Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Role Of Aldhhicd44+ Cells In Breast Cancer Metastasis And Therapy Resistance, Alysha K. Croker

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Breast cancer is a leading cause of death in women, due primarily to ineffective treatment of metastatic disease. Despite being a lethal process, metastasis is surprisingly inefficient, with less than 0.5% of cancer cells able to successfully navigate the metastatic cascade, indicating that only a small proportion of cancer cells possess the necessary characteristics to establish metastases. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have recently been identified in leukemia and solid tumors; however, the role of CSCs in breast cancer metastasis and therapy resistance remains poorly understood. Sub-populations of cells demonstrating stem-cell like characteristics (high expression of CSC markers and/or high ALDH …

Fibulin-2 Stabilizes Tumor Extracellular Matrix And Drives Malignant Progression Of Lung Adenocarcinoma, Brandi N. Baird

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

The ECM of epithelial carcinomas undergoes structural remodeling during periods of uncontrolled growth, creating regional heterogeneity and torsional stress. How tumors maintain ECM integrity in the face of dynamic biophysical forces is still largely unclear. This study addresses these deficiencies using mouse models of human lung adenocarcinoma. Spontaneous lung tumors were marked by disorganized basement membranes, dense collagen networks, and increased tissue stiffness. Metastasis-prone lung adenocarcinoma cells secreted fibulin-2 (Fbln2), a matrix glycoprotein involved in ECM supra-molecular assembly. Fibulin-2 depletion in tumor cells decreased the intra-tumoral abundance of matrix metalloproteinases and reduced collagen cross-linking and tumor compressive properties resulting in …

The Role Of Micrornas In Breast Cancer Migration, Invasion And Metastasis, Joy Tang, Fazlul H. Sarkar, Aamir Ahmad

Honors College Theses

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a major class of small, noncoding RNA molecules that regulate gene expression by targeting mRNAs to trigger either translational repression or mRNA degradation. They have recently been more widely investigated due to their potential role as targets for cancer therapy. Many miRNAs have been implicated in several human cancers, including breast cancer. miRNAs are known to regulate cell cycle and development, and thus may serve as useful targets for exploration in anticancer therapeutics. The link between altered miRNA signatures and breast cancer development and metastasis can be observed either through the loss of tumor suppressor miRNAs, such …

Inhibition Of Breast Cancer Angiogenesis And Metastasis Ay Targeting Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1Α, Chikezie O. Madu

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

The current clinical chemotherapy agents are not ideal for breast cancer as they are not curative, but only provide a modest extension of survival with sometimes a severely adverse effect on the patient’s quality of life. There is, therefore, an urgent need to search for new and more effective anti-breast cancer drugs. However, the existing screening system is inefficient and time-consuming despite the extremely large amount of small molecule compounds in database currently available, and thereby hindering the effort for selecting new and effective anti-cancer drugs.

The majority of locally advanced solid tumors contain regions of reduced oxygen availability. Hypoxia …

Characterizing The Role Of Nucleosome Remodeling Factor (Nurf) In Tumorigenesis And Metastatic Progression Using Mouse Models Of Breast Cancer., Suehyb Alkhatib

Theses and Dissertations

Increasingly the role of epigenetic machinery as a bridge between underlying DNA sequence and cellular phenotype is being discovered. The establishment of a myriad of unique cellular types sharing identical gene sequences in a multicellular organism gives a broad sense for the inherent role of epigenetic influence on cell differentiation. Importantly, the epigenetic mechanisms involved in establishing cell identity unsurprisingly contribute to diseased states, including cancer. Recent research continues to elucidate contributory roles of epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, histone modification, and microRNA regulation, in human cancers. Additionally, chromatin remodelers, such as the Nucleosome Remodeling Factor (NURF), have been …

Roles Of Resveratrol And Genistein In Invasion And Metastasis Of Breast Cancer, Brittany Wolfe

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Breast cancer is a cellular disease characterized by the exploitation of several cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in cell proliferation, apoptosis, motility, and invasion. Effective treatment is available for non-invasive breast cancer at diagnosis, leading to a very high survival rate compared to the low survival rate for those where the breast cancer has spread. Thus, identifying effective therapies and preventative agents is imperative to successfully treat breast cancer. Since diet compromises a large component of the risk factors for breast cancer, it would be beneficial to examine dietary compounds that could potentially play a beneficial role in inhibiting cancer …

Matrix Metalloproteinase Genes Are Transcriptionally Regulated By E2f Transcription Factors: A Link Between Cell Cycle Control And Metastatic Progression, Jacqueline Lea Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The RbµE2F transcriptional regulatory pathway plays a critical role in the cell cycle. Rb is inactivated through multiple waves of phosphorylation, mediated mainly by cyclin D and cyclin E associated kinases. Once Rb is inactivated, cells can enter Sµphase. Collectively, three Rb family members and ten E2F proteins coordinate every additional stage of the cell cycle, from quiescence to mitosis. However the RbµE2F pathway is frequently altered in cancer. Aside from cell proliferation, the RbµE2F pathway regulates other essential cellular processes including apoptosis, cell differentiation, angiogenesis and DNA damage repair pathways, but its role in invasion and cancer progression is …