By Daniel Walocha ‘19 Astrocytomas are the most common type of glioma and contain the most detrimental subtype of brain cancers, glioblastoma multiforme. Astrocytomas affect the astrocytes in the brain, which make up the blood-brain barrier. Xia et al. from Purdue University looked to study the effect of SUMO-specific protease 1 (SENP1) knockout in cell lines derived from astrocytoma patients. SENP1 was previously found to … Continue reading Brain Cancer and SENP1Silencing

By Daniel Walocha ‘19 Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) serve normal cell functions in growth, differentiation, and controlled cell death. The lncRNA’s are modulated in cancer cells to provide a pro-survival, oncogenic role in many different types of cancer. However, lncRNA’s have also been seen, when unchanged, to provide tumor suppressive activities in normal cells. Nuclear paraspeckle assembly transcript 1 (NEAT 1) is a lncRNA that … Continue reading Long Non-Coding RNA NEAT1 Analysis

By Daniel Walocha ‘19 CD133 is a biomarker for cancer stem cells (CSC) in esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC). Cancer cells have remarkable resistance to drugs and therapies, so discovering a potential therapeutic target to make the CSCs in ESCC more susceptible to treatment is of particular interest. Dr. Wen Xu et al. from Columbia University looked to elucidate the pathway for CD133 and associated … Continue reading CD133’s Role in Esophageal Cancer Cells

By Daniel Walocha ‘19 Angiogenesis is the formation of blood vessels. Cancer cells release growth factors associated with the induction of angiogenesis. Newly formed blood vessels allow cancer cells to easily metastasize, making treatment and survivability difficult for tumors. Colorectal cells are the third leading cause of cancer deaths, so understanding potential therapeutic targets is of interest to researchers. Shaoxin Cai, Ph.D, from Tongji Hospital … Continue reading EYA1 and its Overexpression in Colorectal Cancer Associated with Angiogenesis

By Daniel Walocha ‘19 Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third leading cause of cancer death. Metastasis is one of the largest determinants of survival for colorectal cancer; treatment before metastasis is crucial for survival. Targeting potential gene products that promote proliferation and invasion could reduce cancer metastasis and growth. TRIM25 is an E3 ubiquitin ligase found to be responsible for the polyubiquitination of retinoic acid … Continue reading TRIM25 and its Role in the Proliferation of Colorectal Cancer Cells

By Daniel Walocha ‘19 Cancer cells primarily use glycolysis to gain ATP and important intermediates for amino acid biosynthesis via the Warburg effect, even in the presence of readily available oxygen. This highlights a key distinction between cancer and normal cells: normal cells mainly utilize the electron transport chain for their ATP needs, while cancer cells do not. As a result, cancer cells build up … Continue reading Reactive Oxidative Species Sensitivity in Cancer

By Daniel Walocha ‘19 FOXO proteins have previously been established as transcription factors in genes controlling mitogenic cell growth, metabolism, and proliferation. They contain a common sequence, the forkhead box, which encodes for a string of 80-100 amino acids which form a DNA-binding motif. Though, the specific cancer pathways and crosstalk among the signaling proteins have not been clearly described, Dr. Jian Ma and a … Continue reading FOXO Proteins Role in Cancer Pathways