The recent introduction of a new converter topology, the modular multilevel converter (MMC) is a major step forward in voltage sourced converter (VSC) technology for high voltage, high power applications. To obtain a multilevel ac output waveform, a large number of semiconductor switches has to be used in the converter. The number of switches in the MMC for HVDC transmission is typically two orders of magnitudes larger than that in a two or three level VSC used in earlier generation. This large device count creates a computational challenge for electromagnetic transients (EMT) simulation programs, as it significantly increases the simulation time. The purpose of this research is to investigate whether the simulation can be speeded up. This research develops an efficient, time-varying Thévenin's equivalent model for the MMC converter based on partitioning the system’s admittance matrix. EMT simulation results show that the proposed equivalent model can drastically reduce the computational time without loss of accuracy. The use of the proposed equivalent method is demonstrated by simulating a point to point MMC based HVDC transmission system successfully with more than 100 levels. This approach enables what was hitherto not practical; the modeling of large MMC based HVDC systems on personal computers. With the assumption of ideal switch operation and using an equivalent average capacitor value based approach, an average valued model of MMC is also proposed in this thesis. The average model can be accurately used in most of the system level studies. The control algorithms and other modeling aspects of MMC applications are also presented in this thesis. One of the advantages of multilevel converters is the low operating losses as the smaller switching frequency of each individual power electronics switch and the low voltage step change during each switching. Using a recently developed, time domain simulation approach, the operating losses of the MMC converter are estimated in this thesis. When comparing the MMC operating losses against the losses of two-level VSC, the power loss for the two-level VSC is found to be significantly higher than the power loss of the MMC.

Breast cancer is comprised of several subtypes that are different from one another and thedivergence leads to different outcomes of the disease. There are known prognostic factors andphenotypic distinction in different biological factors and expression patterns, such as theestrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), Ki67, HER2/neu expression (HER2). Ingeneral, there are three breast cancer subtypes with the most recurring subtype being luminalA, and the other two being luminal B and triple negative breast cancer. Triple negative breastcancer is a heterogeneous subtype which is defined by the lack of expression of ERα, PR andHER2. Triple negative breast cancers are also very aggressive and have the worst prognosiscompared to the other two ERα positive tumors. The luminal A subtype can develop into ametastatic cancer thanks to the so-called epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), whichaffects a subpopulation of epithelial cancer cells. EMT is the name of a process that takesplace during the embryonic development, the wound healing and cancer metastasis, where theepithelial cells will transform into mesenchymal cells which have higher invasive andmigratory properties. EMT occurs when epithelial cells lose their apical-basal polarity andthen the adherens- and tight junctions are dissolved. The adherens junction dissolution can beobserved as a downregulation of CDH1 (E-cadherin), which is regularly measured in EMTstudies. Many signaling pathways are associated with the promotion and establishment ofEMT e.g. transforming growth factor β (TGFβ), Notch and Wnt signaling. Bioinformaticscreening was performed to look for mRNA expression levels of ZEB1 and Snail1 indifferent breast cancer cell lines. By using chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequencing (ChIPSeq)in the triple negative (ER-, PR- HER2-) Hs578T breast cancer cell line, a genome-widescreen for ZEB1 and Snail1 binding sites had been performed before the start of the project.The Hs578T cell line expresses many of the EMT transcription factors that are relevant forthe project. Since the signaling of TGFβ is crucial for these genes, manipulation of thissignaling pathway is needed to be able to analyse its importance for the function of thesegenes. To inhibit the activity of TGFβ, the small molecule GW6604 was used to inhibit theTGFβ type I receptor kinase (TβRI) and in that way inhibiting the signaling from thisreceptor. In addition, ZEB1 and Snail1 were knocked out by the use of the transfection andCRISPR/Cas9 knockout technique. By investigating mRNA and protein levels of chosengenes in both control Hs578T cells and ZEB1 and Snail1 knockout Hs578T cells, up or downregulation of some of these genes can be seen with stimulation with TGFβ. The knockout ofSnail1 but not of ZEB1 indicated that the loss of Snail1 generated breast cancer cells thatcould try to revert to epithelial at the phenotypic level.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the fourth most common cause of cancer related deaths in the UK with the prognosis dependent on the degree of tumour invasion and presence of metastasis at diagnosis. An important step in the invasion and metastasis of solid tumours is the loss of cell-cell junctions and the acquirement of a more motile mesenchymal phenotype which is facilitated by the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). The presence of EMT is linked with a more aggressive, invasive tumour and subsequent poor prognosis. In addition to roles in motility and invasion, EMT can induce a cancer stem cell phenotype in a subset of tumour cells. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a subpopulation of cells capable of self-renewal and maintaining a cellular population whilst displaying increased therapeutic resistance. Induction of EMT and CSCs can be regulated by common signalling pathways with expression of EMT transcription factors inducing CSCs expression. Understanding the signalling pathways regulating EMT and CSC formation in cancer is important for preventing of metastasis and combating therapeutic resistance. Aspirin’s role in cancer prevention has been established for a number of years with aspirin treatment reducing the incidence of CRC. Recently, evidence has emerged suggesting aspirin treatment may have post-diagnosis benefits and increase survival rates of CRC patients. A potential mechanism for the post-diagnosis benefit of aspirin is the inhibition of EMT and CSC formation which both facilitate tumour progression and metastasis. Aspirin has been demonstrated to suppress the migratory and invasive capacity of lung cancer cell lines by inhibiting EMT. Whilst aspirin has been shown to inhibit platelet-induced EMT in CRC, the direct effects of aspirin on EMT in CRC cell lines has not been established. I hypothesis that aspirin inhibits cell migration, invasion and EMT in CRC which results in a reduction in the CSC population and contributes to the clinical benefit of post-diagnosis aspirin. Using CRC cell lines, I have demonstrated that aspirin treatment inhibits cell migration, invasion, motility and promotes an epithelial phenotype. These results have been confirmed in human organoids and mouse intestinal adenoma in vivo models. Aspirin also promotes a budding phenotype in Apc deficient organoids and reduces expression of stem cell markers in both mouse and human tissue. Aspirin inhibits the mTOR and Wnt signalling pathways in vivo which have the ability to regulate EMT and CSCs although signalling dependency has not been determined. Regardless, aspirin is decreasing the cancer stem cell population and promoting a non-invasive epithelial phenotype which may explain some of the previously described post-diagnosis benefits.

Cervical cancer still represents the fourth most common cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide. Human papilloma virus (HPV) infection plays a role in cervical carcinoma initiation, but other genomic changes are needed for pre-malignant abnormalities to fully develop to cancer. This often happens through genomic instability caused by the virus oncoproteins. Several integrative genomic analysis studies have found that one of the most common imbalances in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is copy number gain and amplification of chromosome 5p. In this region, copy number gain of the OSMR gene was found to correlate significantly with adverse outcome independent of the tumour stage (p=0.046). Furthermore, this copy number gain correlated with Oncostatin M receptor (OSMR) overexpression and sensitised these cells to Oncostatin M (OSM) leading to increased Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) phosphorylation, cell migration, invasion and proangiogenic signalling. The aim of this PhD project was to study the role of OSMR overexpression in the SCC tumour microenvironment (TME) and tumour growth in vivo and to study the role of hypoxia inducible factor driven hypoxia signalling in OSMR overexpressing SCC cells and their tumour microenvironment. OSMR overexpression was found to sensitise tumour cells to induce Hypoxia inducible factor 1a and 2a (HIF1a, HIF2a) signalling in normoxic conditions, to promote pro-angiogenic signalling. Furthermore, hypoxic conditions were found to enhance OSM signalling in OSMR overexpressing cells leading to increased expression of markers of epithelial to mesenchymal transition, angiogenesis and migration. In the SCC tumour microenvironment, OSMR overexpression was found to sensitise tumour cells to OSM secreted from macrophages and other immune cells leading to improved tumour growth, angiogenesis and STAT3 activation at the tumour site. Removal of OSMR from either tumour cells or tumour microenvironment led to reduced tumour growth and angiogenesis, along with increased tumour necrosis. I conclude that OSMR overexpression is an important driver of SCC tumour progression and malignancy via STAT3- and HIF-driven signalling and removal of it from either tumour cells or tumour microenvironment drastically hampers tumour growth in vivo. Based on the results of this study, OSMR blockade is a potential novel therapeutic option in advanced SCC.

Strongly coupled systems are elusive and not suitable to be described by conventional perturbative approaches. However, they are ubiquitous in nature, especially in particle physics. The lattice formulation of quantum field theories provided a unique framework in which the physical content of these systems could be precisely determined. Combined with numerical techniques, the lattice formalism allowed to precisely determined physical quantities describing the thermodynamics, as well as the spectroscopy of strongly interacting theories. In this work, the lattice formulation has been employed to probe the effectiveness of a recently proposed method, which aims at determining the renormalized energy-momentum tensor in non perturbative regimes. The latter plays a fundamental role to quantitatively describe the thermodynamics and fluid-dynamics of hot, dense systems, or to characterize theories that enlarge the actual standard model. In all these aspects, only a non perturbative approach provides physically reliable results: hence a non perturbative determination of the energy momentum tensor is fundamental. The new method consists in defining suitable lattice Ward identities probed by observables built with the gradient flow. The new set of identities exhibits many interesting qualities, arising from the UV finiteness of such probes, and allows to define a numerical strategy for estimating the renormalization constants of the lattice energy-momentum tensor. In this work the method has been tested within two different quantum theories, with the purpose of understanding its effectiveness and reliability.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:27:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-02-28Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:57:18Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 salgado_bs_me_botfm.pdf: 482776 bytes, checksum: 23c491910cd4c7da0d422455a7e9b2df (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Transição epithelial-mesenquimal (EMT) é a conversão de células epiteliais polarizadas para células migratórias com fenótipo fibroblasto-símile. A EMT está envolvida na progressão e metástase em diversos cânceres nos seres humanos, porém permanece a ser mais bem explorada na literatura veterinária. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi avaliar a imunoexpressão de proteínas relacionadas à EMT nos carcinomas mamários de cadelas (CMCs). Seis proteínas foram avaliadas por meio de imunoistoquímica em 94 amostras de CMCs. Tecidos mamários não neoplásicos de 17 cadelas e amostras de 9 tumores mamários benignos de cadelas foram avaliados de modo a determinar o perfil de imunoexpressão de Snai-1. Características anatomopatológicas foram comparadas com a imunoexpressão de proteínas relacionadas à EMT nos CMCs. A perda de proteínas epiteliais e/ou a aquisição de proteínas mesenquimais foi observada principalmente em neoplasias com evidência de invasão estromal; entretanto, somente foi observada significância estatística quando comparado S100A4 e invasão vascular. Snai-1 foi observado em células luminais de neoplasias simples malignas e em células mioepiteliais de tumores benignos ou malignos de caráter complexo, sendo também significativamente relacionado à baixa de expressão de Caderina-E. Conclui-se que a perda de proteínas epiteliais e/ou a aquisição de proteínas mesenquimais está associada com EMT e pode possuir importante papel na avaliação de CMCs. O padrão único de imunoexpressão de Snai-1 pode ajudar a distinção entre um adenoma e um carcinoma não metastático e aparenta estar relacionado à conversão de células mioepiteliais a um fenótipo mesenquimal completo. A perda de Caderina-E e citoqueratina e a mudança no padrão de imunoexpressão de Snai-1, Caderina-N, S100A4 e MMP-2 indica a ocorrência de EMT em carcinomas mamários de cadelas... / Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is defined as switching of polarized epithelial cells to a migratory fibroblastoid phenotype. EMT is known to be involved in the progression and metastasis of various cancers in humans, but this specific process is still little explored in the veterinary literature. The aim of this research was to evaluate the expression of EMT-related proteins in canine mammary carcinomas (CMCs). The expression of six EMT-related proteins in CMC of 94 female dogs was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Additionally, mammary tissues from 17 female dogs with no history of mammary tumor development and from 9 bitches with benign tumors were evaluated in order to determine Snai-1 immunoexpression patterns. Anatomopathological characteristics were compared with the expression of EMTrelated proteins in CMCs. Loss of epithelial protein and/or acquisition of the expression of mesenchymal proteins were observed, particularly in tumors with evidence of stromal invasion; however, significance was only observed between the S100A4 and vascular invasion. Snai-1 was only expressed in luminal cells of histologically malignant tumors and in myoepithelial cells of benign and malignant complex tumors and was significantly related to E-cadherin loss. In conclusion, loss of epithelial proteins and/or the acquisition of mesenchymal proteins are associated with EMT and may have an important role in the evaluation of CMC patients. The unique immunoexpression pattern of Snai-1 could help to distinguish between an adenoma and a non-metastatic carcinoma and seems to be related to conversion of myoepithelial cells to a complete mesenchymal-like phenotype. Loss of E-cadherin and cytokeratin and change of immunoexpression pattern of Snai-1, N-cadherin, S100A4 and MMP-2 indicate the occurrence of EMT in canine mammary carcinomas and should result in an en bloc resection or a close follow-up.

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde, 2012. / Submitted by Alaíde Gonçalves dos Santos (alaide@unb.br) on 2013-03-15T12:30:18Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2012_PabloViniciusOliveiraGomes.pdf: 1336634 bytes, checksum: c30fe60e62c803a12e7e1b929e0c3185 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Guimaraes Jacqueline(jacqueline.guimaraes@bce.unb.br) on 2013-03-28T11:18:33Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2012_PabloViniciusOliveiraGomes.pdf: 1336634 bytes, checksum: c30fe60e62c803a12e7e1b929e0c3185 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-03-28T11:18:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2012_PabloViniciusOliveiraGomes.pdf: 1336634 bytes, checksum: c30fe60e62c803a12e7e1b929e0c3185 (MD5) / O Transtorno Obsessivo-Compulsivo (TOC) não é uma doença única ou uniforme, mas uma síndrome que abrange um amplo espectro de sintomas que representam múltiplos domínios psicopatológicos. Mesmo com o avanço das técnicas terapêuticas, parte dos pacientes não responde aos tratamentos convencionais. Diversas pesquisas realizadas nos últimos anos indicam o TOC como uma doença neuropsiquiátrica. Uma série de circuitos paralelos envolvendo regiões corticais e subcorticais estariam hiperativos, e essas alterações seriam responsáveis pela modulação dos comportamentos repetitivos no TOC. Realizamos o primeiro ensaio clínico randomizado, duplo-cego com estimulação magnética transcraniana repetitiva (EMTr), em baixa frequência, no tratamento do TOC que manteve o acompanhamento por 3 meses. Vinte e dois pacientes foram randomizados em grupos ativo e placebo e receberam os estímulos na área motora suplementar ( bilateralmente) por duas semanas. Após quatorze semanas, a taxa de resposta foi de 35% no grupo ativo e 6,2% no grupo placebo. Nosso estudo demonstrou eficácia significativa de 10 sessões de EMTr em baixa frequência na área motora suplementar no tratamento do transtorno obsessivo-compulsivo. _______________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT / The Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is not a single or uniform disease, but a syndrome that encompasses a wide spectrum of symptoms that represent multiple psychopathological domains. Even with the advancement of therapeutic techniques, some patients do not respond to conventional treatment. Several surveys conducted in recent years indicate that OCD is as a neuropsychiatric disorder. A series of parallel circuits involving cortical and subcortical regions were hyperactive, and these changes would be responsible for modulation of repetitive behaviors in OCD. We have performed the first randomized, double-blind clinical trial of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in OCD with three months follow-up. OCD patients (n=22) were assigned to either 2 weeks of active or sham rTMS to the SMA bilaterally. After 14 weeks the response rate was 35% with active and 6,2 % with sham stimulation. Our study has shown significant efficacy of 10 sessions of rTMS at low frequency in the supplementary motor area in the treatment of OCD symptoms.

Trotz aller Fortschritte in Diagnostik und Behandlung bleibt die Therapie von BrustkrebspatientInnen – gerade bei tripelnegativen Mammakarzinomen, die nicht auf eine hormonelle Therapie ansprechen – eine Herausforderung. Eine wachsende Zahl von Belegen spricht dafür, dass Cadherine nicht nur in physiologischen Prozessen wie der Embryogenese, sondern auch in pathologischen Prozessen wie der Tumorprogression eine Rolle spielen, was diese Moleküle zu potenziellen Zielen einer targetspezifischen Tumortherapie macht. Im Mausmodell konnte bislang gezeigt werden, dass eine Herabregulierung von N-Cadherin das Mammakarzinomwachstum in vivo hemmt. N-Cadherin wird auch in humanem Brustkrebsgewebe aberrant exprimiert. In nur schwach invasiven Brustkrebszelllinien führte eine Überexpression von N-Cadherin in vitro zu einer Steigerung des migratorischen und invasiven Verhaltens der Zellen. In dieser Arbeit wurde an der humanen Mammakarzinomzelllinie SUM149PT der Einfluss einer Defizienz von N-Cadherin auf die Expression von E- und VE-Cadherin, sowie auf das Proliferations-, Migrations- und Invasionsverhalten der Zellen in vitro untersucht. Eine Charakterisierung der humanen Brustkrebszelllinien SUM149PT, der aus ihr hervorgegangenen mit shRNA transduzierten N-Cadherin-Knock-down-Klone und der Scramble-Kontrollen fand mittels Western Blot, RT-PCR, q-PCR und Immunfluoreszenzanalysen statt. Das Proliferationsverhalten der Zelllinien wurde mit Hilfe von Verdopplungszeitbestimmungen und Sphäroidversuchen analysiert. Um den Einfluss einer N-Cadherin-Defizienz auf die Migration zu untersuchen, wurden auf dem Prinzip der Boyden-Chamber basierende Versuche, sowie in vitro Wundheilungsversuche durchgeführt. Auch die Invasionsversuche basierten auf dem Prinzip der Boyden-Chamber. Eine zusätzliche Beschichtung mit Matrigel simulierte hier die extrazelluläre Matrix. Bei den Untersuchungen mittels Western Blot, RT-PCR und q-PCR wurde deutlich, dass die N-Cadherin defizienten Klone keine Veränderung in der E-Cadherin-Expression, jedoch interessanterweise eine starke Herabregulierung von VE-Cadherin aufweisen. Bei den Immunfluoreszenzanalysen wiesen SUM149PT und Scramble-Kontrollen eine Expression von N-Cadherin in der Zellmembran auf, während die N-Cadherin-defizienten Klone keine N-Cadherin-Expression zeigten. Wie schon in Western-Blot, RT-PCR und q-PCR zeigten die N-Cadherin defizienten Klone im Vergleich zu den SUM149PT und den Scramble-Kontrollen keine veränderte E-Cadherin-Expression. Bei Einsatz eines VE-Cadherin-Anitkörpers zeigten die N-Cadherin defizienten Klone keine Expression von VE-Cadherin, während SUM149PT und Scramble eine deutliche VE-Cadherin-Expression in der Zellmembran zeigten. Daraus lässt sich schließen, dass N-Cadherin möglicherweise die Expression von VE-Cadherin beeinflussen kann. In der Verdopplungszeitbestimmung ließen sich keine signifikanten Änderungen des Wachstumsverhaltens zwischen N-Cadherin defizienten Klonen und Kontrollzelllinien nachweisen. Um auch das dreidimensionale Wachstum der Zellen zu untersuchen, wurden Sphäroidversuche durchgeführt. Alle untersuchten Zelllinien bildeten stabile Sphäroide aus, die jedoch einen großen Saum an nicht integrierten Zellen aufwiesen. Es zeigte sich kein signifikanter Unterschied im Sphäroidwachstum zwischen N-Cadherin defizienten Klonen und Kontrollzelllinien. Die Herabregulierung von N-Cadherin scheint in humanen Mammakarzinomzelllinien in vitro keinen Einfluss auf das Wachstumsverhalten der Zellen zu haben. Im Boyden-Chamber-Assay zeigte sich, dass eine Herabregulierung von N-Cadherin bei der humanen Mammakarzinomzelllinie SUM149PT in vitro zu einer signifikanten Verringerung des Migrationspotenzials führt. Dieses Ergebnis wurde beim in vitro Wundheilungsversuch bestätigt. Hier zeigten die N-Cadherin defizienten Klone eine signifikant verringerte Flächenbedeckungsrate – also eine signifikant verringerte Geschwindigkeit mit der die aufeinander zuwanderndern Zellen eine freie Fläche bedecken – als die Kontrollzelllinien. Im Invasionsversuch zeigten die N-Cadherin defizienten Klone im Vergleich zu den Kontrollen eine hochsignifikant verringerte Invasivität. Eine Herabregulierung von N-Cadherin bei der humanen Mammakarzinomzelllinie SUM149PT führt also in vitro zu einer signifikanten Verringerung des Invasionspotenzials. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit lassen den Schluss zu, dass N-Cadherin bei humanen Mammakarzinomzelllinien durch seinen positiven Einfluss auf Migration und Invasion der Zellen eine große Rolle beim Prozess des invasiven Wachstums und der Metastasierung spielt. Eine Anti-N-Cadherin-Therapie könnte auch bei BrustkrebspatientInnen, gerade mit tripelnegativen Mammakarzinomen, neue Möglichkeiten der Behandlung eröffnen. / Breast cancer is the most common cancer type for women and the most frequent type after lung cancer overall. In spite of all improvements in clinical diagnostics and treatment, the therapy of patients with breast cancer remains a difficult task. Therefore it is important to find new strategies of treatment, especially for patients with triple negative breast cancer that does not respond to hormone therapy. There is growing evidence that cadherins are not only important in physiological processes like embryogenesis but also in pathological processes like tumour progression. A so called cadherin switch has been implicated in carcinogenesis, in particular the loss of E-cadherin and the upregulation of N-cadherin. Thus, these molecules are an interesting subject of studies and a potential target for specific cancer therapy. It was shown previously that efficient silencing of N-cadherin in murine breast cancer cells inhibits tumour growth in vivo. N-cadherin is also aberrantly expressed in human breast cancer tissue. An overexpression of N-Cadherin in breast cancer cells enhances tumour cell motility, migration and invasion in vitro. In this thesis the impact of N-cadherin deficiency on the expression level of E- and VE-cadherin as well as its effect on proliferation, migration and invasion behaviour of breast cancer cells in vitro was investigated. The human breast cancer cell line SUM149PT, its N-cadherin deficient clones and scramble controls were characterised by Western Blot, RT-PCR, q-PCR and immunofluorescence staining. To analyse the impact of N-cadherin on the proliferation behaviour doubling time proliferation assays and spheroid assays were performed. A Boyden chamber assay and an in vitro wound healing assay were performed to investigate the effect of N-cadherin deficiency on cell migration. Furthermore, a Boyden chamber assay with a coating of Matrigel was used to study the invasion potential of the N-cadherin deficient cell clones and control cell lines. The results of Western Blot, RT-PCR and q-PCR show that silencing of N-cadherin expression in SUM149PT cells had no influence on E-cadherin expression, but significantly decreased VE-cadherin expression. With immunofluscence staining it was evidenced that SUM149PT and scramble controls express N-cadherin in the cell membrane, whereas N-cadherin deficient clones do not show any N-cadherin expression. There was no difference seen in E-cadherin expression between N-cadherin deficient clones and control cell lines. While SUM149PT and scramble controls expressed VE-cadherin in the cell membrane, N-cadherin deficient clones did not express VE-cadherin. These results suggest that N-cadherin may have an influence on the expression of VE-cadherin. No significant alteration in proliferation behaviour between N-cadherin deficient clones and controls could be shown with the doubling time proliferation assay. To investigate the impact of N-cadherin on the three-dimensional growth spheroid assays were performed. All cell lines formed stable speroids, however fringes of many not incorporated cells were found. There was no difference in spheroidgrowth between N-cadherin deficient clones and control cell lines. No influence of N-cadherin on cell proliferation in vitro could be seen. With the help of Boyden chamber assays it was shown that silencing of N-cadherin in the human breast cancer cell line SUM149PT results in a significant decrease of migration potential in vitro. This was confirmed with an in vitro wound healing assay. N-cadherin deficient clones showed a significantly reduced surface coverage rate than SUM149PT and scramble controls. A significant decrease of invasive cells in N-cadherin deficient clones in comparison to the controls was revealed in invasion assays. Thus silencing of N-Cadherin in the human breast cancer cell line SUM149PT leads to a significantly decreased invasion potential in vitro. The results presented this thesis provide evidence that N-cadherin is involved in invasive tumour progression and metastasis of the human breast cancer cell line SUM149PT by promoting cell migration and invasion. Anti-N-cadherin strategies could thus be a potential target specific therapy of cancer patients, particularly with triple negative breast cancer.

O carcinoma epidermóide da mucosa oral (CEMO) é uma neoplasia maligna comum; no Brasil, são estimados, para 2016, 15.490 novos casos. A invasão óssea ocorre em casos avançados.; esta é classificada em erosiva e infiltrativa. Aparentemente, o processo de transição epitélio-mesenquimal, com o envolvimento da E-caderina, é implicado. Foi investigada a expressão de E-caderina, por meio da imunoistoquímica em 15 casos avançados de CEMO e avaliada sua correlação com as características clínicas e histológicas da invasão óssea. A imunoexpressão da E-caderina foi estudada nos 15 casos de CEMO com evidência histológica de invasão óssea. A maioria dos pacientes eram homens (10 pacientes) e apresentavam invasão em mandíbula (9 casos). A expressão de E-caderina foi negativa em CEMOs com invasão erosiva e positiva nos casos que apresentavam infiltração óssea. A expressão de E-caderina na invasão óssea sugere que a participação do fenômeno de transição epitélio-mesenquimal é um fator diretamente envolvido com o tipo de invasão óssea. / Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a common malignancy; in Brazil it is estimated, in 2016,15.490 new cases. Bone invasion occurs in advanced cases; it is classified in erosive and infiltrative patterns. Apparently, the epithelial-mesenchymal phenomenon, with important participation of E-cadherin is implicated. We investigated the expression of E-cadherin in advanced OSSC and correlated its expression with the clinical characteristics and histologic patterns of bone invasion. Immunoexpression of E-cadherin was studied in 15 cases of OSCC with histological evidence of bone invasion. Most patients were men (10 patients) and presented mandible invasion (9 cases). The expression of E-cadherin was negative in OSCC in erosive bone invasion and positive in the infiltrative bone invasion. E-cadherin expression in bone invasion suggests that participation of epithelial-mesenchymal phenomenon is dependent on the patterns of tumour bone invasion.

Introdução: o câncer de mama que apresenta amplificação/superexpressão do HER2 apresenta-se com pior prognóstico e seu amplicon se localiza no locus 17q12-q21. O gene WIPF2, relacionado a motilidade celular, localiza-se no mesmo locus e também se encontra presente no amplicon do HER2. Objetivo: avaliar a superexpressão simultânea do HER2 e WIPF2 através de marcação imunohistoquímica. Métodos: foram selecionados 94 casos de carcinoma ductal invasor de mama, sendo possível a obtenção de material em 87. Foi realizada técnica de microarranjo tecidual e as lâminas foram analisadas. Informações clínicas foram obtidas de prontuário médico. Resultados: após microscopia óptica das lâminas de TMA obtidas e comparação com lâminas convencionais arquivadas, validou-se o método, com bom índice de correlação kappa (0,83 para receptores de estrógeno e 0,84 para receptores de progesterona). Houve associação entre a superexpressão do WIPF2 com casos Ki-67 positivos e em pacientes nuligestas. O grupo HER2 apresentou maior porcentagem de casos WIPF2 positivos em relação ao grupo triplo-negativo à microscopia óptica (66,7% vs. 22,7%, respectivamente; p=0,03). Na análise digital, o perfil molecular HER2 apresentou maior expressão do WIPF2 em relação ao perfil luminal A e ao triplo negativo (23,9 ± 9,0% vs. 14,6 ± 9,0% e 14,2 ± 9,0%, respectivamente; p=0,01). Conclusão: O WIPF2 é mais expresso por tumores com o perfil HER2, assim como se associa a tumores com maior proliferação e tumores em pacientes nulíparas. / Introduction: the breast cancer with amplification/overexpression of HER2 shows worse prognosis and its amplicon is located in the 17q12-21 locus. The gene WIPF2, related to cellular mobility, is located in the same locus and is also present in the HER2 amplicon. Objective: to evaluate HER2 and WIPF2 simultaneous overexpression using immunohistochemistry technique. Methods: we selected 94 invasive ductal carcinoma samples and it was possible to evaluate 87. Tissue microarray has been done and slides analyzed. Clinical informations were obtained from clinical files. Results: after optical microscopy of TMA slides and comparison with conventional slides, the method was validated with a high correlation kappa index (0.83 for estrogen receptors and 0.84 for progesterone receprtors). The WIPF2 overexpression was associated with positive Ki-67 tumors and nuliparous women. The HER2 group presented greater percentage of WIPF2 positive cases when compared with triple-negative group using optical microscopy (66.7% vs. 22.7%, respectively, p=0.03). With the digital analysis, the HER2 group presented greater expression of WIPF2 when compared with luminal A and triple-negative groups (23.9 ± 9.0% vs. 14.6 ± 9.0% e 14.2 ± 9.0%, respectively; p=0.01). Conclusion: WIPF2 is more expressed in the HER2 group tumors. It is also related to high proliferation index and nuliparous women´s tumors.