Projekt 4. - Institut for Matematik og Datalogi - Syddansk Universitet

N a t u r v i d e n s k a b e l i g t P r o j e k t / F a r m a c e u t : V a l g f r i t P r o j e k t
Projekt 29. Importance of protein tyrosine
phosphorylation for normal and cancer cell signaling.
Vejleder: Blagoy Blagoev, bab@bmb.sdu.dk
Institut: Institut for Biokemi og Molekylær Biologi (BMB)
Praktisk del: CEBI
Gruppeplacering: Biblioteket
Gruppestørrelse: Mindst 3 og max 4 deltagere. Én gruppe kan arbejde med projektet.
Kommentarer: The project will be held in English, including the report and examination
Keywords:
signaling, phosphorylation, cancer, kinases, phosphatases, inhibitors
Abstract
In multicellular organisms the proper function and survival of every cell is dependent on intercellular
signalling networks that control cells‟ growth, differentiation and metabolism. Deregulation
of signaling, e.g. loss of growth control, is at the heart of numerous human diseases including
cancer. Growth factors like the epidermal growth factor (EGF), nerve growth factor (NGF) and
Insulin among others play a central role in these processes. The most distinguishing feature of
the cellular signaling initiated by growth factors is the flow of tyrosine phosphorylation events
occurring in the cells immediately after hormone stimulation. Improper actions of the proteins
responsible for the reversible tyrosine phosphorylation, namely tyrosine kinases and phosphatases,
are found in all human cancers and are the main cause for developing and maintaining the
disease state. Therefore, the development of specific inhibitors to various kinases and phosphatases
take a central part of the drug-developing industry today.
Plan for experimental work: In this project we will study protein tyrosine phosphorylation induced
by growth factors in cancer cell lines using immunoprecipitation and Western blotting.
This experiment will be repeated using specific inhibitors of tyrosine phosphatases in order to
compare the cellular effects under these experimental conditions. The project will reveal both the
global cellular phosphorylation responses as well as some of the key proteins involved in the
signaling initiated by growth factors. The project provides an opportunity to work with cell culture
and some of the major molecular biology techniques.
Minikurser
Obligatorisk: Projektarbejde (Microsoft, Nat)
Anbefalede: Ingen
Litteraturliste over metode artikler, som udleveres til de studerende
Blume-Jensen P, Hunter T. Oncogenic kinase signalling. Nature. 2001, 411(6835):355-65.
Schlessinger J. Cell signaling by receptor tyrosine kinases. Cell. 2000, 103(2):211-25.
Hunter T. Signaling--2000 and beyond. Cell. 2000, 100(1):113-27.
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