Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: Cancer Research
Session: 1
Room: Harding
Rossymar Rivera-Colon - University of Puerto Rico at Ponce
Co-Author(s): Elizabeth Mulcahy, University of Virginia, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology; Roger Abounader, University of Virginia, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and deadly brain tumor in adults. Despite innovative research efforts in tumor therapy, the outcome for most diagnosed patients remains poor [1]. GBM is characterized by high levels of cellular heterogeneity associated with therapeutic and drug resistance [2]. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression by inhibiting the translation of many human proteins. MicroRNAs are frequently deregulated in GBM and their deregulation has been associated with various aspects of glioma pathobiology [3]. Many of these miRNAs have been found to function as master regulatory molecules. They can enhance or repress the cancer phenotype by inhibiting the expression of a cohort of tumor suppressors or oncogenes, respectively [4]. By transfecting glioblastoma cells with tumor suppressor miRNAs we found that these miRNAs inhibited cell proliferation and invasion. Also, Western Blots were used to validate if the tumor suppressor microRNAs downregulated oncogenes. Understanding the function of oncogenic and tumor suppressor microRNAs and their impact on GBM phenotypes can help identify new therapeutics for this fatal disease. [1] Huang, Shi-wei, et al. MicroRNAs as biomarkers for human glioblastoma: progress and potential. Acta pharmacologica Sinica, 2018, vol. 39, no 9, p. 1405. [2] Novakova, Jana, et al. MicroRNA involvement in glioblastoma pathogenesis. Biochemical and biophysical research communications, 2009, vol. 386, no 1, p. 1-5. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006291X09011486. [3] Zhang, Ying; Dutta, Anindya; Abounader, Roger. The role of microRNAs in glioma initiation and progression. Frontiers in bioscience: a journal and virtual library, 2012, vol. 17, p. 700.
[4] SVORONOS, Alexander A.; ENGELMAN, Donald M.; SLACK, Frank J. OncomiR or tumor suppressor. The duplicity of microRNAs in cancer. Cancer research, 2016, vol. 76, no 13, p. 3666-3670.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): NCI Grant # 5U01CA220841-02; Summer Research Internship Program (UVA)
Faculty Advisor: qx3k@virginia.edu, qx3k@virgina.edu
Role: My role in this research was to transfect glioblastoma cell lines with tumor suppressors and anti- microRNAs , in order to do Western Blots, proliferation and invasion assays, to asses phenotypes of cancer.