Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Unlocking The Potential Of Kinase Targets In Cancer: Insights From Canceromicsnet, An Ai-Driven Approach To Drug Response Prediction In Cancer, Manali Singha, Limeng Pu, Gopal Srivastava, Xialong Ni, Brent A. Stanfield, Ifeanyi K. Uche, Paul J.F. Rider, Konstantin G. Kousoulas, J. Ramanujam, Michal Brylinski

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Deregulated protein kinases are crucial in promoting cancer cell proliferation and driving malignant cell signaling. Although these kinases are essential targets for cancer therapy due to their involvement in cell development and proliferation, only a small part of the human kinome has been targeted by drugs. A comprehensive scoring system is needed to evaluate and prioritize clinically relevant kinases. We recently developed CancerOmicsNet, an artificial intelligence model employing graph-based algorithms to predict the cancer cell response to treatment with kinase inhibitors. The performance of this approach has been evaluated in large-scale benchmarking calculations, followed by the experimental validation of selected …

Leser-Trélat Sign As A Marker For Underlying Pancreatic Cancer, Kalpit Modi, Richard Chen, Layla Abubshait

Einstein Health Papers

Case Presentation: Early diagnosis and rapid treatment of cancer is essential for good clinical outcomes for patients. In this case, an 85-year-old man presented with failure to thrive and was noted to have rapid-onset, multiple seborrheic keratoses (Leser-Trélat sign) on his chest and back. He was ultimately diagnosed with pancreatic cancer using computed tomography.

Discussion: Leser-Trélat sign is a rare cutaneous marker for underlying malignancy. Identification of this sign can help guide diagnostic imaging and lab work to identify an occult internal malignancy, resulting in more rapid diagnosis, earlier treatment, and potentially better clinical outcomes.

Addressing Psychosocial Client Factors In People With Cancer: An Occupational Therapy Guidebook, Hannah Marlette

Student Capstone Papers

People with cancer experience a variety of physical, cognitive, and psychosocial impacts that affect their quality of life, occupational performance, and occupational engagement. Occupational therapy (OT) practitioners are well-equipped to address these impacts, however, OT is an underused service in the cancer population, resulting in a limited amount of literature addressing OT interventions in cancer care. OT interventions in the literature are focused on addressing an individual’s physical client factors. The focus on physical client factors is causing people with cancer to report that their psychosocial client factors are not being addressed. The literature demonstrates that OT practitioners do not …

Isolation And Total Synthesis Of Sigma-2 Ligands From Marine Cyanobacteria, Andrea Hough

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cyanobacteria have been studied for over 50 years as a source of new antibiotics, antiviral, and anticancer drugs. The research described in this dissertation investigates marine cyanobacteria as a source of natural products with activity within the central nervous system and with cytotoxicity against breast cancer cells. Barbamide (1) is a known cyanobacterial metabolite that has been re-isolated from a variety of species and collection sites suggesting broad utility as a signaling molecule. Utilizing the psychoactive drug screening program, we screened barbamide for CNS activity and found that barbamide exhibited affinity for the kappa opioid receptor (KOR) and …

The Journey From Provider To Patient: Lessons Learned, Jane E. Sullivan

Patient Experience Journal

The lens through which one experiences a health crisis is influenced by their personal beliefs and experiences as well as by their professional training and circumstances. Parotid (salivary) gland tumors are rare. Having more than one parotid tumor is rarer still. My experience as a clinician and researcher who was diagnosed with two parotid gland tumors was influenced by my life experiences and my professional background. This affected my reaction to the situation and the questions I asked. It also affected my expectations of my providers. This is a reflection on my six-plus-year journey and the lessons learned, both personally …

Expanding The Occupational Therapy Oncology Rehabilitation Program At James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Annalisa M. Rodriguez

Department of Occupational Therapy Entry-Level Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Design, Synthesis, And Evaluation Of Oleyl-Wrh Peptides For Sirna Delivery, Mrigank S Rai

Pharmaceutical Sciences (MS) Theses

The delivery of nucleic acid therapeutics across various cell membranes has always been one of the major challenges. Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) containing arginine (R), tryptophan (W), and histidine (H) have been promising for siRNA delivery. Therefore, to enhance siRNA delivery and efficient silencing of the STAT3 gene, herein, we hypothesized to use of fatty acylation with oleyl chain to our newly designed cell-penetrating peptide (WRH) to evaluate their silencing efficiency in breast and ovarian cancer cells. Therefore, the oleyl conjugated (WRH)_n (n=1-4) peptides were synthesized using Fmoc/tBu solid-phase peptide chemistry, followed by purification using Reverse-Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC), …

Barriers And Determinants Of Consistent Offering Of Hpv Vaccination By Healthcare Facilities, Ikponmwosa Osaghae, Onyema Greg Chido-Amajuoyi, Banda A A Khalifa, Sanjay Shete

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Expanding access to HPV vaccination is critical to increasing HPV vaccine uptake. We assessed the determinants and barriers to consistent offering of HPV vaccine among healthcare facilities. This was a cross-sectional survey of healthcare providers (HCPs) in Texas. Prevalence of the reasons healthcare practices do not consistently offer HPV vaccination was estimated. Multivariable regression analyses were conducted. Of 1169 HCPs included in the study, 47.5% (95% CI: 44.6-50.3%) reported their practices do not provide HPV vaccination or do not offer it consistently. Compared to physicians, nurses had 77% lower odds (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR): 0.23, 95% CI: 0.16-0.32, p-value: < .001), and physician assistants had 89% lower odds (AOR: 0.11, 95% CI: 0.07-0.16, p-value: < .001) of their healthcare practices consistently offering HPV vaccination. Compared to university/teaching hospitals, the odds of healthcare practices consistently offering HPV vaccination were 44% lower (AOR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.35-0.91, p-value: 0.019) in solo practices but 266% higher (AOR: 3.66, 95% CI: 2.04-6.58, p-value: < .001) in FQHC/public facilities. The common reasons healthcare practices do not consistently offer HPV vaccination were; HPV vaccination is not within the scope of the practice (48.1%), referrals to other clinics (27.7%), and limited personnel (11.4%). Non-physicians were more likely to report that HPV vaccination was not in their scope and to refer patients than physicians. Moreover, solo practices were more likely to report challenges with acquisition and storage of the vaccine and referral of patients as reasons for not consistently offering HPV vaccination than university/teaching hospitals, FQHC/public facilities, or group practices. System-level interventions including training of non-physicians and expansion of practice enrollment in programs that support HPV vaccine acquisition and storage are needed.

Occupational Exposures Associated With Thyroid Cancer In The Thyroid Tumor And Cancer Collaborative Registry In The Integrated Cancer Center Repository For Cancer Research, James Buckley

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Thyroid cancer is one of the fastest growing cancers in the United States, with the rate of new cases increasing from 5.2 per 100,000 in 1985 to 13.8 per 100,000 in 2019, with a peak of 14.5 per 100,000 in 2015. Increased thyroid cancer incidence is associated with certain occupations, including healthcare and agriculture. Most existing literature on occupational exposures and thyroid cancer evaluate their association in terms of occupation type and thyroid cancer, rather than specific occupational exposures and thyroid cancer. This study sought to utilize the wide range of occupational exposure data in the Integrated Cancer Center Repository …

Rural-Urban Differences In The Age-Adjusted Pediatric Cancer Mortality In The United States (2000-2020), Reitumetse A. Setai

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

In the United States (U.S.), 5-year survival for pediatric cancers improved from 58% in 1975 to 85% in 2017. However, pediatric cancer remains the second leading cause of death in children between 0 – 14 years. Despite the growing body of pediatric cancer research, there is limited knowledge of the urban and rural disparities of pediatric cancer mortality. This study examined: 1) the differences in the U.S. pediatric cancer mortality rates between rural and urban residents during 2016-2020 by demographic characteristics (age group, sex, race/ethnicity, and income) and cancer types and 2) the trend of pediatric cancer mortality in the …

Neuro-Immune Interactions And Immuno-Oncology, Narmina Khanmammadova, Shajedul Islam, Padmanee Sharma, Moran Amit

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The nervous system is an important component of the tumor microenvironment (TME), driving tumorigenesis and tumor progression. Neuronal cues (e.g., neurotransmitters and neuropeptides) in the TME cause phenotypic changes in immune cells, such as increased exhaustion and inhibition of effector cells, which promote immune evasion and cancer progression. Two types of immune regulation by tumor-associated nerves are discussed in this review: regulation via neuronal stimuli (i.e., by neural transmission) and checkpoint-mediated neuronal immune regulation. The latter occurs via the expression of immune checkpoints on the membranes of intratumoral nerves and glial cells. Here, we summarize novel findings regarding the neuroimmune …

Patient-Reported Ability To Walk 4 M And To Wash: New Clinical Endpoints And Predictors Of Survival In Patients With Pre-Terminal Cancer, Markus S Anker, Alessia Lena, Eric J Roeland, Jan Porthun, Sebastian Schmitz, Sara Hadzibegovic, Philipp Sikorski, Ursula Wilkenshoff, Ann-Kathrin Fröhlich, Luisa Valentina Ramer, Matthias Rose, Jan Eucker, Tienush Rassaf, Matthias Totzeck, Lorenz H Lehmann, Stephan Von Haehling, Andrew J S Coats, Tim Friede, Javed Butler, Stefan D Anker, Hanno Riess, Ulf Landmesser, Lars Bullinger, Ulrich Keller, Johann Ahn

Staff and Researcher Publications

Background: Maintaining the ability to perform self-care is a critical goal in patients with cancer. We assessed whether the patient-reported ability to walk 4 m and wash oneself predict survival in patients with pre-terminal cancer.

Methods: We performed a prospective observational study on 169 consecutive hospitalized patients with cancer (52% female, 64 ± 12 years) and an estimated 1-12 months prognosis at an academic, inpatient palliative care unit. Patients answered functional questions for 'today', 'last week', and 'last month', performed patient-reported outcomes (PROs), and physical function assessments.

Results: Ninety-two (54%) patients reported the ability to independently walk 4 m and …

Early Stage Or Curable Cancer Diagnoses In Minorities: A Journey Of Survivors, Lora Asberry

Master of Science in Integrative Biology Theses

Patients diagnosed with early-staged or curable forms of cancer experience physical, as well as, mental challenges associated with disease progression and treatment. Previous studies have demonstrated that minorities and underrepresented communities did not receive the same level of care in comparison to their non-minority counterparts. Previous studies have also demonstrated that health disparities among minorities affected their cancer journey. This study addressed: how medical disparities varied between minorities and non-minorities, the overall effects of the cancer diagnoses in minorities compared to non-minorities, whether these perspectives differed in male vs. female participants, and whether there were any possible communication barriers between …

Abstracts From The 2023 Health Care Systems Research Network (Hcsrn) Annual Conference, Denver, Colorado

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

The Health Care Systems Research Network (HCSRN) is comprised of 20 learning health systems with embedded population-based research units. The network’s annual conference serves as a forum for research teams from member institutions to disseminate project findings, explore scientific collaborations, and share insights about conducting research in real-world care delivery settings. Abstracts presented at HCSRN 2023 are published in this issue supplement of Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews, the journal of record for HCSRN’s annual conference proceedings.

Cancer Cell-Specific Cgas/Sting Signaling Pathway In The Era Of Advancing Cancer Cell Biology, Vijay Kumar, Caitlin Bauer, John H. Stewart

School of Graduate Studies Faculty Publications

Pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs) are critical to recognizing endogenous and exogenous threats to mount a protective proinflammatory innate immune response. PRRs may be located on the outer cell membrane, cytosol, and nucleus. The cGAS/STING signaling pathway is a cytosolic PRR system. Notably, cGAS is also present in the nucleus. The cGAS-mediated recognition of cytosolic dsDNA and its cleavage into cGAMP activates STING. Furthermore, STING activation through its downstream signaling triggers different interferon-stimulating genes (ISGs), initiating the release of type 1 interferons (IFNs) and NF-κB-mediated release of proinflammatory cytokines and molecules. Activating cGAS/STING generates type 1 IFN, which may prevent cellular transformation …

The Meaning Of Caring For Patients With Cancer Among Traditional Medicine Practitioners In Uganda: A Grounded Theory Approach, John Baptist Asiimwe, Prakash B. Nagendrappa, Esther C. Atukunda, Grace Nambozi, Casim U. Tolo, Martin Ogwang, Mauda M. Kamatenesi

School of Nursing & Midwifery, East Africa

Traditional medicine practitioners (TMPs) are a critical part of healthcare systems in many sub-Saharan African countries and play vital roles in caring for patients with cancer. Despite some progress in describing TMPs’ caring experiences in abstract terms, literature about practice models in Africa remains limited. This study aimed to develop a substantive theory to clarify the care provided by TMPs to patients with cancer in Uganda. This study adhered to the principal features of the modified Straussian grounded theory design. Participants were 18 TMPs caring for patients with cancer from 10 districts in Uganda, selected by purposive and theoretical sampling …

Lung And Colorectal Cancer Disparities In Appalachian Kentucky: Spatial Analysis On The Influence Of Education And Literacy, Nicole Robertson Mph, Todd Burus, Lauren Hudson, Pamela C. Hull, Lee Park, Nathan L. Vanderford

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Low educational attainment and high cancer incidence and mortality rates have long been a challenge in Appalachian Kentucky. Prior studies have reported disparities in cancer incidence and mortality between Appalachian and non-Appalachian populations, but the influence of education on this disparity has not been extensively studied. Herein, all cancers and two cancer sites with available screenings (colorectal and lung) were joined with education indicators (educational attainment and literacy) and one geographic indicator across all 120 Kentucky counties. This dataset was used to build choropleth maps and perform simple linear and spatial regression to assess statistical significance and to measure the …

Insurance Status And Cancer Staging, Time To Treatment, And Mortality: Examining Cancers Of The Breast, Colon, And Lung, Gabriel A. Benavidez

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: When examining cancer outcomes, timely detection and treatment are critical factors for favorable prognoses. Previous studies have shown that individuals with public health insurance, specifically Medicaid, have worse cancer outcomes than those with private insurance. While differences in socioeconomic status may account for this disparity, one potential area for further investigation is the effect of Medicaid enrollment timing on cancer outcomes. In some states, individuals may not be eligible for Medicaid until after their cancer diagnosis, potentially nullifying health insurance benefits. This analysis examines the impact of Medicaid enrollment timing on cancer outcomes by comparing patients not enrolled in …

The Mechanism Of Pda-Peg/Copper Selectively Killing Cancer Cells And Its Application In Treating Triple-Negative Breast Cancer And Advanced Ovarian Cancer, Xiangxiang Hu

Theses and Dissertations

Cancer is one of the leading modality diseases. The number of cancer patients has increased in the last decades due to radiation, aging, stress condition, and other reasons. There are three traditional cancer therapies (radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and surgery). Even though these treatments improve the life span of cancer patients, many cancer patients still lost their lives due to the development of tolerance. Thus, it is urgent to develop new kinds of treatments to extend the life span of patients. In recent decades, nanomedicine, which utilizes nanotechnology to deliver chemotherapy agents into tumor sites and improve the anticancer effect and …

Pd-L1 Nano-Eraser: A Novel Intracellular Pd-L1 Degradation Approach And Its Application In Cancer And Alzheimer’S Disease Therapy, Mingming Wang

Theses and Dissertations

Nanoparticle-based targeted therapeutics have revolutionized the field of pharmaceutics by providing precise and efficient drug delivery systems. These therapeutics utilize nanoparticles as carriers to transport drugs selectively to the target site, reducing side effects and enhancing therapeutic efficacy. Although significant advancements have been made in nano-targeted therapies, there are many challenges that need to be addressed to fully realize their potential.

In this study, we proposed a novel approach to extend the potential application of anti-Programmed Death Ligand 1 (PD-L1) antibody (aPDL1) in cancer treatment and Alzheimer’s disease therapy by leveraging the Trim-Away pathway. aPDL1-based Trim-Away involves tagging target PD-L1 …

Interferon Signaling Promotes Tolerance To Chromosomal Instability During Metastatic Evolution In Renal Cancer, Luigi Perelli, Federica Carbone, Li Zhang, Justin K Huang, Courtney Le, Hania Khan, Francesca Citron, Edoardo Del Poggetto, Tony Gutschner, Hideo Tomihara, Melinda Soeung, Rosalba Minelli, Sanjana Srinivasan, Michael Peoples, Truong Nguyen Anh Lam, Sebastian Lundgren, Ruohan Xia, Cihui Zhu, Alaa M T Mohamed, Jianhua Zhang, Kanishka Sircar, Alessandro Sgambato, Jianjun Gao, Eric Jonasch, Giulio F Draetta, Andrew Futreal, Ziad Bakouny, Eliezer M Van Allen, Toni Choueiri, Sabina Signoretti, Pavlos Msaouel, Kevin Litchfield, Samra Turajlic, Linghua Wang, Ying Bei Chen, Renzo G Di Natale, A Ari Hakimi, Virginia Giuliani, Timothy P Heffernan, Andrea Viale, Christopher A Bristow, Nizar M Tannir, Alessandro Carugo, Giannicola Genovese

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Molecular routes to metastatic dissemination are critical determinants of aggressive cancers. Through in vivo CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing, we generated somatic mosaic genetically engineered models that faithfully recapitulate metastatic renal tumors. Disruption of 9p21 locus is an evolutionary driver to systemic disease through the rapid acquisition of complex karyotypes in cancer cells. Cross-species analysis revealed that recurrent patterns of copy number variations, including 21q loss and dysregulation of the interferon pathway, are major drivers of metastatic potential. In vitro and in vivo genomic engineering, leveraging loss-of-function studies, along with a model of partial trisomy of chromosome 21q, demonstrated a dosage-dependent effect …

Characteristics, Treatment, And Outcome Of Diverticulitis After Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Treatment In Patients With Malignancies, Austin R Thomas, Mostafa Eyada, Miho Kono, Krishnavathana Varatharajalu, Yang Lu, Guofan Xu, Kavea Panneerselvam, Malek Shatila, Mehmet Altan, Jennifer Wang, John A Thompson, Hao Chi Zhang, Muhammad Ali Khan, Gottumukkala S Raju, Anusha S Thomas, Yinghong Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are efficacious for treating various malignancies. In addition to immune-related adverse events (irAEs), growing evidence suggests that ICIs might also be associated with diverticulitis. We aim to assess the clinical presentations and management of colonic diverticulitis among cancer patients after ICI treatment.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on ICI-treated adult cancer patients between 01/2010 and 06/2020. Patients were grouped based on when diverticulitis developed relative to ICI treatment, either before (controls) or after (cases). Patient clinical characters, treatment, and outcomes were compared between both groups.

Results: 77 eligible patients were included: 63 patients developed …

African American Males Have More Distress During Cancer Treatment Than White Males, Stephanie Kjelstrom, Charis Wynn, Sharon Larson

College of Population Health Faculty Papers

African American (AA) males have a higher incidence and mortality rate for some cancers than other races and sexes, which could be associated with distress during treatment, medical mistrust, and health disparities. We hypothesize distress in AA males during treatment is higher than in other races and sexes. We assessed effect modification of moderate to severe (≥ 4) distress scores during cancer treatment by race and sex, age, and socioeconomic status (SES). National Comprehensive Cancer Network's distress thermometer (scale 0-10) and characteristics for 770 cancer patients were collected from a Philadelphia hospital. Variables included age, sex, race, smoking status, marital …

Cancerhervdb: Human Endogenous Retrovirus (Herv) Expression Database For Human Cancer Accelerates Studies Of The Retrovirome And Predictions For Herv-Based Therapies, Erik Stricker, Erin C Peckham-Gregory, Michael E Scheurer

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

In this study, we sought to create a database summarizing the expression of human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) in various human cancers. HERVs are suitable therapeutic targets due to their abundance in the human genome, overexpression in various malignancies, and involvement in various cancer pathways. We identified articles on HERVs from PubMed and then prescreened and automatically categorized them using the portable document format (PDF) data extractor (PDE) R package. We discovered 196 primary research articles with HERV expression data from cancer tissues or cancer cell lines. HERV RNA and protein expression was reported in brain, breast, cervical, colorectal, endocrine, gastrointestinal, …

Targeting Cgas/Sting Signaling-Mediated Myeloid Immune Cell Dysfunction In Time, Vijay Kumar, Caitlin Bauer, John H. Stewart

School of Graduate Studies Faculty Publications

Myeloid immune cells (MICs) are potent innate immune cells serving as first responders to invading pathogens and internal changes to cellular homeostasis. Cancer is a stage of altered cellular homeostasis that can originate in response to different pathogens, chemical carcinogens, and internal genetic/epigenetic changes. MICs express several pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) on their membranes, cytosol, and organelles, recognizing systemic, tissue, and organ-specific altered homeostasis. cGAS/STING signaling is a cytosolic PRR system for identifying cytosolic double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) in a sequence-independent but size-dependent manner. The longer the cytosolic dsDNA size, the stronger the cGAS/STING signaling activation with increased type 1 interferon …

Normal Saline Remodels The Omentum And Stimulates Its Receptivity For Transcoelomic Metastasis, Hironari Akasaka, Wonjae Lee, Song Yi Ko, Ernst Lengyel, Honami Naora

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The omentum contains immune cell structures called milky spots that are niches for transcoelomic metastasis. It is difficult to remove the omentum completely, and there are no effective strategies to minimize the risk of colonization of preserved omental tissues by cancer cells that circulate in the peritoneal fluid. Normal saline is commonly administered into the peritoneal cavity for diagnostic and intraoperative lavage. Here we show that normal saline, when administered into the peritoneal cavity of mice, is prominently absorbed by the omentum, exfoliates its mesothelium, and induces expression of CX3CL1, the ligand for CX3CR1, within and surrounding the omental vasculature. …

Proteogenomic Landscape Of Gastric Adenocarcinoma Peritoneal Metastases, Shuangtao Zhao, Ruiping Wang, Shumei Song, Dapeng Hao, Guangchun Han, Xingzhi Song, Jianhua Zhang, Melissa Pool Pizzi, Namita Shanbhag, Andrew Futreal, Brian Badgwell, Kazuto Harada, George Calin, Jody Vykoukal, Chuan-Yih Yu, Hiroyuki Katayama, Samir M Hanash, Linghua Wang, Jaffer A Ajani

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Advanced gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC) often leads to peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) and is associated with very poor outcome. Here we report the comprehensive proteogenomic study of ascites derived cells from a prospective GAC cohort (n = 26 patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis, PC). A total of 16,449 proteins were detected from whole cell extracts (TCEs). Unsupervised hierarchical clustering resulted in three distinct groups that reflected extent of enrichment in tumor cells. Integrated analysis revealed enriched biological pathways and notably, some druggable targets (cancer-testis antigens, kinases, and receptors) that could be exploited to develop effective therapies and/or tumor stratifications. Systematic comparison of expression …

Loss Of Ampkα2 Promotes Melanoma Tumor Growth And Brain Metastasis, Ping Yuan, Da Teng, Evelyn De Groot, Man Li, Sebastian Trousil, Che-Hung Shen, Jason Roszik, Michael A Davies, Y N Vashisht Gopal, Bin Zheng

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a critical cellular energy sensor at the interface of metabolism and cancer. However, the role of AMPK in carcinogenesis remains unclear. Here, through analysis of the TCGA melanoma dataset, we found that PRKAA2 gene that encodes the α2 subunit of AMPK is mutated in ∼9% of cutaneous melanomas, and these mutations tend to co-occur with NF1 mutations. Knockout of AMPKα2 promoted anchorage-independent growth of NF1-mutant melanoma cells, whereas ectopic expression of AMPKα2 inhibited their growth in soft agar assays. Moreover, loss of AMPKα2 accelerated tumor growth of NF1-mutant melanoma and enhanced their brain …

Atomistic Assessment Of Drug-Phospholipid Interactions Consequent To Cancer Treatment: A Study Of Anthracycline Cardiotoxicity, Yara Elsayed Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

Despite being one of the most effective chemotherapeutic agents developed to date, Anthracyclines are notorious for their cardiotoxicity. Their clinical use is frequently limited both in dosage and in prescription due to the severe cardiac damage they cause. The mechanism of anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity is not yet fully understood. However, it is hypothesized that interactions with the myocardial membrane play an important role in imparting cardiotoxicity. In this study, we use molecular dynamics simulations and density functional theory calculations to study the anthracycline drug molecules and the interactions that they have with the myocardial membrane. We construct a myocardial membrane model …

Initial Understanding Of Public Stigma Against Childhood Cancer Survivors, Nele Loecher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As childhood cancer survival rates climb to new records, it is increasingly important to focus on improving the psychological wellbeing of survivors living years beyond their diagnosis. One potential contributor to psychological distress for childhood cancer survivors (CCSs) is stigma. The fear of stigma can lead to CCSs concealing their identity as a CCS, which in turn can strain workplace and intimate relationships, creating a strain on CCSs’ social and work life. Additionally, the internalization of negative stereotypes or rejection of falsely positive stereotypes around cancer can exacerbate psychological distress. To establish what stereotypes and stigma CCS might be contending …