Analysis of Apaf-1 and Caspase 9 in Tumorigenesis

Abstract

The final goal of our project is to elucidate the apoptotic and cellular senescence mechanisms of tumor suppression in breast cancer. p53 is clearly involved in both apoptosis and senescence, which has led to our emphasis on the p53 pathway . Although the initial approach was a genetical study of the p53-dependent apoptosis pathway, we shifted the focus of study to cellular senescence program, based on our findings of the senescence associated heterochromatic foci (SAHFs). We further characterized SAHFs and found that SAHF-formation is dependent on the pl6/Rb pathway using stable retroviral RNAi system. We also found that E2F-targets, which are required for cell cycle progression and regulated by the Rb-family, are stably silenced in senescence. We propose that E2F-targets are heterochromatinized possibly by being involved in SAHFs, resulting in the irreversible' cell cycle arrest in senescence.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 2003
Accession Number
ADA418725

Entities

People

  • Masashi Narita
  • Scott W. Lowe

Organizations

  • Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Apoptosis
  • Breast Cancer
  • Cancer
  • Cell Line
  • Cell Physiological Processes
  • Cells
  • Chromosome Structures
  • Chromosomes
  • Electron Microscopy
  • Gene Expression
  • Genetics
  • Health Services
  • Neoplasms
  • Proteins
  • Therapy

Readers

  • Cellular and Molecular Pathways of Apoptosis.
  • Molecular Genetics
  • Oncology

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology