Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Melanoma is an extremely aggressive type of cancer, whose incidence continues to increase worldwide. Despite of new recently approved therapies, melanoma remains highly \nresistant to treatment and relapses are frequently seen in clinical practice. Thus, the identification of new mechanisms of melanoma progression and translation of this knowledge into the identification of potential therapeutic targets are still strictly necessary. Aggressive cancers, and melanoma tumors are no exception, are characterized by an exacerbated cell metabolism, which frequently results in the production of misfolded proteins.In fact, tumor cells tend to be significantly more dependent on the continuous clearance of damaged proteins than their normal counterparts. Therefore, this intrinsic characteristic of \ncancer cells could represent a point of vulnerability for the development of improved therapies. One of the least understood aspects in melanoma is the modulation of the proteasome and the autophagosome machineries, the main mediators of the degradation of damaged proteins and protein aggregates. This PhD Thesis focuses on Sequestosome 1/p62. \nSequestosome 1/p62 is a multifunctional protein involved in proteasomal and autophagosomal degradation with key roles in other tumor types, but unknown in melanoma. Importantly, p62 \nhas also been described as an adaptor protein activating multiple signaling cascades, again, virtually unexplored in melanoma. Therefore, p62 is an attractive candidate to be \ncharacterized in melanoma tumors...
Author: Erica Riveiro Meireles
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2947656577