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Determination of endocrine disruption potential by early identification of selected substances with health risk, used in consumer products
Dvořáková, Markéta ; Jírová, Dagmar (advisor) ; Kolářová, Hana (referee) ; Souček, Pavel (referee)
Substances of natural or synthetic origin, capable of activating or inhibiting the functions of cellular receptors and thus contributing to the modulation of the neuroendocrine system through the pathways of hormonal signaling ("disrupting" the endocrine system) are referred to in the literature as "endocrine disruptors" (ED). Endocrine disruption as a form of mild systemic toxicity of chemicals and their mixtures is intensively addressed at both scientific and legislative levels. In 2018, progress has been made towards the introduction of a comprehensive European Union legislative framework for ED when a consensus was reached on the scientific criteria for their assessment and identification. ED research is supported by the European Union as a significant task of preventive medicine. Under the various Framework Programs for Research and Innovation, the EU has provided funding to dozens of projects and has supported projects under Horizon 2020 to develop appropriate methods for testing ED. The legislation on e.g. pesticides and biocides, chemicals (REACH), medical devices, cosmetics, food contact materials, water, toys, and workplace protection has been updated. Due to legislative developments, new intervention or preventive measures aimed at consumer protection can be expected, especially for...
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Analysis of circulating markers in patients with solid tumors
Buranovská, Katarína ; Souček, Pavel (advisor) ; Němcová, Vlasta (referee)
Circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and its tumour-derived circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) fraction are considered an innovative prognostic and predictive biomarker in oncological diagnostics. Many studies have demonstrated higher levels of cfDNA concentration and integrity, as an indicator of the amount of ctDNA in cfDNA, in body fluids from patients with cancer diseases in comparison with healthy individuals, which suggest its potential as an effective biomarker for monitoring of the tumour dynamics. This study focused on optimisation and validation of measurement methods later used for analysis of cfDNA concentration and integrity in blood samples from patients with four different solid cancers. Two different commercial isolation kits have been tested in plasma and serum samples. Quantitative real-time polymerase reaction (qPCR) and PicoGreen dsDNA assay were optimized to effectively quantify low concentrations of cfDNA, subsequently compared to each other and to droplet digital PCR assay tested on selected samples. The concentration and integrity of cfDNA from plasma samples of breast, ovarian, colorectal and pancreatic cancer patients were evaluated. Higher amounts of cfDNA were obtained by the QIAamp Circulating Nucleic Acid isolation kit (Qiagen) in comparison to Plasma/Serum Cell-Free...
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Study of mechanical properties of nanolayered Ti/Ni coatings
Zábranský, L. ; Václavík, R. ; Přibyl, R. ; Ženíšek, J. ; Souček, P. ; Buršík, Jiří ; Fořt, Tomáš ; Buršíková, V.
The aim of the present work was to study the dependence of mechanical properties of Ti/Ni multilayer thin films on the thicknesses of constituent Ti and Ni layers. The multilayer thin films were synthesized by deposition of Ti and Ni layers alternately on single crystalline silicon substrates using direct current magnetron sputtering method. Thicknesses of Ti and Ni layers varied from 1.7 nm to 100 nm. The micro-structure of the multilayer films was studied using X-ray diffraction technique, scanning electron microscopy with focused ion beam technique and transmission electron microscopy. Mechanical properties obtained from nanoindentation experiments were discussed in relation to microstructural observations.
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Study of the mechanism of anticancer drug action on neuroblastomas
Černá, Tereza ; Stiborová, Marie (advisor) ; Souček, Pavel (referee) ; Mrízová, Iveta (referee)
Despite advances in cancer diagnosis and therapy, cancer is the second leading cause of death globally. The improvements of cancer treatment are the major challenge in this research. The aim of the thesis was studying of effects of two anticancer drugs ellipticine (Elli) and doxorubicin (DOX) on some cancer and healthy cell lines. Specific consideration was given to expand current knowledge about the metabolism and cytostatic effects of Elli in neuroblastoma cell lines. Another part of this study was focused on mechanisms contributing to the development of ellipticine-resistance in cancer cells and influence of histone deacetylase inhibitors on anticancer therapy was investigated. Moreover, the aim was to develop apoferritin (Apo) nanocarrier suitable for the active transport of cytostatics to cancer cells. Several essential data were found in this doctoral thesis. Anticancer efficiency of Elli depends on the CYP3A4-mediated metabolism in cancer. The CYP3A4 enzyme encapsulated into two nanoparticle forms, liposomes and SupersomesTM , was tested to activate ellipticine to its reactive species forming covalent DNA adducts. The formation of adducts seems to be dependent on concentrations of CYP3A4 in nanoparticle systems. A higher effectiveness of CYP3A4 in SupersomesTM than in liposomes to form...
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Sesquiterpenes in cancer therapy
Ambrož, Martin ; Skálová, Lenka (advisor) ; Hodek, Petr (referee) ; Souček, Pavel (referee)
Charles University Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Biochemical Sciences Candidate: Mgr. Martin Ambrož Supervisor: Prof. RNDr. Lenka Skálová, Ph.D. Title of Doctoral Thesis: Sesquiterpenes in cancer therapy. Chemotherapy is an important part of treatment of cancer. Currently, the use of several anticancer drugs in combination seem to be more advantageous. This combination therapy prevents drug resistance development and make it possible to lower the doses of single drugs, which prevents the side effects in non-cancerous tissues. Large pool of potential drugs for combination therapy can be found among natural compounds, for example among sesquiterpenes. Our project was designed to evaluate the effect of Myrica rubra essential oil (MEO) and selected sesquiterpenes in combination cancer therapy. We focused on the potential ability of MEO and sesquiterpenes to increase the antiproliferative efficacy of classical cytostatics (doxorubicin, oxaliplatin, 5-fluorouracil). In addition, we also studied the possible interaction of sesquiterpenes with other drugs in combination therapy, which could be caused by sesquiterpene-mediated modulation of drug-metabolizing enzymes. For these purposes, a panel of various cell lines (both cancerous and non-cancerous) and primary culture of hepatocytes...
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Characterization of Ta-B-C nanostructured hard coatings
Buršík, Jiří ; Buršíková, V. ; Souček, P. ; Zábranský, L. ; Vašina, P.
Microstructure and mechanical properties of Ta-B-C nanocrystalline layers prepared by magnetron sputtering were studied. DC magnetron sputtering was used to prepare thin layers on rotated substrates. Various deposition parameters were tested. Microstructure of layers was studied by means of scanning and transmission electron microscopy on thin lamellar cross sections prepared using a focussed ion beam. Both undisturbed layers and the volume under relatively large indentation prints (load of 1 N) were observed. The microstructure observations were correlated with mechanical properties characterized by means of nanoindentation experiments in both the static and the dynamic loading regime. Elastic modulus, indentation hardness and fracture resistance of prepared nanostructured coatings were evaluated and discussed.
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Glutamate Carboxypeptidase II as a Drug Target and a Molecular Address for Cancer Treatment
Knedlík, Tomáš ; Konvalinka, Jan (advisor) ; Stiborová, Marie (referee) ; Souček, Pavel (referee)
Glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII), also known as prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), is a membrane metallopeptidase overexpressed on most prostate cancer cells. Additionally, GCPII also attracted neurologists' attention because it cleaves neurotransmitter N-acetyl-L-aspartyl-L-glutamate (NAAG). Since NAAG exhibits neuroprotective effects, GCPII may participate in a number of brain disorders, which were shown to be ameliorated by GCPII selective inhibitors. Therefore, GCPII has become a promising target for imaging and prostate cancer targeted therapy as well as therapy of neuronal disorders. Globally, prostate cancer represents the second most prevalent cancer in men. With the age, most men will develop prostate cancer. However, prostate tumors are life threatening only if they escape from the prostate itself and start to spread to other tissues. Therefore, considerable efforts have been made to discover tumors earlier at more curable stages as well as to target aggressive metastatic cancers that have already invaded other tissues and become resistant to the standard treatment. Since patients undergoing a conventional therapy (a combination of chemotherapy and surgery) suffer from severe side effects, more effective ways of treatment are being searched for. Novel approaches include selective...
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The role of genetic factors in the prognosis and prediction of effects of the chemotherapy of breast carcinoma
Hlaváč, Viktor ; Souček, Pavel (advisor) ; Hodek, Petr (referee) ; Liška, Václav (referee)
Breast carcinoma is the most common cancer among women in our country and worldwide. One of the obstacles to successful therapy is a multidrug resistance. It can be caused by different factors, such as overexpression of ABC transporters, or decreased expression of SLC transporters, deregulation of drug metabolizing enzymes, variability of the targets of anticancer drugs, failure of apoptosis or increased capacity of repair genes. The aim of this study was to search for associations of genes of drug transport and metabolism with the prognosis of patients or response to chemotherapy. From the view of preventive medicine, this aim constitutes an important part of both secondary and tertiary prevention of cancer, i.e., discovery of markers enabling optimal therapy selection for each patient, decreasing the risk of disease progression to advanced and resistant stage, and elimination of side effects of chemotherapy. The expression profile of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters (49 genes), cytochromes P450 (CYPs, 10 genes), aldo-keto reductases (AKRs, 13 genes) and carbonyl reductase 1 was analyzed in the tumor and adjacent non- tumor control tissues in a cohort of neoadjuvantly treated patients. Genes deregulated in tumors compared with control tissues or genes associated with clinical data were assessed in...
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Sesquiterpenes in cancer therapy
Ambrož, Martin ; Skálová, Lenka (advisor) ; Hodek, Petr (referee) ; Souček, Pavel (referee)
Charles University Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Biochemical Sciences Candidate: Mgr. Martin Ambrož Supervisor: Prof. RNDr. Lenka Skálová, Ph.D. Title of Doctoral Thesis: Sesquiterpenes in cancer therapy. Chemotherapy is an important part of treatment of cancer. Currently, the use of several anticancer drugs in combination seem to be more advantageous. This combination therapy prevents drug resistance development and make it possible to lower the doses of single drugs, which prevents the side effects in non-cancerous tissues. Large pool of potential drugs for combination therapy can be found among natural compounds, for example among sesquiterpenes. Our project was designed to evaluate the effect of Myrica rubra essential oil (MEO) and selected sesquiterpenes in combination cancer therapy. We focused on the potential ability of MEO and sesquiterpenes to increase the antiproliferative efficacy of classical cytostatics (doxorubicin, oxaliplatin, 5-fluorouracil). In addition, we also studied the possible interaction of sesquiterpenes with other drugs in combination therapy, which could be caused by sesquiterpene-mediated modulation of drug-metabolizing enzymes. For these purposes, a panel of various cell lines (both cancerous and non-cancerous) and primary culture of hepatocytes...
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