Environmental effects on molecular biomarkers expression in pancreatic and brain cancer

Lawrence Mensah; Srivalleesha Mallidi; Iqbal Massodi; Sriram Anbil; Zhiming Mai; Tayyaba Hasan

doi:10.1117/12.2010697

14 March 2013 Environmental effects on molecular biomarkers expression in pancreatic and brain cancer

Lawrence Mensah, Srivalleesha Mallidi, Iqbal Massodi, Sriram Anbil, Zhiming Mai, Tayyaba Hasan

Proceedings Volume 8568, Optical Methods for Tumor Treatment and Detection: Mechanisms and Techniques in Photodynamic Therapy XXII; 856803 (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2010697
Event: SPIE BiOS, 2013, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

A complete understanding of the biological mechanisms regulating devastating disease such as cancer remains elusive. Pancreatic and brain cancers are primary among the cancer types with poor prognosis. Molecular biomarkers have emerged as group of proteins that are preferentially overexpressed in cancers and with a key role in driving disease progression and resistance to chemotherapy. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a cell proliferative biomarker is particularly highly expressed in most cancers including brain and pancreatic cancers. The ability of EGFR to sustain prolong cell proliferation is augmented by biomarkers such as Bax, Bcl-XL and Bcl-2, proteins regulating the apoptotic process. To better understand the role and effect of the microenvironment on these biomarkers in pancreatic cancer (PaCa); we analysed two pancreatic tumor lines (AsPc-1 and MiaPaCa-2) in 2D, 3D in-vitro cultures and in orthotopic tumors at different growth stages. We also investigated in patient derived glioblastoma (GBM) tumor cultures, the ability to utilize the EGFR expression to specifically deliver photosensitizer to the cells for photodynamic therapy. Overall, our results suggest that (1) microenvironment changes affect biomarker expression; thereby it is critical to understand these effects prior to designing combination therapies and (2) EGFR expression in tumor cells indeed could serve as a reliable and a robust biomarker that could be used to design targeted and image-guided photodynamic therapy.

Citation Download Citation

Lawrence Mensah, Srivalleesha Mallidi, Iqbal Massodi, Sriram Anbil, Zhiming Mai, and Tayyaba Hasan "Environmental effects on molecular biomarkers expression in pancreatic and brain cancer", Proc. SPIE 8568, Optical Methods for Tumor Treatment and Detection: Mechanisms and Techniques in Photodynamic Therapy XXII, 856803 (14 March 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2010697

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