ABSTRACT Chibby (or PIGEA-14) is a novel antagonist of the Beta-catenin pathway in nucleus. However, the tumor-suppressing function of Chibby and the importance of nuclear targeting to the cellular functions of Chibby have not been validated. By fusion of Chibby cDNA with green fluorescent protein (GFP) or Flag-tag, it was found that exogenous Chibby expression was detected in the nucleus as well as cytoplasm of transfected HeLa cells, but with a preferential nuclear localization (more than 50% cells with nuclear Chibby expression). Chibby overexpression significantly abrogated the cellular Beta¡Vcatenin activities and induced apoptosis in HeLa cells. Moreover, Chibby gene delivery attenuated the proliferation, migration, and anchorage-independent growth of HeLa cells, supporting the tumor suppressor function of Chibby. Mutation or deletion of the predicted nuclear localization sequence (NLS), at residues 123-126, significantly promoted the cytoplasmic localization of Chibby, indicating residues 123-126 is the NLS domain of Chibby. Interestingly, ecotopic expression of Chibby NLS mutants remained capable of inducing apoptosis and inhibiting Beta¡Vcatenin activities in HeLa cells. Besides, overexpression Chibby NLS mutants effectively attenuated the viability, motility and colonies formation of HeLa cells. Expression analysis revealed that Chibby NLS mutants retained Beta-catenin in the cytoplasm and prevented its nuclear entry, thereby inhibiting the Beta-catenin transcriptional activities. In summary, Chibby shuttles between nucleus and cytoplasm, and possesses the functions of tumor suppressor and Beta-catenin antagonist.

Thesis (M.Sc. (Biochemistry) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / Dicerocaryum senecioides is a plant widely used as a nutritional source. It is used also for treatment of measles, wounds and to facilitate birth in domestic animal and humans in many parts of southern Africa (Mampuru et al., 2012). Findings in our laboratory have shown that a dichloromethane fraction of D. senecioides possesses antiinflammatory properties in human t-lymphocytes (Madiga, 2009), while the methanol crude extract possesses anti-proliferative and proapoptotic properties against Jurkat T cancer cells (Mphahlele, 2008). In this study, the probable anti-cancer effect of D. senecioides crude methanol leaf extract was investigated on cervical HeLa cancer cells. Dried powdered leaves of D. senecioides were extracted with absolute methanol to obtain a crude extract. To assess the cytotoxicity effect of the extract, KMST-6 and HeLa cell cultures were exposed to various extract concentrations (0 to 600 µg/ml) for 24 and 48 hours and subjected to the MTT assay. The results showed the extract to have no significant increase in the viability inhibition of HeLa cells at all tested concentrations after 24 hours of treatment. However, treatment with 400, 500 and 600 µg/ml of the extract for 48 hours revealed significantly increased HeLa cell viability inhibition. Furthermore, the extract showed to have no effect on the viability of normal human fibroblast KMST-6 cells at concentrations below 600 µg/ml, after 24 and 48 hours of treatment, thus showing selective cytotoxicity of the extract. To determine the mode of cell death associated with the increase in HeLa cell viability inhibition, the Hoechst 33258 nuclear staining assay and inverted light microscopy were employed. The data proposed apoptosis as the mode of cell death associated with the inhibition of HeLa cell viability. This was evidenced by changes in cell morphology such as the loss of HeLa cell radial extensions, cell shrinkage, as well as nuclear morphological features such as chromatin condensation. Apoptosis induction was further confirmed by the annexin-V/PI and multicaspase assays, using flow cytometry. The results showed an increase in the percentage of cells stained with annexin-V/PI, as well as increased caspase activity in extract-treated HeLa cells. To elucidate proapoptotic mechanisms of the extract, Western blotting analysis as well as the human apoptosis antibody array kit were used. This was to measure the expression profile of a number of apoptosis regulatory proteins. The results demonstrated modulation of some anti- and pro-apoptotic proteins, as well as the release of mitochondrial proteins required xiii for initiation of apoptosis, in the cytoplasm. The D. senecioides extract showed to have no effect on the cell division cycle of HeLa cells as determined by the PI staining assay. In conclusion, D. senecioides crude methanol leaf extract induced some degree of apoptosis in cervical HeLa cancer cells via the intrinsic apoptosis pathway. This was by modulating some of the members of the Bcl-2 family of proteins, which, facilitated the release of cytochrome C and activation of a caspase cascade. / South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC)

The maturation of lamin A is completed by the endoproteolytic cleavage of its farnesylated precursor protein, prelamin A. In the absence of this cleavage, prelamin A can neither give rise to lamin A nor assemble into the nuclear lamina. We call the enzyme which catalyzes this endoproteolytic step the 'prelamin A endoprotease'. In this study, we begin characterization of the regulation of prelamin A endoprotease. In particular, we address the question as to whether prelamin A endoprotease activity is constitutive in cells or responds to expression of prelamin A. To do this, we compared the activity of this novel endoprotease in cells which express prelamin A with those that do not. Our data shows that the enzymatic activity of prelamin A endoprotease is enhanced by the expression of prelamin A.

This thesis contends that technologically-derived resurrections of human bodies and bodily fragments can be viewed as indicative of a 'post-biological' ontology. Drawing from examples in which human bodies are resurrected, both figuratively and actually, this thesis puts forward the term 'post-biological subject' as an ideological framework for conceptualising the reconfiguration of human ontology that results from various medical technologies that 'resurrect' the human body. In this instance, the term 'postbiological', borrowed from Hans Moravec who uses it denote a future in which human being is radically disembodied and resurrected within a digital realm, is used somewhat ironically: where Moravec imagines an afterlife in which the body is discarded as so much 'meat', the post-biological afterlife of the body in this thesis centres around a form of corporeal resurrection. Corpses, living organs and excreta may all be resurrected, some of them in digital format, yet this kind of resurrection departs radically from the disembodied spiritual bliss imagined in many conceptualisations of resurrection. The post-biological subject resists ontological delineation and problematises boundaries defining self and other, living and dead, and human and nonhuman and is fraught with a number of cultural anxieties about its unique ontological status. These concerns are analysed in the context of a number of phenomena, including melancholy, horror, monstrosity and the uncanny, all of which similarly indicate an anxious fixation with human ontology. The purpose of discussing post-biological bodies in relation to phenomena such as melancholy or the uncanny is not to reinstate as ideological frameworks the psychoanalytic models from which these concepts are derived, but rather to use them as starting points for more complex analyses of postbiological ontology. The first and second chapters of this thesis discuss instances in which the human body is posthumously modified, drawing on Gunther von Hagens's Body Worlds exhibition and the Visible Human Project. The Body Worlds plastinates are situated in a liminal and ambiguous ontological space between life and death, and it is argued that their extraordinary ontological status evokes a form of imagined melancholy, wherein the longed-for and lost melancholic object is a complete process of death. In the case of the Visible Human Project, it is argued that the gruesome and highly technologised process of creating the Visible Male, wherein the corpse is effectively dehumanised and iv rendered geometric, evokes the trope of horror, while at the same time being fraught with a nostalgic longing for a pre-technological, anatomically 'authentic' body. The third and fourth chapters of this thesis discuss instances in which the living human body is reconfigured, focusing on immortal cell lines and organ transplantation, and on medical imaging technologies such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. In the third chapter it is argued that organ transplantation and the creation of immortal cell lines give rise to profound anxieties about ontological contamination through their capacity to render permeable the imagined boundaries defining self, and in this way invoke the monstrous. The fourth chapter interrogates the representation of medical imaging in Don DeLillo?s novel White Noise, arguing that the medical representation of the body functions as a form of double, a digital doppelganger that elicits an uncanny anxiety through its capacity to presage death.

<p dir="ltr">Cancer biological mechanisms are a vastly researched area in the field, yet they are not well understood in the various contexts in which cancer is found. Cancerous tumors often exist in harsh, stressful environments for normal cells, but cancer cells can thrive in these conditions. The tumor microenvironment (TME) typically has low oxygen levels (hypoxia), high acidity, and low nutrition. Exposure to the TME leads to many metabolic changes in the cells, enabling cancer to continue proliferating and migrating. However, these metabolic changes are not well understood, especially at the single-cell level. The ability to monitor cells in real time to determine the physical characteristics they undergo is critical to understanding the impact of these metabolic changes. Conventional methods focus on determining the genomic and proteomic changes in large numbers of cells, which may be overlooked if the changes are homogeneous across samples. In this work, we demonstrate the power of using multiple imaging techniques in combination with biochemical methods to visualize metabolic changes and determine the causes in various cancer cells under extreme hypoxia conditions.</p><p dir="ltr">The changes in the microtubule network that occur under hypoxia at the single-cell level are not widely researched. The use of confocal fluorescence microscopy can determine microtubule polymerization in conjunction with eGFP-transfected EB3, a protein that assists in microtubule polymerization. We have determined that hypoxic HeLa cells produce finger-like protrusions when exposed to hypoxia that help with cell migration and, ultimately, cancer cell metastasis. The formation of these protrusions is facilitated by localized mitochondria activities in the protrusions.</p><p dir="ltr">The metabolic changes in lipid droplets (LDs) under hypoxia at the single-cell level remain an elusive topic. The use of stimulated Raman spectroscopy (SRS) and coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) can determine the quantity and spatial-temporal distribution of LDs in cancer cells. We have found that LDs redistribute to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and increase in intensity in hypoxic MIA PaCa-2 and A549 cells. Time-lapse CARS microscopy revealed a release-accumulate process of these LDs on ER in hypoxia. We also studied the impact of carbon sources on LD formation and found that MIA PaCa2 cells prefer direct lipid uptake while glucose is also essential to reduce lipotoxicity. The use of hyperspectral stimulated Raman scattering (hSRS) also reveals that the content of the LDs changes to include less cholesteryl ester and a decrease in lipid saturation level.</p><p dir="ltr">Collectively, these findings shed new light on the understanding of cytoskeleton dynamics and lipid metabolism in hypoxic conditions. The discoveries made within this research would lead to better treatment strategies for effective treatment of hypoxia-resistant cancer cells.</p>