| Grant number: | 12/14008-0 |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |
| Start date: | February 01, 2013 |
| End date: | January 31, 2016 |
| Field of knowledge: | Health Sciences - Dentistry |
| Principal Investigator: | Karina Gottardello Zecchin |
| Grantee: | Camilla Borges Ferreira Gomes |
| Host Institution: | Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba (FOP). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil |
Abstract Fatty acid synthase (FASN) is the metabolic enzyme responsible for the endogenous synthesis of the saturated long-chain fatty acid, palmitate. In contrast to most normal cells, FASN is overexpressed in a variety of human cancers, including cutaneous melanoma, in which its levels of expression are associated with tumor invasion and poor prognosis. We have previously shown that FASN inhibition reduces proliferation and promotes apoptosis in B16-F10 mouse melanoma cells, and decrease their metastatic spread in orlistat-treated C57BL6 mice bearing intraperitoneal melanomas (Carvalho et al., 2008). We also demonstrated that FASN inhibition in B16-F10 melanoma cells (i) induces the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis, as demonstrated by the cytochrome c release and caspases-9 and -3 activation (Zecchin et al., 2010), (ii) induces cell cycle arrest by accumulation of the tumor suppressor proteins p21WAF1/Cip1 and p27Kip1 co-immunoprecipitated with cdk2, together with decreased amounts of cdk2 and Skp2, and (iii) modifies the free fatty acid composition of mitochondria (Zecchin et al., 2011). The aim of this work is to analyze the expression of FASN, cell cycle proteins such p21WAF1/Cip1, p27Kip1, p16Ink4a, Cdk-4, and Rb, as well as VEGF165b and HIF-1± in human malignant melanoma samples by immunohistochemistry. Further, a possible correlation of these results with clinical and histological findings will be checked, in order to collaborate with human malignant melanoma prognosis. | |
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