Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Bait-And-Kill: Targeting A Novel Heme Biochemical Pathway In Hundreds Of Cancers, Christopher G. Marinescu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cancer cells are characterized by their ability to grow and proliferate in rates that far exceed normal cells by modifying their iron/heme metabolisms to levels higher than normal. This imbalance of heme biosynthesis can lead to cancer cells having a flux of heme intermediates to the point where they enter a state called heme-overdrive. Heme-overdrive is a process unique to a variety of cancers but absent in normal tissues. With this enhanced production, heme can act as an epigenic regulator for signaling proliferation (18). Through the novel strategy called ‘bait-and-kill,’ cancer cells will be coerced into a state of heme …