Keywords
Chlamydia; ovarian; cancer; bugs; drugs
Abstract
Chlamydia trachomatis (C. trachomatis) is being investigated as a potential vector to directly deliver anti-cancer peptides to ovarian cancer cells as part of the “Bugs as Drugs” initiative, offering a possible future treatment option for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Successful delivery of peptides from chlamydia to host cells first requires elementary bodies (EBs), the metabolically inactive form of chlamydia, to gain entry to host cells. To test the viability of this proposition, this project aimed foremost to demonstrate whether C. trachomatis is even capable of infecting ovarian cancer cell strains in vitro. Serovar L2 C. trachomatis was chosen and incubated along with three separate ovarian cancer cell lines: SK-OV-3, PA-1, and SW 626. A HeLa control sample was also grown alongside and incubated with chlamydia. Further experiments were done with the addition to the media of chloramphenicol (CHL), a known antibiotic and inhibitor of bacterial translation. CHL was added to ascertain whether infection could also preclude the development of reticulate bodies (RBs) (the metabolically active form of chlamydia) which could potentially harm healthy cells in the ovaries. Qualitatively, successful invasion of all three cell lines by chlamydia was observed. Encouragingly, the addition of CHL produced the same results but also demonstrated that host cell infections did not result in the development of RBs. Furthermore, western blots done on collected cell lysates showed consistency with other previously published research on chlamydial host cell infections, adding greater validity to the results. These findings encourage the continuation of future experiments that will test whether genetic modifications, such as the addition of nucleotides encoding the CT20 anti-cancer peptide, or administration of chlamydia along with different reagents, produces more promising results for a potential new ovarian cancer treatment option.
Thesis Completion Year
2025
Thesis Completion Semester
Fall
Thesis Chair
Jewett, Travis
College
College of Medicine
Department
Biomedical Sciences
Thesis Discipline
Biomedical Sciences
Language
English
Access Status
Campus Access
Length of Campus Access
5 years
Campus Location
Health Sciences Campus
STARS Citation
Peles, Rom, "Investigation Into Whether Chlamydia Can Successfully Invade Ovarian Cancer Cells" (2025). Honors Undergraduate Theses. 187.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hut2024/187
Rights Statement
