The expression of Hrk in HGF & GNM cell line

• Main Authors: Chih-Yao, 張至堯
• Other Authors: Yu-Feng Huang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/27806656740369937399

碩士 === 中山醫學大學 === 口腔醫學研究所 === 96 === Apoptosis is a necessary regulatory mechanism for cell proliferation and differentiation. Dysregulation of this process will result in a variety of diseases clinically, such as cancers and autoimmune diseases. In an apoptotic process, involved cells will round up, loose contact with their neighboring cells and shrink. Then the chromatin will condense and fragment. Two known signaling pathways have been identified to execute apoptosis involving several proteins such as Bcl-2 family, Fas ligand, etc. Among all, harakiri (Hrk) belongs to the Bcl-2 family and is mapped to 12q13.1. There are three groups of the Bcl-2 family proteins. The first one is anti-apoptotic protein which contain all four BH domains, including Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL. They prevent cytochrome c from being released by mitochondria. The second group is pro-apoptotic ones, which contain only three BH domains, including Bax and Bak. Hrk belongs to the third group which only contains a BH3 and functions to interact with Bcl-2 and reduce its activity. During the apoptotic pathway, cytochrome c is released by mitochrondria and activates caspase 9 and caspase 3 and executes programmed cell death. If Hrk is mutated, it is proposed that protein functions will be impaired and cell fate may be changed and become cancerous. Up-to-date, there is no study on the association between the expression of Hrk in oral cancers. The goal of this study is to demonstrate the expression of Hrk in oral cancer cell lines under a variety of distress condition.