Action of melatonin in intratumoral heterogeneity by checking markers carbonic anhydrase IX and XII in an animal model of breast cancer

• Grant number: 14/16351-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2015
• End date: May 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Pathology
• Principal Investigator: Debora Aparecida Pires de Campos Zuccari
• Grantee: Vinicius Augusto Gonçalves Pierri
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de São José do Rio Preto (FAMERP). Secretaria de Desenvolvimento Econômico (São Paulo - Estado). São José do Rio Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Breast cancer is considered common in women, has tumor growth and metastasis, the major cause of evolution and death of patients. The greedy tumor growth hampers the blood perfusion in some areas resulting in focus of hypoxia, which may exert a selective pressure on the tumor selecting subsets with advantageous features, just to survive in low oxygen environments. Each subpopulation has distinct adaptations depending on the location that is, characterizing the intratumoral heterogeneity. In addition, it differs in aggressiveness and response to treatment, treatments that have as therapeutic target a population of tumor cells with certain characteristics, may not be effective against other populations with different characteristics, failing in tumor eradication. In this context, as melatonin has been noted for its many oncostatics effects, the aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of melatonin on the intratumoral heterogeneity. Detecting intratumoral hypoxic regions by immunohistochemistry with the markers carbonic anhydrase (CA) IX and CA XII, intermembrane proteins over expressed in tumor cells, and for comparison with the images obtained by positron emission tomography (PET) in animal models of cancer breast treated or not with melatonin. (AU)