Contribution of PTEN phosphatase in oral cancer formation

• Grant number: 13/00352-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: May 01, 2013
• End date: April 30, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Human and Medical Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Andréia Machado Leopoldino
• Grantee: Camila Sayuri Matsumoto
• Supervisor: Cristiane H. Squarize
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto (FCFRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Michigan, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 10/17985-1 - Potential regulation of PTEN phosphatase by PP2A and set proteins and its role in oral cancer predisposition, BP.DD

Abstract

Cancer is the second cause of death in Brazil and the oral cancer is among the most predominant cancers worldwide. During tumorigenesis several changes occur in the genome, transcriptome, proteome and interatoma leading to malignant cells development. Some of the more important modifications occur in the PI3K-AKT pathway, such as the loss of PTEN phosphatase function, which increase PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 and results in the constitutive activation of downstream targets, including the kinase AKT. The effect of PTEN deletion in carcinogenic progression and in many signaling pathways remains not completely understood. The main objective of this project is evaluating the effects related to the PTEN deletion on squamous cells and the vias affected by this change. In order to achieve this objective, transgenic animals with tissue-specific deletion of PTEN for epithelium and treated with carcinogen, will be evaluated for tumors measurement, proliferation assay, senescence assay and apoptosis assay in tissue sections, as well as many proteins involved in carcinogenesis. (AU)