In this project cancer was viewed as a metabolic disorder. The study focused on the effect of synthetic muscone on PANC-1 cells. Synthetic muscone is a ketone. Some cancers lack the potential to metabolise ketone bodies, mainly due to mitochondrial dysfunction. The Warburg effect is a biochemical phenomenon in which cancer cells favour metabolism through glycolysis instead of oxidative phosphorylation to produce ATP. The cells were treated with various concentrations of muscone for 24 and 48 hours. Three different assays were chosen to assess the effects of the treatment. These included an MTS-Assay to estimate the cell-viability, a Lactate-Glo kit to assess the lactate production after the treatment and Caspase 3/7 assay for the apoptotic effects of the treatment. Lactate is the end product of glycolysis, thus its decrease could be an indication of an effective treatment. Instead, the lactate produced exhibited an increasing tendency. Caspase activity was increased for concentration 500μΜ, whilst no effect was noted for the remaining concentrations tested. Expression of genes involved in glycolysis (HK2, GAPDH & PKM2), apoptotic pathways (CYCS), mitochondrial function (TFAM) and ketolytic activities (BDH1 & OXCT1) were chosen to be tested for a better understanding of the results derived from the assays. The expression of CYCS was in accordance with the findings of the MTS and Caspase assays for concentration 500μΜ, making its investigation promising for future research. Due to time restrictions most experiments were conducted once, thus no safe conclusions could be reached. However, we expect this pilot study to provide valuable insight for future researchers who aim to approach cancer treatment from a metabolic perspective.

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Circadian rhythms are endogenic autonomous oscillators of physiological activities resulting from 24-hour day/night cycles. Circadian rhythms regulate a wide variety of metabolic and physiological functions. This allows the organism to control its molecular, biochemical, physiological, and behavioural processes. Some studies have recently been performed on the relationship between cancer and circadian rhythm. In this paper we analyse the relationship between pH, the Pentose Phosphate Pathway, and the circadian through two databases of RNA sequence, GSE101988 and GSE74439. It was found that the Period and Cryptochrome family genes, which are linked to DNA damage response pathways, are more expressed than the control groups. At the same time, CLOCK and BMAL genes were inhibited. This, therefore, forms our supposition that the pH, through several mechanisms, does affect the circadian and thus the tumour progression. This is a very important study focus, because acidosis and alkalosis could be a biomarker for early tumour apparition in local tissues. In this databased research, BMAL1 (BMAL2) was observed to be more active than the key circadian regulator at lower pH. Together, the CRY family of genes was downregulated in both datasets. However, in the analysis involving Pentose Phosphate Pathway inhibition, p53 was up-regulated and G6PD was without any statistically significant improvement.

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Bakgrund: Elektroneurografi (ENeG) är en neurofysiologisk undersökningsmetod som är till för att identifiera olika perifera nervskador som demyelinisering, konduktionsblockering och axonal degeneration. Det är känt att latenstider och nervledningshastigheter kan påverkas vid olika armpositioner, men hur är det med amplituderna? Syftet med studien är att studera om svarspotentialernas amplituder förändras vid vilande armposition samt med armen upphöjd i 90°. Metod: Data samlades in från 33 frivilliga testpersoner för att jämföra två olika metoder att undersöka ulnarisnerven. Nerven stimulerades distalt i handledsnivå och proximalt i sulcus ulnaris med registrering över musculus abductor digiti minimi i vilande armposition samt med armen upphöjd i 90°. Sedan gjordes statistiska beräkningar för att identifiera eventuella skillnader i amplitud och stimuleringsstyrka. Resultat: Det fanns en signifikant skillnad i amplitud när undersökningen utfördes med vilande arm jämfört med när armen var i 90° armposition. Medelvärdet för amplituderna ökade i genomsnitt med en millivolt. Det fanns en signifikant skillnad i stimuleringsstyrka vid distal stimulering men inte vid proximal. Majoriteten av testpersonerna föredrog att bli undersökta med vilande armposition. Åldern visade sig ha ett negativt samband till amplituderna. Diskussion: Det är oklart varför amplituderna ökade vid 90° armposition. Det skulle kunna bero på att musklerna i underarmen blir mindre spända. Slutsats: Det fanns en signifikant skillnad i amplitud när armen höjdes upp i 90°. Det bör noteras i vilken armposition patienten undersöks. / Introduction: Electroneurography (ENoG) is a neurophysiological test used to identify various peripheral nerve damages such as demyelination, conduction blockage and axonal degeneration. It´s known that latency and nerve conduction velocities can be affected by different arm positions, but what about the amplitudes? The purpose of the study is to examine if the amplitudes differ at resting arm position and with the arm raised at 90°. Method: Data was collected from 33 voluntary test subjects to compare two different methods to study the ulnar nerve. The nerve was stimulated distally at the wrist and proximally at sulcus ulnaris with registration at musculus abductor digiti minimi in resting arm and with the arm raised at 90°. Statistical calculations were made to identify differences in amplitude and stimulation strength. Results: There was a significant difference in amplitude when the test was performed with resting arm compared to when the arm was raised at 90°. Mean amplitudes increased on average by one millivolt. There was a significant difference in stimulation strength in distal stimulation but not in proximal stimulation. The majority of the test subjects preferred to be tested with resting arm position. The age turned out to have a negative correlation to the amplitudes. Discussion: It´s unclear why the amplitudes increased at 90° arm position. It could be that the muscles in the forearm becomes less tense. Conclusions: There was a significant difference in amplitude when the arm was raised 90°. It should be noted in which arm position the patient is tested.

Karpaltunnelsyndrom är den mest vanligt förekommande typen av entrapmentneuropati. Symtomet uppstår som följd av att n. medianus komprimeras i karpaltunneln, en trång kanal som löper genom handleden. Kompressionen kan ge symtom i form av domningar, känselbortfall, smärtor och i värre fall muskelatrofier på grund av demyelinisering och axonal degeneration. Elektroneurografi är en metod som används för att underlätta diagnostiseringen av karpaltunnelsyndrom. Vid exempelvis allvarliga fall då standardiserade neurografiundersökningar för n. medianus uppvisar otydliga eller bortfallna svar är det möjligt att utföra en specialiserad undersökning för n. medianus och n. ulnaris med registrering över m. lumbricales II samt m. interosseous volaris I för att öka sensitiviteten i diagnostiseringen. Syftet med denna studie var att bedöma om det föreligger ett signifikant samband mellan kroppslängden, handstorleken och den distala motoriska latenstiden vid distal stimulering över n. medianus och n. ulnaris med registrering över m. lumbricales II respektive m. interosseous volaris I. Till studien rekryterades 31 friska försökspersoner. Varje försöksperson fick innan undersökningstillfället fylla i en samtyckesblankett där personen i fråga gav sitt skriftiga samtycke och besvarade frågor angående hälsorelaterade faktorer som eventuellt kan påverka resultatet från undersökningen. Enkla linjära regressionsanalyser för vänster- respektive höger n. medianus samt för n. ulnaris bilateralt uppvisade positiva signifikanta samband mellan kroppslängden, handstorleken och den distala motoriska latenstiden. Multipla regressionsanalyser uppvisade positiva signifikanta samband när både handstorleken och kroppslängden inkluderades i relation till den distala motoriska latenstiden. / Carpal tunnel syndrome is the most common type of entrapment neuropathy. The symptom arises as a result of the n. medianus being compressed in the carpal tunnel, a narrow channel that runs through the wrist. The compression can cause symptoms in the forms of numbness, loss of sensation, pain and in worse cases muscle atrophies due to demyelination and axonal degeneration. Electroneurography is a method used to facilitate the diagnosis of carpaltunnelsyndrome. In severe cases for example, when standardized neurography examinations for n. medianus show unclear or missing answers, it is possible to perform a specialized examination for n. medianus and n. ulnaris with registration over m. lumbricales II and m. interosseous volaris I to increase sensitivity in diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to assess whether there is a significant relationship between body length, hand size and distal motor latency in distal stimulation over n. medianus and n. ulnaris with registration of m. lumbricales II and m. interossei volaris I. 31 healthy subjects was recruited for this study. Prior to the study, each test subject was required to fill out a consent form in which the person in question gave his or her written consent while also answering questions about health-related factors that may influence the results of the study. Simple regressionanalyzes for left- and right n. medianus and for n. ulnaris bilaterally showed a positive significant relationship between body length, hand size and distal motor latency. Multiple regressionanalyzes showed a positive significant relationship when both hand size and body length were included in relation to distal motor latency.

The Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier (SUMO) moiety is a member of the superfamily of ubiquitin-like proteins (UbLs) including Ubiquitin, Nedd8, FAT10, ISG15 and ATGs. Several proteins are attached by the UbLs through a fine and tuned enzymatic cascade called post-translational modifications (PTM). SUMOylation is the drug-targetable PTM regulated by SUMO and its specific conjugating E1, E2, E3 and deconjugating SENPs enzymes. This PTM regulates several cellular functions, such as cell growth, gene regulation and apoptosis, while deregulation of SUMOylation reaction has been related to promote tumorigenic features. The correlation between different cancer subtypes and SUMO network has previously been described, but this has not been investigated in Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) tumor. Rhabdomyosarcoma is a heterogeneous group of malignancies and is derived from primitive myogenic precursors. The most common RMS subtypes are embryonal (ERMS) and alveolar (ARMS). The aim of this project was to investigate whether the SUMO PTM is altered in RMS disease and identify if the deregulation can also contribute to the progression, invasion and radioresistance of RMS tumors. We produced the complete SUMO transcriptome of six different Rhabdomyosarcoma cell lines and validated some targets with specific antibodies. Interestingly, rearrangement of the expression of the SUMO enzymes was discovered among the RMS cells. This evidence suggests that SUMO has the potential to be the next cellular network to study in RMS cells. In the future, the aim is to identify potential SUMO RMS network biomarkers that describe the pathology of the disease and adopt commercial and new drugs to interfere with the deregulated SUMO network by reducing or blocking the metastasis features of RMS.