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Articles 1 - 30 of 65

Full-Text Articles in Cancer Biology

Antiestrogens As Bone Protective Therapeutics For Estrogen Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer In The Presence Of Osteoporosis, Faith E. Parker, Emily K. Zboril, David C. Boyd, Rachel Myrick, J. Chuck Harrell Jan 2026

Antiestrogens As Bone Protective Therapeutics For Estrogen Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer In The Presence Of Osteoporosis, Faith E. Parker, Emily K. Zboril, David C. Boyd, Rachel Myrick, J. Chuck Harrell

Undergraduate Research Posters

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most significant causes of mortality among women and the second leading cause of cancer death in women. The estrogen receptor (ER) is a key oncogenic driver in the majority of breast cancer. ER+ BC is the most common molecular subtype of BC. Management of ER+ breast cancer varies depending on menopausal status. For premenopausal women, the goal is to suppress estradiol production from the ovaries with surgical oophorectomy and/or aromatase inhibitors. In postmenopausal women, endocrine therapy (ET) serves to suppress estradiol production from sources other than the ovaries. During the menopausal transition, estradiol …


Determining Genes Involved In Recovery From Chemotherapy In 4t1, Emt6, And Eo771 Breast Cancer Cells, Akash Jagdeesh, Joseph Landry Ph.D. Jan 2026

Determining Genes Involved In Recovery From Chemotherapy In 4t1, Emt6, And Eo771 Breast Cancer Cells, Akash Jagdeesh, Joseph Landry Ph.D.

Undergraduate Research Posters

Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer, and often has poor prognosis. Traditional treatments for breast cancer include chemotherapy, which involves a chemical attack on all growing cells within the body. However, these treatments are not 100% effective, and patients might experience recurrence in their cancer months or years after achieving remission. Cancer cells can evade chemotherapy through five mechanisms: senescence, quiescence, cytoprotective autophagy, and apoptosis/necroptosis suppression. Prior studies have conducted CRISPR screens and experiments involving inhibition of epigenetic regulators, to alter the regulation of genes that can contribute to breast cancer chemotherapy resistance. This study …


Exploring The Role Of Transcription Factor Nrf1 In Autophagy And Inhibiting The Nrf1 Bounce-Back Response, Madison A. Ward Jan 2025

Exploring The Role Of Transcription Factor Nrf1 In Autophagy And Inhibiting The Nrf1 Bounce-Back Response, Madison A. Ward

Theses and Dissertations

Cells exposed to proteotoxic stress invoke adaptive responses aimed at restoring proteostasis. Our previous studies have established a firm role for the transcription factor Nuclear factor-erythroid derived-2-related factor-1 (Nrf1) in responding to proteotoxic stress elicited by inhibition of cellular proteasome. Following proteasome inhibition, Nrf1 mediates the synthesis of new proteasomes, thus enabling cells to mitigate proteotoxic stress. Here, we report that under similar circumstances, multiple components of the autophagy-lysosomal pathway (ALP) were transcriptionally upregulated in an Nrf1-dependent fashion, thus providing the cells with an additional route to cope with proteasome insufficiency. In response to proteasome inhibitors, Nrf1-deficient cells exhibited profound …


Analysis Of Differential Gene Expression In Androgen-Independent Clones Derived From The Mycap Pca Cell Line, Jessie L. Tignor, Melanie Sinanian, Richard Inho Joh, David Gewirtz, Jason Reed Jan 2025

Analysis Of Differential Gene Expression In Androgen-Independent Clones Derived From The Mycap Pca Cell Line, Jessie L. Tignor, Melanie Sinanian, Richard Inho Joh, David Gewirtz, Jason Reed

Undergraduate Research Posters

Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is a primary treatment strategy for prostate cancer (PCa), yet many tumors eventually develop androgen independence, leading to treatment resistance. To investigate the molecular changes underlying this transition, we analyzed differential gene expression in four androgen-independent (AI) clones derived from the Myc-CaP prostate cancer cell line using RNA sequencing. Gene expression profiles were compared to the parental Myc-CaP line, and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using DESeq2 and edgeR. The AI clones exhibited significant downregulation of senescence-associated genes, including Ezh2 and lamin B1, suggesting a loss of senescence-related chromatin repression. Additionally, upregulation of Wnt pathway …


Targeting The Achilles’ Heel Of Lung Cancer Induced By Oncogenic P53, Brandon G. Velasco Jan 2025

Targeting The Achilles’ Heel Of Lung Cancer Induced By Oncogenic P53, Brandon G. Velasco

Theses and Dissertations

Mutations of the tumor suppressor gene, TP53, are the most prevalent oncogenic mutations in lung cancer, occurring in up to 70% of human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The majority of mutations in p53 are missense mutations that cause not only a loss of tumor suppressor function, but also gain of oncogenic functions, like tumorigenicity, immune suppression, and chemoresistance. Previous studies have shown that the depletion of gain-of-function (GOF) p53 or disruption of its ability to transactivate the expression of genes related to oncogenesis eliminates its tumorigenic properties indicating a dependency of human lung cancer cells expressing GOF p53 …


Optimizing Immunotherapies For Improved Cancer Treatment, Anne Talkington, Anthony Kearsley May 2024

Optimizing Immunotherapies For Improved Cancer Treatment, Anne Talkington, Anthony Kearsley

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.


Plk1 Overexpression Drives Tumorigenesis In A Prostate Cancer Mouse Model, Emile Kachouh Jan 2024

Plk1 Overexpression Drives Tumorigenesis In A Prostate Cancer Mouse Model, Emile Kachouh

Theses and Dissertations

Prostate cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men worldwide, and the development of resistance to existing treatments necessitates the exploration of new therapeutic strategies, including combination therapies. This study investigates the role of Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1), located on chromosome 16p12.2, as an oncogene in prostate cancer. We generated a transgenic mouse model with prostate-specific overexpression of PLK1 to closely mimic human prostate cancer progression. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) analysis was employed to characterize the molecular profile of PLK1, revealing its implication in multiple pathways. To further elucidate the functional consequences of PLK1 overexpression, we confirmed phenotypic progression …


Investigating The Regulation Of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Through Fibronectin-Mediated Tgf-Β1 Mechanotransduction Using In Vitro Models Of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer, Michael M. Sofroniou Jan 2024

Investigating The Regulation Of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Through Fibronectin-Mediated Tgf-Β1 Mechanotransduction Using In Vitro Models Of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer, Michael M. Sofroniou

Theses and Dissertations

TGF-β1 is a potent regulator of epithelial-mesenchymal transtion (EMT), a cellular
transdifferentation process that promotes cellular motility and matrix remodeling, critical to tumorigenesis and metastasis. TGF-β1-induced EMT promotes the assembly of FN, which synergistically binds latent TGF-β1 to aid in its activation. The purpose of of this work is to further probe the effects of autocrine TGF-β1 signaling during EMT progression by utilizing CRISPR-Cas9 deletion of the TGFB1 gene in in vitro models of triple-negative breast cancer. The studies outlined in this work demonstrate that autocrine TGF-β1 maintains a baseline level of mesenchymal marker expression. It also functions to desensitize …


Cellular Glycosphingolipid Imbalance Modulates Emt In Cancer Cells, Laura E. Clark, Amanda Dickinson, Santiago Lima Jan 2023

Cellular Glycosphingolipid Imbalance Modulates Emt In Cancer Cells, Laura E. Clark, Amanda Dickinson, Santiago Lima

Undergraduate Research Posters

Sphingolipids are key components of the plasma membrane and are regulators of complex biological processes often altered in cancer cells. In human tumors, genes of key enzymes that regulate levels of glucosylceramide and lactosylceramide are often amplified. However, it is unknown why these traits are positively selected in transformed cells. In this work, we used CRISPR-Cas9 to knockout two key enzymes amplified in tumors in HeLa and H1703 tumor-derived cell-lines. As expected, the knockout lines had dramatic accumulation of GlcCer and LacCer. However, unexpectedly, they showed significantly decreased in-vitro wound-healing capacity and an almost complete loss of in-vitro extra-cellular matrix …


Exploring The Relationship Between The Epigenome And Metabolism In Mycn-Amplified Neuroblastoma, Krista M. Dalton Jan 2023

Exploring The Relationship Between The Epigenome And Metabolism In Mycn-Amplified Neuroblastoma, Krista M. Dalton

Theses and Dissertations

High risk neuroblastoma (NB) is responsible for nearly 15% of all cancer related deaths in the pediatric population. The transcription factor MYCN is the most studied oncogene in NB, automatically conferring high-risk and has been found to be difficult to target. One way that MYCN amplification in NB functions to support tumorigenicity is through altered metabolism, satisfying the demand for rapid proliferation by increasing the nutrient flux through biosynthetic pathways. We performed an unbiased screen on select metabolic targeted therapy combinations and correlated sensitivity with over 20 subsets of cancer. We found that MYCN-amplified NB is hypersensitive to the …


Pre-Clinical Trials With Precision-Medicine Based Therapeutics In Basal-Like Patient-Derived Xenografts, David C. Boyd Jan 2023

Pre-Clinical Trials With Precision-Medicine Based Therapeutics In Basal-Like Patient-Derived Xenografts, David C. Boyd

Theses and Dissertations

Breast cancer treatments have improved over time, but the diseases seeing the most benefit from these improvements have the estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, or are positive for HER2. Basal-like breast cancer tends to not have these biomarkers, which necessitates their treatment to be traditional, untargeted therapeutics which are less effective and tend to have harsh adverse effect profiles – this is an important unmet need. These studies utilize a variety of techniques, including tissue culture, viability assays, high-throughput screening, in vivo drug treatments and imaging, pathway analyses, molecular techniques such as Western blot, antibody arrays, RNA sequencing, sc RNA sequencing, …


The Hepatic Immunological Pattern Shaped By Dominant-Subdominant Cellular Interactions Creates A Collective Function Beyond The Function Of Each Cellular Constituent To Orchestrate Progression Of Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Nicholas J. Koelsch Jan 2023

The Hepatic Immunological Pattern Shaped By Dominant-Subdominant Cellular Interactions Creates A Collective Function Beyond The Function Of Each Cellular Constituent To Orchestrate Progression Of Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Nicholas J. Koelsch

Theses and Dissertations

Abundance of data on the role of inflammatory immune responses in the progression or inhibition of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has failed to offer a curative immunotherapy for HCC. This is largely because of taking reductionist approaches and missing the collective function of the hepatic immune system by focusing on specific immune cell types. To this end, we propose that focusing on the dominant-subdominant patterns of the immune cells would allow understanding of the mechanism by which a collective immune function emerges. To identify the collective immune function through a systems immunology perspective, we performed high-throughput analysis of snRNAseq data collected …


Protacs – A Novel And Rapidly Developing Field Of Targeted Protein Degradation, Hannah R. Gatley Jan 2023

Protacs – A Novel And Rapidly Developing Field Of Targeted Protein Degradation, Hannah R. Gatley

Theses and Dissertations

There is a continued need for new technology and strategies for tackling cancer and other diseases, and within the current century a novel therapeutic strategy has emerged in the realm of targeted protein degradation called Proteolysis-Targeting Chimeras (PROTACs). This technology specifically targets and degrades disease-causing proteins via the ubiquitin-proteasome system, and has seen an explosion of research and intrigue in both academia and industry over the past two decades. The diversity of PROTAC classes based on the E3 ligase recruiting ligand and the target protein allows for a universal molecular structure that can be customized for a specific target and …


Kpt-330 Synergizes With Everolimus To Reduce Mtorc1-Overactive Basal-Like Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Brain Metastasis Burden, Aaron D. Valentine Jan 2023

Kpt-330 Synergizes With Everolimus To Reduce Mtorc1-Overactive Basal-Like Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Brain Metastasis Burden, Aaron D. Valentine

Theses and Dissertations

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), a highly metastatic breast cancer subtype, accounts for approximately 20% of all breast cancer diagnoses. Basal-like TNBC is notably difficult to treat due to the lack of actionable drug targets such as estrogen and progesterone receptors, as well as HER2. Due to the deficiency in TNBC-targeting drugs that are able to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) for breast-to-brain metastasis, there is a need to develop novel BBB-permeable treatments. After preliminary testing, KPT-330 (XPO1 inhibitor) and everolimus (FKBP1A/mTOR inhibitor) were selected as drug candidates for this study. Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models for in vitro and in vivo …


Evaluation Of Cell-Matrix Interactions In K14+ Leader Cells On Caf-Modulated Matrix, Trey P. Redman, Jessanne Y. Lichtenberg, Priscilla Y. Hwang Jan 2022

Evaluation Of Cell-Matrix Interactions In K14+ Leader Cells On Caf-Modulated Matrix, Trey P. Redman, Jessanne Y. Lichtenberg, Priscilla Y. Hwang

Summer REU Program

No abstract provided.


Alternatively Spliced Csf3r In Human Health And Disease, Borwyn A. Wang Jan 2022

Alternatively Spliced Csf3r In Human Health And Disease, Borwyn A. Wang

Theses and Dissertations

Elevated alternative colony stimulating factor 3 receptor (CSF3R) isoforms are observed in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and other myeloid neoplasms, but their role in driving disease progression has not been fully explained. In this study we report on the role of an MDS-associated splicing factor SRSF2 and its effects on the production of Class III and Class IV CSF3R isoforms and granulopoiesis. Class IV add-back in Csf3r-null mice showed impaired neutrophil differentiation with increased number of CFU-G, which largely consisted of metamyelocytes, while Class III showed greater dysgranulopoiesis accompanied by dysmorphic neutrophils. Alternative CSF3R isoforms were elevated in …


The Role Of Irf-1 In Spontaneous Mouse Glioma, Aakash B. Vaidya Jan 2022

The Role Of Irf-1 In Spontaneous Mouse Glioma, Aakash B. Vaidya

Theses and Dissertations

Glioblastoma Multiforme has been shown to be one of the deadliest primary brain cancers. One of the reasons why GBM is so deadly, is a unique immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment that promotes GBM growth and progression. Both astrocyte and microglia have been implicated in immunosuppression. In this study, we explored the role of Interferon Regulatory Factor 1 (IRF-1) in astrocytes and glioma cells on the growth of spontaneous glioma tumors. IRF-1 is regulated by the JAK/STAT pathway and induces expression of Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1). PD-L1 downregulates immune responses to glioma. We found that IRF-1 had no effect on spontaneous …


Impact Of Targeting Glycosylated Ceramides On Tumorigenic Properties, And Characterization Of Sphingolipids In Head And Neck Tumors, Katherine E. Hylton Jan 2021

Impact Of Targeting Glycosylated Ceramides On Tumorigenic Properties, And Characterization Of Sphingolipids In Head And Neck Tumors, Katherine E. Hylton

Theses and Dissertations

Sphingolipids play a crucial role in signaling, membrane structure, and migration, making them important molecules in cancer development, metastasis, and drug resistance. While some sphingolipids have been associated with pro-apoptotic or pro-survival behaviors, the role of many sphingolipids in cancer remains poorly defined. Chapter 1 of this study investigated the impact of three enzymes that compose most of the ceramide to Lc3 ceramide pathway – UGCG, GBA, and B3GNT5 – and how their alteration impacts chemoresistance and basal membrane invasion in vitro. It was found that the CΒE-induced inhibition of GBA, which converts glucosylceramide to ceramide, has no effects on …


Exploring The Connection Between The Spontaneous Regression Seen In Neuroblastomas, Hypertumors, And Reactive Oxygen Species, Shahad Musa, Manitha Mulpuru Jan 2021

Exploring The Connection Between The Spontaneous Regression Seen In Neuroblastomas, Hypertumors, And Reactive Oxygen Species, Shahad Musa, Manitha Mulpuru

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Peto’s Paradox is defined as the lack of correlation between larger animals and cancer risk. Under the assumption that all cells have equal risk of becoming cancerous, larger animals should have greater rates of cancer. However, the inverse is true. Determining the cause of this variation may allow a supplemental approach to cancer treatment. A combination of two reasons may account for this correlation including hypertumors and metabolism. Hypertumors, or cheater cells, are hypothesized to suppress cancer growth through spontaneous autophagic degradation and overexpression of the RAS g-protein. Both of these characteristics are exhibited in Neuroblastomas. An anticancer drug used …


The Role Of Autophagy And Senescence In The Responses Of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells To Chemotherapy And Radiation, Nipa H. Patel Jan 2021

The Role Of Autophagy And Senescence In The Responses Of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells To Chemotherapy And Radiation, Nipa H. Patel

Theses and Dissertations

Cancer-associated deaths account for the second-highest mortality rates in the United States. Primary modalities of treatment often include surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, and may also incorporate targeted therapy and immunotherapy. However, resistance to these treatments remains high, resulting in disease reoccurrence and poor survival rates. While apoptosis or cell death of tumor cells is the ideal outcome for anti-cancer therapy, this is often not the case, and in fact cancer cells may upregulate several pathways, such as autophagy and senescence, as a means to undergo alternative cell fate and evade apoptotic cell death. An essential tumor suppressor gene, TP53, …


Vasculogenic Mimicry: Role Of Melanoma Differentiation Associated Gene-9/Syntenin, Jinkal Modi, Anjan Pradhan, Luni Emdad, Swadesh Das, Paul Fisher Jan 2021

Vasculogenic Mimicry: Role Of Melanoma Differentiation Associated Gene-9/Syntenin, Jinkal Modi, Anjan Pradhan, Luni Emdad, Swadesh Das, Paul Fisher

Graduate Research Posters

Malignant melanoma (MM) is the most aggressive skin cancer and the most frequent skin disorder in Caucasians. MM is associated with aggressive and progressive disease states, leading to major cancer-related morbidity and mortality. Recent investigations identify a new non-angiogenesis-dependent pathway vasculogenic mimicry (VM), which is considered a cancer hallmark that can independently facilitate tumor neovascularization by the formation of fluid-conducting and vascular endothelial cells. MM cells undergoing VM can dedifferentiate into numerous cellular phenotypes and acquire endothelial-like features, resulting in the formation of the de novo matrix-rich vascular-like network, such as plasma and red blood cells. The co-generation of endothelial …


The Therapeutic Potential Of Glycosaminoglycan Directed Metalloglycomics: Elucidating New Targets And Mechanisms For Polynuclear Platinum Complexes, James D. Hampton Jan 2021

The Therapeutic Potential Of Glycosaminoglycan Directed Metalloglycomics: Elucidating New Targets And Mechanisms For Polynuclear Platinum Complexes, James D. Hampton

Theses and Dissertations

Cancer remains a serious clinical problem and in order to continue to improve patient health outcomes, novel treatment strategies must continue to be developed. Platinum chemotherapies remain as one of the most widely successful classes of cancer therapeutic, with over 50% of cancer patients receiving a platinate at some point over the span of their treatment. However, intrinsic and extrinsic resistances limit their effectiveness, long term efficacy, and broad applicability to multiple cancer subtypes. Therefore, the development of new agents and strategies which can overcome these limitations are crucial for patient health. To this end a novel class of polynuclear …


Prolactin Drives A Dynamic Stat5a/Hdac6/Hmgn2 Cis-Regulatory Landscape Exploitable In Er+ Breast Cancer, Justin M. Craig Jan 2021

Prolactin Drives A Dynamic Stat5a/Hdac6/Hmgn2 Cis-Regulatory Landscape Exploitable In Er+ Breast Cancer, Justin M. Craig

Theses and Dissertations

The hormone prolactin has been implicated in breast cancer pathogenesis and regulates chromatin engagement by the transcription factor, STAT5A. STAT5A is known to inducibly bind promoters and cis-regulatory elements genome-wide, though the mechanisms by which it exerts specificity and regulation of target gene expression remain enigmatic. We previously identified HDAC6 and HMGN2 as cofactors that facilitate prolactin induced, STAT5A mediated gene expression. Here, multi-condition STAT5A, HDAC6, and HMGN2 ChIP-seq with parallel condition RNA-seq are utilized to reveal the cis-regulatory landscape and cofactor dynamics underlying prolactin stimulated gene expression in breast cancer. We find that prolactin regulated genes are …


The Human Intermediate Prolactin Receptor: A Breast Cancer Proto-Oncogene, Jacqueline M. Grible Jan 2020

The Human Intermediate Prolactin Receptor: A Breast Cancer Proto-Oncogene, Jacqueline M. Grible

Theses and Dissertations

The hormone prolactin (PRL) and its receptor (hPRLr) are significantly involved in breast cancer pathogenesis. The intermediate hPRLr (hPRLrI) is an alternatively-spliced isoform, capable of stimulating cellular viability and proliferation. An analogous truncated mouse PRLr (mPRLr) was recently found to be oncogenic when co-expressed with wild-type mPRLr. hPRLrI co-expression with full-length hPRLr (hPRLrL) in MCF10AT cells resulted in robust in vivo and in vitro transformation, while hPRLrI knock-down in MCF7 cells significantly decreased in vitro malignant potential. hPRLrL+I heterodimers displayed greater stability than hPRLrL homodimers, and while being capable of activating Jak2, Ras, and MAPK, they were unable to induce …


Anti-Tumor Functions Of Sphingosine Kinase 1 And Sphingosine Kinase 2 In Breast Cancer Development, Melissa A. Maczis Jan 2020

Anti-Tumor Functions Of Sphingosine Kinase 1 And Sphingosine Kinase 2 In Breast Cancer Development, Melissa A. Maczis

Theses and Dissertations

Bioactive sphingolipid metabolite sphingosine-1‐phosphate (S1P) circulating levels have been implicated in breast cancer (BC) progression. BCs usually respond to 17β-Estradiol (E2) through canonical receptor ERα66 for genomic effects, however, E2 also triggers rapid, non-genomic responses. E2 has been shown to activate sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1), increasing S1P for S1P receptors signaling important for BC. The E2 receptor activating SphK1 has not been identified. We demonstrate triple negative BC cells, expressing only novel ERα splice variant ERα36, E2-induced SphK1 activation for S1P secretion. Tamoxifen, first-line BC endocrine therapy, an ERα66 antagonist but ERα36 agonist, activates SphK1 and increases S1P secretion in …


Augmenting Guadecitabine To Promote Anticancer Immunity In Murine Breast Cancer, Timothy M. Smith Jr. Jan 2020

Augmenting Guadecitabine To Promote Anticancer Immunity In Murine Breast Cancer, Timothy M. Smith Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

In immune-competent individuals, tumor growth occurs due to a failure of the immune system to recognize and destroy malignant cells. Immune surveillance can be curtailed by the presence of immunosuppressive cells such as myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and T-regulatory cells (Tregs) which both serve to dampen antitumor immunity. These studies utilize a metronomic low-dose therapeutic approach to examine the effects of anticancer drugs against murine breast cancer and the effects on the immune cell compartments. The focus of these studies revolve around the drug guadecitabine (guad), a second-generation DNA methyl-transferase inhibitor (DNMTi). DNMTi’s have been shown to dysregulate the methylation …


Higher Tensile Forces Across Cellular Junctions And An Intact Nuclear Linc Complex Is Required For Epithelial Function And Stability, Fnu Vani Narayanan Jan 2020

Higher Tensile Forces Across Cellular Junctions And An Intact Nuclear Linc Complex Is Required For Epithelial Function And Stability, Fnu Vani Narayanan

Theses and Dissertations

Recent advances in three-dimensional (3D) cell culture systems have provided key insights into the understanding of biochemical and physiological states of native tissue. A significant progress in the field of mechanobiology involves measuring cellular traction forces in a more native 3D environment. However, the effects of mechanical forces exerted across cellular junctions and the nuclear LINC complex, in an organized 3D system has not been investigated thus far. Epithelial cells spontaneously form acini (also known as cysts or spheroids) with a single, fluid-filled central lumen, when grown in 3D matrices. The size of the lumen is dependent on apical secretion …


Modulation Of Ferroportin In Oral Cancer, Ashley N. Hemingway Jan 2020

Modulation Of Ferroportin In Oral Cancer, Ashley N. Hemingway

Theses and Dissertations

Iron plays a critical role in life sustaining functions for the cell. Dysregulation of these processes can be an issue with maintaining homeostatic conditions. Various cancer types have been observed to show malfunction in the maintenance of their iron homeostasis, in particular with the iron export protein—ferroportin. Ferroportin is the sole iron exporter known. Its structure and mechanism have not fully been elucidated yet, but its modulation has been associated with a poorer prognosis in cancers like breast, leukemia, prostrate, ovarian, colorectal, etc. Decreased iron exportation by ferroportin may lead to an increased labile iron pool allowing the cell to …


Sphingolipids In Cancer Health Disparities And As Prospective Targets For Cancer Therapy, April E. Boyd Jan 2020

Sphingolipids In Cancer Health Disparities And As Prospective Targets For Cancer Therapy, April E. Boyd

Theses and Dissertations

Lung cancer is the deadliest cancer both in the United States and worldwide. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for approximately 85% of all lung cancers. However, lung cancer disparities are not shared equally across racial groups, with large differences between African American and Caucasian populations. Advances in research have revealed roles of lipid mediators in cancer biology and disease progression, but sphingolipid alterations in tissues should be explored further. To address this, using mass spectrometry (MS), extensive sphingolipidomic characterization of NSCLC tumors and adjacent uninvolved tissues from African American and Caucasian patients were performed. This study revealed that NSCLC …


Ca2+/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type Ii (Camkii) Regulates Histone Methylation To Promote Zebrafish Hematopoietic Stem Cell Specification, Sanyam Patel Jan 2020

Ca2+/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type Ii (Camkii) Regulates Histone Methylation To Promote Zebrafish Hematopoietic Stem Cell Specification, Sanyam Patel

Theses and Dissertations

Ca2+/calmodulin dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is an important signaling molecule involved in many developmental processes. This project aims to understand the role of CaMKII in specification of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in zebrafish. HSCs undergo hematopoiesis to specify all cells that constitute blood. The process of hematopoiesis along with the specification of hematopoietic stem cells is conserved in vertebrates. CaMKII is expressed in tissues important for HSC specification, including the somites, notochord, and dorsal aorta. The dorsal aorta is the site of HSC specification in zebrafish. Injection of camk2g1 translational blocking antisense oligonucleotides (MO) or Cas9 guide …