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The role of HOXA9 gene in leukemogenesis
Rejlová, Kateřina ; Starková, Júlia (advisor) ; Fraiberk, Martin (referee)
The evolutionarily conserved family of homeobox genes plays an important role in the development of the anterior-posterior body axis of vertebrates. These genes significantly affect hematopoiesis, the development of blood cells. Extensive studies on homeobox genes in normal hematopoiesis confirmed their role also in leukemogenesis. Since the neoplastic transformation of blood cells, i.e. leukemia, is the most frequent malignancy in children, it has become a major subject of research for many scientists. Precisely in what stage of the malignant transformation the homeobox genes take part has not been shown yet. Neither is it known whether HOX genes are crucial in pathogenesis or whether their deregulation is only a side effect of leukemogenesis. The most studied homeobox gene in leukemogenesis is the HOXA9 gene, which showed correlation with the prognosis of patients with certain leukemias. Many studies describe the effect of HOXA9 in leukemic cell transformation, suggesting this gene could be a promising future target in leukemia therapy. This work is focused on the HOXA9 gene and its association with leukemic transformation of blood cells.
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Regulatory mechanisms in normal and malignant granulopoiesis
Kardošová, Miroslava ; Alberich Jorda, Meritxell (advisor) ; Stopka, Tomáš (referee) ; Balounová, Jana (referee)
Neutrophils, known primarily as key players in defense against invading pathogens, represent an essential component of both the innate and adaptive immunity. Continuous production of large quantities of neutrophils is ensured by a complex process termed granulopoiesis. In order to maintain a stable neutrophilic population, granulopoiesis requires to be tightly regulated. Moreover, impaired granulopoiesis may lead to aberrant bone marrow function and, ultimately, give rise to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Despite decades of research, the mechanisms regulating granulopoiesis are still unclear. In particular, the CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBP) family of transcription factors plays a critical role in this process. C/EBPα acts as a master regulator of granulopoiesis mainly by orchestrating expression of its target genes, which will mediate granulocytic differentiation. Thus, characterization of novel C/EBPα target genes is critical for a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms that regulate granulopoiesis. Previously, we showed that another C/EBP member, CEBPG, is a direct target of C/EBPα. In the first part of the present work, we addressed the unknown role of C/EBPγ in granulopoiesis. We observed that Cebpg conditional knockout (KO) mice, which have the Cebpg gene ablated specifically...
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Adhesion structures of leukemia cells and their regulation by Src family kinases
Obr, Adam ; Kuželová, Kateřina (advisor) ; Brdička, Tomáš (referee) ; Brábek, Jan (referee)
Adhesion signaling is a field of cell biology studied mostly on adherent cell types. However, hematopoietic cells grow in suspension, and use adhesion to the extracellular matrix (ECM) only in their early development, or - in case of differentiated cells - to perform the tasks they are specialized for. Peripheral leukemic cells are derived from more or less immature hematopoietic precursors that have, among other alterations, defects in adhesion to the bone marrow microenvironment. On the other hand, leukemic stem cells (LSC) use adhesion to the bone marrow ECM as a mean to evade chemotherapy, and are a source of the minimal residual disease, and of the disease relapses. Kinases of the Src family (SFK) are known regulators of adhesion signaling in adherent cell types, and their overexpression and/or hyperactivation is often seen in malignant diseases. They are also involved in hematooncologic disease progression and resistance to therapy, particularly in several types of leukemias. In the present work, we used a variety of methods including microimpedance measurement, fluorimetric measurement of adhered cell fraction, immunoblotting, confocal microscopy, and interference reflection microscopy. Our results indicate that active Lyn kinase, a hematopoietic SFK, is present in adhesion structures of...
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Effect of selected cytostatics for the treatment of leukemia on the activity of human carbonyl reducing enzymes
Šmídlová, Monika ; Novotná, Eva (advisor) ; Wsól, Vladimír (referee)
Charles University Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Biochemical sciences Candidate: Bc. Monika Šmídlová Supervisor: RNDr. Eva Novotná, Ph.D. Title of diploma thesis: Effect of selected cytostatics for the treatment of leukemia on the activity of human carbonyl reducing enzymes Key words: reductases, leukemia, cytostatics, inhibition Anthracycline antibiotics, especially daunorubicin, are widely used for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). Although the efficacy of these drugs is high, treatment is still limited due to cardiotoxicity and tumor cell resistance to anthracyclines. Mechanisms that contribute to the formation of anthracycline resistance include metabolic biotransformation (reduction) to less efficient secondary alcohols. The reduction is calatyzed by carbonyl reducing enzymes belonging to aldo-keto reductase (AKR) and short chain dehydrogenase/reductase (SDR) superfamilies. The discovery of AKR and SDR inhibitors could help to overcome anthracycline resistance and also reduce cardiotoxicity caused by these drugs. The aim of the diploma thesis was to find out whether all-trans-retinoic acid, cyclophosphamide, cytarabine, cladribine and prednisolone are able to inhibit anthracycline reductases AKR1A1, AKR1B10, AKR1C3, AKR7A2...
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Monitoring of leukemic cell line amino acid metabolism changes after Quambalarine B treatement
Matoušková, Zuzana ; Kavan, Daniel (advisor) ; Prošková, Veronika (referee)
Leukemia is the most common cancer of children, moreover it is also not uncommon of elderly patients. Research has focused on the development of specific antileukemic drugs in recent years. Abnormalities in tumor cell metabolism that can be targeted during treatment appear to be the key. Natural 1,4-naphthoquinones, including quambalarin B produced as a secondary metabolite by the basidiomycetes of Quambalaria cyanescens, are known for their therapeutic effects. Not surprisingly, Quambalarine B has also been shown to inhibit cell proliferation in some leukemic cell lines and subsequently caused cell death. In the present thesis, I tried to observe changes in amino acid metabolism by monitoring amino acid levels in the intracellular and extracellular environment of leukemic cells after treatment with Quambalarine B using amino acid analysis with fluorescence detection. The observation was performed in Jurkat, Ramos and THP-1 cell lines, each of these lines represents another type of leukemic disease. [IN CZECH] Key words Amino acid analysis, amino acid metabolism, Quambalarine B, leukemia
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Analysis of the pathways responsible for the resistance of leukemic cells towards L-asparaginase
Šimčíková, Markéta ; Konvalinka, Jan (advisor) ; Poljaková, Jitka (referee)
Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is the most frequent malignancy in childhood. Despite the very successful ALL therapy, relapses occur to 15-20 % of children. One of the possible relaps causes is the resistance to therapeutics. ALL is treated with combined chemotherapy in which cytostatic agent L-asparaginase plays the essen- tial role. L-asparaginase depletes extracellular asparagine and glutamine. Antagonist of the L-asparaginase is asparagine synthetase enzyme, which synthesizes the cellular asparagine. The specific antileukaemic effect of L-asparaginase is believed to be thanks to lower activity of the asparagine synthetase in leukaemic cells comparing to the healthy cells. The asparagine and glutamine deficiency harms the cellular proteosyn- thesis and induces apoptosis. Mechanism of the L-asparaginase cytotoxic effect and mechanism of corresponding resistance is still not fully explained. This bachelor thesis is a part of a project studying mechanisms of leukaemic cells resistance to L-aparaginase. In the model leukaemic REH cell line a deletion del(5)(q34) was discovered, which cannot be found in the resistant clone of these cells. This thesis focuses on proving different sensitivity of leukaemic cells, with or without the deletion, to L-asparaginase. The limiting dilution was used to obtain...
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Regulation of transcription by proteins of the Early growth response and Myb families
Čermák, Vladimír ; Dvořák, Michal (advisor) ; Vomastek, Tomáš (referee) ; Elleder, Daniel (referee)
The regulation of transcription of tens of thousands of genes in a vertebrate organism is an enormously complex phenomenon which entails the participation of thousands of various regulatory proteins. The largest functional category of these regulators is accounted for by sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins known as transcription factors. Proteins of the EGR and Myb families of transcription factors are long-studied regulators of a variety of physiological processes including cellular proliferation and differentiation. The structural and physical aspects of their function have been well characterized. Their cell-type specific participation in complex gene-regulatory networks, on the other hand, is still incompletely understood and represents a major challenge in the respective research areas. Preliminary analysis of gene expression data from metastasizing PR9692 and non- metastasizing PR9692-E9 chicken sarcoma cell lines revealed that the transcription factor EGR1 is expressed at a higher level in metastasizing cells and can thus take part in the regulatory processes that underlie the differences between the two cell lines. Further investigation demonstrated that the introduction of exogenous EGR1 into PR9692-E9 cells restored their metastatic potential to a level indistinguishable from PR9692...
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Study of some markers of human leukemia
Pospíšilová, Klára ; Jílek, Petr (advisor) ; Skálová, Lenka (referee)
Charles University in Prague Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Biological and Medical Sciences Study Field: zbioanalytical chemistry Candidate: Klára Pospíšilová Thesis Supervisor: PharmDr. P. Jílek, PharmDr. Consultant: RNDr. P. Řezáčová, MD., Ph.D., Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Thesis Title: Study of some markers of human leukemia Abstract: Immunophenotyping of leukemia cells is an important part of leukemia diagnosis. Immunophenotype is determined by flow cytometry using monoclonal antibodies against antigens expressed by these cells. Antigen CD44 is one of many CD markers used in immunophenotyping of leukemias. Protein crystallography of a complex between CD44 antigen and its ligand, hyaluronate, bring more detailed information about the structure of the binding site, which may help develop strategies for influencing the binding and thus for potential therapeutic intervention.
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Resenzitalizace leukemických a lymfomavých buněk k trailerem indukované apoptóze
Molinský, Jan ; Klener, Pavel (advisor) ; Hyršlová Vaculová, Alena (referee) ; Vyoral, Daniel (referee)
Apoptosis serves as a natural barrier to cancer development, and the resistance to apoptosis represents one of the key capabilities acquired during tumor development or progression. Impairment of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway exemplifies one of the established mechanisms of constitutive or acquired drug resistance. As most of the currently used cytotoxic drugs initiate tumor cell death by direct or indirect triggering of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway, impairment of the intrinsic pathway is associated with therapy failure. Targeting of the death receptors, however, enables induction of apoptosis even in the chemotherapy resistant cancer cells. TRAIL is a death ligand belonging to the TNFα superfamily that specifically kills tumor cells while sparing healthy tissues. Much enthusiasm has been generated for TRAIL as a highly promising targeted anti-cancer agent. However, many primary tumors have been shown to be TRAIL resistant. In attempt to overcome such an intrinsic TRAIL resistance a wide array of agents have been shown to sensitize tumor cells to TRAIL. Previous studies reported that roscovitine, a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, sensitized various solid cancer cells to TRAIL. In this study we analyzed the sensitivity of diverse hematologic malignancies to TRAIL-induced apoptosis and measured the...
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The role of ETV6-RUNX1 fusion protein in the sensitivity of leukemic cells to L-asparaginase
Staněk, Petr ; Starková, Júlia (advisor) ; Burjanivová, Tatiana (referee)
Translocation t(12;21) with the presence of the fusion gene ETV6-RUNX1 (TEL-AML1) is the most common chromosomal aberration found in acute lymphoblastic leukemia in childhood. The occurrence of the ETV6-RUNX1 is associated with excellent prognosis and high sensitivity to the treatment with the enzyme L-asparaginase (ASNase). Resistance to the drug aggravates the outlook of the patient and increases the risk of treatment failure, therefore, the CLIP working group has been for a long time involved in the identification of the mechanism of action of ASNase and the origin of the resistance to it. This thesis follows previous findings of the group and is devoted to the analysis of the importance of ETV6-RUNX1 and signalization and metabolic changes accompanying shifts in the L-asparaginase resistance. In the first part of the thesis, the knockout clones with stable increased resistance to ASNase have been established thanks to the CRISPR/Cas9 system, which created frameshift in the fusion gene. The accomplishment in this regard and removal of the fusion protein was confirmed on the level of DNA, mRNA a protein expression. The presence of other significant chromosomal aberrations affection the sensitivity to ASNase was ruled out by the means of SNP analysis. In the second part of the project, the signalization...
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