Keywords

Extracellular Vesicles, CCT, Prostate Cancer, Breast Cancer

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles have been shown to be an important factor in cancer progression through cell-to-cell communication of proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. There are certain proteins that are seen commonly in these vesicles including the multi-subunit protein Chaperonin Containing TCP-1 (CCT) that is frequently upregulated in cancers as they progress in stage/severity. New literature suggests that the silencing of CCT leads to the dysregulation of EV secretion through alterations in the cellular metabolism of lipids. To date, no work has been done on cells that have an increased amount of CCT, which is what this work aims to explore. Exogenously expressing one of the CCT subunits, CCT2, caused an increase in CCT2 protein and RNA content in EVs. There was also a significant increase in the number of EVs smaller than 100nm in size. While the biological role of these EVs is yet to be determined, preliminary data suggests that EVs less than 100nm are able to increase total CCT2 protein levels in control cells when compared with conditioned media containing EVs of all sizes. This investigation aims to characterize these EVs in hopes to translate the findings clinically to detect EVs from cancer patients as a noninvasive diagnostic tool.

Completion Date

2024

Semester

Summer

Committee Chair

Khaled, Annette

Degree

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Medicine

Department

Biomedical Sciences

Degree Program

MS Biotechnology

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

DP0028882

URL

https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1434&context=etd2023

Language

English

Rights

In copyright

Release Date

2-15-2028

Length of Campus-only Access

3 years

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Campus-only Access)

Campus Location

Health Sciences Campus

Accessibility Status

Meets minimum standards for ETDs/HUTs

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Restricted to the UCF community until 2-15-2028; it will then be open access.

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