesis And Characterization Of Nanoparticle-Coupled Proteins In Human Serum Albumin, Kyle M. Mahoney

Honors College Theses

Recently, cancer has become an ever-growing issue and has led to many researchers attempt to unravel the mystery of the disease. This research has led to a promising field of treatment: nanotechnology-coupled pharmaceuticals. Nanoparticles act as a whole unit when in conjugation with other molecules and add to the carrier molecule, most often proteins, benefits the nanoparticles themselves possess. One such carrier protein that can be conjugated with nanoparticles is Human Serum Albumin (HSA). Albumin is of interest in cancer research for two reasons: it is native to the human vasculature so it does not elicit immunological reactions, and it …


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” …


The Effects Of Gold Nanorods On The Rate Of Apoptosis Of Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells, Mattie E. Raiford Apr 2014

The Effects Of Gold Nanorods On The Rate Of Apoptosis Of Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells, Mattie E. Raiford

Honors College Theses

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a subtype of breast cancer that is most often found in African American females that is characterized by the lack of the progesterone receptor (PR), the estrogen receptor (ER), and the human epithelial growth factor receptor two (HER2).TNBC is a very aggressive form of breast cancer because it does not respond to hormone therapy, due to the lack of the three vital receptors. Since the current treatment is not affective, the project used porphyrin to specifically target cancer in the body because it has an increased affinity for many cancer types. Gold nanorods were …