Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Imaging Breast Cancer Progression And Lymph Node Metastases In Murine Models Using Mri And Magnetic Nanoparticles, Vasiliki Economopoulos

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Most breast cancer related deaths are caused by the spread or metastasis of the primary tumor to distant sites in the body. The lymph nodes are one of the first places where metastases can be detected and are frequently examined for macroscopic metastases to help determine course of treatment for patients. However, little is known about the significance of microscopic metastases and disseminated individual cancer cells within the nodes. The goal of this work was to use MRI to monitor the development of primary tumors and lymphatic metastases in models of breast cancer.

In this thesis, we examined the MRI …

The Role Of Type I Insulin-Like Growth Factor Receptor Signaling In Breast Cancer Brain Metastasis, Sandra M. Saldana

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Brain metastasis is a common cause of mortality in cancer patients. Approximately 20-30% of breast cancer patients acquire brain metastasis, yet potential therapeutic targets remain largely unknown. The type I insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF- IR) is known to play a role in the progression of breast cancer and is currently being investigated in the clinical setting for various types of cancer. The present study demonstrates that the IGF-IR signaling axis is constitutively active in brain-seeking sublines of breast cancer cells, driving an increase in in vitro metastatic properties. We demonstrate that IGF-IR signaling is activated in an autocrine manner …

Galectin-3 Enhances The Malignant Melanoma Phenotype By Regulating Autotaxin, Russell R. Braeuer

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

In melanoma patient specimens and cell lines, the over expression of galectin-3 is associated with disease progression and metastatic potential. Herein, we have sought out to determine whether galectin-3 affects the malignant melanoma phenotype by regulating downstream target genes. To that end, galectin-3 was stably silenced by utilizing the lentivirus-incorporated small hairpin RNA in two metastatic melanoma cell lines, WM2664 and A375SM, and subjected to gene expression microarray analysis. We identified and validated the lysophospholipase D enzyme, autotaxin, a promoter of migration, invasion, and tumorigenesis, to be down regulated after silencing galectin-3. Silencing galectin-3 significantly reduced the promoter activity of …