The Role of the Bcl-X Gene as a Tumor Supressor
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Date
2007-09-17
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Abstract
Cell death, also known as apoptosis, is necessary in order to maintain a healthy tissue state. When cell death doesn’t occur and cells grow uncontrollably, one pathological result is cancer. One of the genes believed to regulate cell death and act as a tumor suppressor in certain types of cancers (e.g. breast cancer) is the gene Bcl-x. I seek to determine if Bcl-x is an effective tumor suppressor in hopes that it may be used in gene targeting for treating breast cancer. The methods of my project included quantitating the Beclin levels in breast cancer cell lines, transfecting Bcl-x in to the cells. Lastly, I induced apoptosis and analyzed the susceptibility of the cells to death. Our results showed that increased Bcl-x expression did not reduce this apoptotic induction.
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Bcl-X, autophagy, Beclin, tumor supressor