Analysis of the role of miRNAs in ovarian cancer metastasis

miRNA;Gene expression;Ovarian cancer;Epithelial-to-mesenchymal mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition

Zhang, Mengnan ; McDonald, John F. Biology Jordan, King I. Vannberg, Fredrik O. Choi, Jung H. Wu, Ronghu ; McDonald, John F.

University:Georgia Institute of Technology

Department:Biology

关键词: miRNA;    Gene expression;    Ovarian cancer;    Epithelial-to-mesenchymal mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition;   

Others  :  https://smartech.gatech.edu/bitstream/1853/62647/1/ZHANG-DISSERTATION-2019.pdf

美国|英语

来源: SMARTech Repository

【 摘 要 】

Cancer mortality is primarily due to metastasis. Metastasis is a complex multi-step process involving, on the molecular level, regulatory controlof two key development pathways: epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and it reciprocal, mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET) . MiRNAs are small regulatory RNA molecules that play key roles in the regulationof EMT/MET. In this thesis, I examine the role of miRNAs in regulating EMT/MET in ovarian cancer. In the first study, I show that sequentially divergent miRNAs converge to regulate the EMT/MET process through both direct and indirect regulatory changes. In the second study, I explore the impact of genetic difference between different cancer cell lines on the function of miRNAs to regulate the EMT/MET process. In the third study, I evaluate the importance of post-transcriptional/translational changes in the metastasis of a stage III ovarian cancer patientand the role played by miRNAs in regulating the process.