Autophagic and cell death analysis in cells proficient and deficient to DNA excision repair exposed to UVB light

• Grant number: 09/02601-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2009
• End date: July 31, 2011
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Molecular Biology
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Frederico Martins Menck
• Grantee: Alexandre Teixeira Vessoni
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Autophagy is a process responsible for the degradation of deficient and/or obsolete proteins and cytoplasmic organelles, aiming at maintaining the cell homeostasis. Furthermore, deficiencies in the autophagic process can lead to elevated tumorigenesis rates, what makes this mechanism an interesting target for new cancer therapy drugs. This project aims for the study of the relationship between nucleotide excision repair of DNA and autophagy besides the cell death process, in cells proficient and deficient for this type of repair, when exposed to UVB light as a DNA lesion inducer.