Cancer Biology Commons^™

Optimizing Protocols For The Derivation Of Primary Cultures From Mammalian Tissue, Eduardo Ramirez, Natzidielly Lerma, Paloma Valenzuela, Karla Parra, Courteny L. Becerril, Irving Miramontes, Howard West, Cynthia Rodriguez, Giulio Francia

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Summer 2012

The isolation of primary cell cultures from fresh mammalian tissue is a major interest of our laboratory. Thus, the ability to generate cancer cell lines from cancer tissue, or to generate non-malignant cultures form the host stroma surrounding a tumor, allows us to develop new laboratory models to study the behavior of cancer cells and its microenvironment. We report our proof of principle study on optimizing the derivation of primary culture, using rat tissues as a model. Thus, rat kidney and rat skin samples were isolated, minced with surgical blades, and then incubated with an enzyme digestion cocktail (Collagenase III- …

Messenger Mrna Analysis As A Means To Identify Mechanisms Of Cancer Drug Resistance, Courtney L. Becerril, Irving Miramontes, Jiselle Del Cid, Natzidielly Lerma, Karla Parra, Eduardo D. Ramirez, Howard West, Paloma Valenzuela, Cynthia Rodriguez, Giulio Francia

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Summer 2012

On principal approach to identify the mechanisms by which cancers escape from anti-cancer therapies is the analysis of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) in those tumor cells that survive treatment. Thus, by studying Her-2 positive human breast tumor cells that survived anti-Her-2 based therapies (i.e., using anti-Her-2 antibody) we observed the 3-fold or greater overexpression of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) mRNA. Similarly, by studying the mRNAs of tumor cell cultures resistant to chemotherapy (such as cisplatin), we found that low levels of mRNAs for DNA mismatch repair genes correlates with drug resistance. These results suggest that two possible strategies of sensitizing …

Protein Expression Analysis Of Cell Lines Derived From Drug Resistant Tumors, Paloma Valenzuela, Karla Parra, Natzidielly Lerma, Courtney Becerril, Eduardo Ramirez, Irving Miramontes, Howard West, Cynthia Rodriguez, Yang Li, Jianying Zhang, Giulio Francia

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Summer 2012

There are a number of effective treatments for breast cancer, including chemotherapy and targeted strategies such as the use of the Her-2 targeting drugs lapatinib and trastuzumab. However, in a number of cases, tumors that initially respond to therapy eventually develop drug resistance, leading to the relapse of the disease. By studying protein levels in different drug resistant variants, we have observed two mechanisms by which drug resistance may develop. Thus, some Her-2 human breast cancer cells (e.g., MDA-MB-231H2N) treated with the clinically used trastuzumab agent, can escape therapy by shedding, or losing, the target Her-2 protein. Similarly, EMT-6 mouse …

Evaluating Ceramide Analogs, 5-Lipoxygenase Expression, And Lipid Raft Biology In Breast Cancer, Jiselle Del Cid, Debarshi Roy, Atasi De Chatterjee, Karla Parra, Howard West, Guido Bocci, Cynthia Rodriguez, Siddhartha Das, Giulio Francia

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Summer 2012

To investigate the role of lipid rafts in the biology of breast cancer cells, we designed a human breast cancer cell line panel (using MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, and HCC1419 cells) to test the anti-tumor impact of new ceramide analogs. Our aim is to use such a screening to ultimately develop a project to investigate the role of 5-lipoxygenase enzyme on the behavior of breast cancer cells, including MDA-MB231 that express 5-lipoxygenase and MCF-7 which do not, and to ask whether ceramide analogs can have an impact on this behavior.

To date, we have evaluated three ceramide analogs, termed C2, C6 and …

Development Of New Models To Study Human Her-2 Positive Breast Cancer, Howard J. West, Karla Parra, Natzidielly Lerma, Paloma Valenzuela, Eduardo Ramirez, Courtney L. Becerril, Irving Miramontes, Elizabeth Gamez, Cynthia Rodriguez, Guido Bocci, Giulio Francia

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Summer 2012

To study the evolution of human Her-2 positive breast cancer, we evaluated a model of three dimensional spheroid co-culture using H2N human breast cancer cells that express high amounts of Her-2 protein, with the Her-2 negative MDA-231 cells. Human HCC1419, which can form compact spheroids, were used as controls. In tissue culture plates, H2N cells were found to have a doubling rate of about 48 hours, compared to around 144 hours for MDA231. Since H2N cells were engineered to express a fluorescent protein, we could note that these cells did not immediately overgrow the non-fluorescent MDA231 cells in a mixed …

Cytotoxic Effects Of Creosote (Larrea Tridentata) Plant Extracts On Human Lymphoma Cells Lines, Emanuel Cordero, Yahaira Santiago, Carolina Lema, Armando Varela-Ramirez, Renato J Aguilera

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Summer 2012

Larrea tridentata also known as Creosote is a North American shrub, whose leave extracts are proposed to contain anti-cancer properties. The main metabolite in this plant is the nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) has been shown to have anti-neoplastic, anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties. NDGA is a strong anti-oxidant that can scavenge or inhibit reactive oxygen spices production, stimulate nitric oxide production, increase immune function, enhance central nervous system function, and prevent cardiovascular or other diseases. Although extracts from this plant are currently used in Mexico as an herbal medicine, the Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada have issued health hazard warming …

In Vitro Evaluation Of Human Her2-Positive Breast Cancer Cells, Karla Parra, Howard West, Paloma Valenzuela, Eduardo D. Ramirez, Natzidielly Lerma, Courtney Becerril, Irving Miramontes, Cynthia M. Rodriguez, Guido Bocci, Giulio Francia

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Summer 2012

One in four cases of breast cancer shows over expression of the Her-2 protein, and there is an urgent need to improve therapies for this disease. We have evaluated two Her-2 positive human breast cancer cell lines, MDA-231H2N and HCC1419. MDA-231 human breast cancer cell, which are Her-2 negative, were used as a control. The cell lines were evaluated in vitro for their relative growth rate, their growth under reduced (i.e. 3% serum) conditions, or as spheroid cultures, and for their sensitivity to drugs such as ceramide analogs and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (i.e. CLM3, CLM29, and CLM94) that are being …

Analysis Of Her-2 Positive Breast Cancer Cell Lines, Natzidielly Lerma^, Paloma Valenzuela, Karla Parra, Eduardo Ramirez, Courtney L. Becerril, Irving Miramontes, Cynthia M. Rodriguez, Elizabeth Gamez, Giulio Francia*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2012

No abstract provided.

Structural Study Of Mcry2: A Circadian Rhythm Regulator, Brenda L. Rodarte^, Gustavo A. Avila, Adrian S. Enriquez, Nicolas D. Silva, Tiffany H. Blankenship, Erquan Eric Zhang*, Chuan Xiao*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2011

A circadian clock is a 24 hour biological rhythm that regulates physiological, psychological and behavioral processes in living organisms. Understanding the regulation mechanism of such circadian rhythms can have great impact in certain diseases such as sleeping disorders and cancers. There are many genes regulating circadian rhythms in different species. Cryptochromes (CRY) are photosensory receptors mediating light regulation of growth and development in certain species. Mouse cryptochrome protein mCRY2 has been found to encode a blue light photoreceptor and is important for mice circadian rhythm. The main goal of the project is to determine the atomic structure of mCRY2, via …

Leptin Protects Dendritic Cells From Chemically-Induced Cell Death, Yadira Arellano^, Jeffrey Charles Sivils, Kristine Marie Garza*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2011

Leptin is a pleiotropic adipokine that exerts its physiological effects by binding to its receptor, which is expressed in many immune cells including T cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells. Multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP) is a transmembrane transporter commonly associated with cancer cells conferring resistance to chemotherapy. The purpose of this study is to determine if leptin supersedes the cytotoxic death signal in dendritic cells. We further hypothesize that the mechanism underlying leptin protection is a result of over expression of MRPs. To address this question, we examined the effect of leptin on monocytes treated with cytotoxic drugs in vitro.  Bone …