Document Type

Conference Paper/Presentation

Publication Date

3-3-2016

Advisor(s)

James A. Radosevich, PhD; Department of Oral Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Dentistry, University of Illinois at Chicago

Keywords

Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, IMSA, STEM, residential high school, gifted, student inquiry, student research, cancer, Squamous Cell Carcinoma, tumor, stem cell, nitric oxide

Disciplines

Cancer Biology | Cell and Developmental Biology | Dentistry | Genetics | Genetics and Genomics | Life Sciences | Medicine and Health Sciences | Oral Biology and Oral Pathology

Abstract

Cancer relapse or recurrence is defined as the return of cancer or its signs/symptoms after a period of improvement. Surgery may not remove all cancer cells and leave behind a few which cannot be detected by scans or other tests. It is also possible that some tumor cells are resistant to chemotherapy or radiation. Although many cancer cells are killed by these treatments, there may exist a few which contain a different genetic makeup which allows them to survive. These hypermalignant cancer cells, or cancer stem cells (CSCs), have been associated with causing cancer relapse. It has also been predicted that these CSCs are created through the adaptation of normal cancer cells (NCCs) to high amounts of the free radical nitric oxide (HNO). In the present study, we looked at the mechanisms by which normal squamous cell carcinomas become cancer stem cells via HNO adaptation. Squamous cells are thin, flat cells which line the surface of the skin, hollow organs of the body, and respiratory and digestive tracts. This study analyzed the genetic differences between cancer stem cells and their predecessors.

Comments

Niresh Kuganeswaran: Second Place, Undergraduate Category

29th Annual Clinic and Research Day

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