Diploma thesis deals with the study of dissociation and reassociation of ferritin protein cages and their use in nanomedicine. Most studies that are focused on targeted transport of pharmaceuticals using ferritin cages work with horse spleen ferritin. It is, however, its origin, which leads to increasingly frequent questions about possible immunogenicity in the patient's organism, which also provides the main motivation to test the possibility of encapsulation of low-molecular drugs into ferritins originating from alternative organisms. In the practical part the method for the study of dissociation was experimentally designed. Native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was used to study dissociation of equine ferritin composed of different subunit, human ferritin, and archeal Pyrococcus furiosus ferritin. The obtained subunit dissociation results were used to encapsulate the low molecular chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin and for further characterization of the ferritin-doxorubicin complex. The efficacy of the designed nanoformulations has been verified in the treatment of malignant breast cancer. Human ferritin proves to be the optimal one. Its composition of heavy subunits corresponds to a lower protein stability, thus a more efficient opening of the structure and consequent encapsulation of the cytostatics occurs. With its 60% encapsulation efficiency of doxorubicin, low polydispersity index, effective cytotoxicity of ferritin-doxorubicin complex and minimal risk of immune response to the patient's organism, human ferritin achieves better results than commonly used horse spleen ferritin.

Effect of health exercises and swimming for women after breast cancer Abstract Defining the problem: The theoretical part of the thesis will be devoted to course of illness and subsequent convalescence of women with breast cancer. We will give a list of suitable health exercises that are applicable in the gym and at home. The next part will be devoted to the benefits of the movement program in the water. We will focus on swimming stroke breaststroke and backstroke. The practical part will contain the data from the input diagnosis before the application motion program, the program and the output diagnosis after four months of movement intervention. Objective: The aim of this work is to create movement program for improvement of locomotive system women after breast ablation, which is composed of the health exercises applicable in the gym and in the water. Method of solution: Probands undergo the entry diagnostic, which is comprised from anthropometry, goniometry and interview about their day's physical activities. Output diagnosis is ensues after four months of movement intervention and it is same as the input diagnosis. The resulting values will be compared. Results: We found that motion intervention we have chosen is after breast ablation akcepted by women and is friendly for them. The application of the...

Lactogenesis II is critical stage of lactation and it is hindered by conditions like caesarean section, premature delivery, obesity, age, and parity. Previous studies have shown a connection between morphological characteristics of breast and nipple-areola complex and lactation onset. Higher number of areolar glands and their non-uniform distribution has been linked to earlier onset of lactation. Extremely large breasts and short nipples has been linked to breastfeeding difficulty. Aim of this study was to investigate relationship between morphological characteristics of breast and nipple-areola complex (number and distribution of areolar glands, nipple, areola, and breast area, protrusion of nipple and areola, and contrast of breast and areola) and lactation onset. For this purpose, we collected breasts and areolae photographs of 141 mothers one day postpartum in maternity ward in Prague and compared the morphological traits to lactogenesis II onset. We have found a non-uniform distribution of areolar glands with the highest abundance on upper lateral quadrant of areola. We found that right breast area tends to be bigger than left, and left nipple and areola tends to be longer than right. Parity had significant effect on lactation onset. No morphological characteristics have been linked to...

Recent studies indicate the existence of a subpopulation of cells within tumours with stem cell-like characteristics. These "cancer stem-like cells" (CSCs) are relatively resistant to established therapies, usually targeting differentiated and fast proliferating cells. Therefore, CSCs may be a reason for the relapse of neoplastic diseases. CSCs can be characterised by a specific gene expression profile and deregulated signalling pathways. Of these, upregulation of the erbB-2 (HER2) receptor, a hallmark of ~25-30% breast cancer patients, is related to dismal prognosis, elevated proliferation potential and resistance to chemotherapy. Recent evidence has suggested that upregulation of erbB-2 leads to increase in the pool of CSCs. In our study we used mammospheres, cells grown in the absence of serum, an in vitro model of breast CSCs, which were prepared by "weaning" breast cancer MCF7 cells to a special medium. These cells were CD44high and showed increased expression of ABCG-2, Sox-2, Vimentin as well as high levels of erbB-2. Next, we prepared a stable line of MCF7 cells with low levels of erbB-2 by shRNA. ErbB-2low cells were characterised for expression of set of CSCs markers and tested for tumour forming efficacy in nude mice using ultrasound imaging. Keywords Cancer stem-like cells, erbB-2,...

Breast cancer the second most common cancers in women. A weight gain, higher amount of adipose tissue and lower physical activity are risk factors for breast cancer in terms of nutritional status. Recent studies document a negative effect of adipokines, adipose tissue hormones on the development and prognosis of cancer. Likewise, the positive effect of myokines, hormones of muscle tissue, has been increasingly discussed in recent years. Influencing the amount of adipose and muscle tissue in the body is possible through nutritional and physical intervention. A cooperation with a dietitian was offered to 81 patients in the Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute. The offer of nutritional and physical intervention was accepted by 25 patients and 19 patients completed 3 months of therapy. The aim of the study was to analyze the development of weight in patients before and after the diagnosis of breast cancer, and futher to perform a nutritional intervention in the form of a 3 - month program using personal visits and online monitoring of diet and physical activity and to characterize the diet in patients with breast cancer after the intervention. From the obtained data it was not possible to perform an analysis of weight development in patients. The performed evaluation of eating habits based on a comparison...

Breast and ovarian cancers are the most serious cancers among women. Relatively high mortality at advanced stages of the disease is often associated with the development of resistance to the cytotoxic agents. Chemoresistance usually develops on the base of different adaptive mechanisms that significantly decrease therapy efficiency. Currently TRIP6, ABCC3 and CPS1 enzyme has been identified based on high-capacity expression profile monitoring in tumor cell and tissue profiles as one such candidate playing a role in taxane resistance. The main goal of this thesis was to clarify the role or possible association of the ABCC3, CPS1 and TRIP6 genes with the development of tumor cell resistance to taxanes in models of sensitive and paclitaxel-resistant ovarian cancer cells and in the cohorts of patients with ovarian and breast cancer. The in vitro part compares the efficacy of paclitaxel and taxane derivatives in the sensitive and resistant ovarian cancer cell lines and clarifies the association between the different structure of taxane derivatives and the change in CPS1 expression after their application. The study in patient's cohorts with ovarian cancer reveals a relationship between higher levels of the CPS1 gene and shorter progression-free survival. The achieved results may serve as a base for data...

Breast cancer is the most common tumor disease diagnosed in women worldwide. The hereditary character of this disease is observed in 5-10 % of all cases, and it is usually caused by a pathogenic mutation in one of the predisposition genes. Although a variety of pathogenic mutations in the coding sequences of these genes was described, the cause of the disease is still unknown in many familial cases (> 50%). A great number of identified pathogenic mutations were localized in the consensus splicing sites, which results in the formation of aberrant mRNA splicing variants and their damaged protein isoforms. However, little is known about mutations affecting regulatory splicing sites, which can result in the translation of similarly affected mRNAs. In this work, we proposed a method for indirect detection of mutations affecting the natural splicing pattern of any gene of our interest based on multiplex PCR and NGS with high sensitivity. Verification of this method on the BRCA1 model gene revealed the presence of the total of 94 splicing variants in peripheral leucocytes and healthy breast and adjacent fat tissues. This is the most detailed catalogue of physically occurring BRCA1 mRNA variants thus far. The most commonly occurring variants, maintaining open reading frame, were quantified by RT-qPCR which...

Chemotherapy is one of the basic therapeutic procedures of breast cancer (BC) which may precede and/or follow the surgical resection of a tumor as a part of neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy. However, the selective pressure of chemotherapy on tumor cells may change their molecular and expression profile and thus also their chemosensitivity. The aim of our work was to document the expression changes of selected markers in BC after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, which may contribute to the understanding of the role of these proteins and genes in tumor response to chemotherapy and the development of chemoresistance. Immunohistochemical analysis of expression of standard BC markers [estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR), HER2 and proliferation activity (Ki67)] and intercellular junction proteins (claudin 1, 3 and 4, E- and N-cadherin) before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy revealed a decrease of PR, Ki67 and claudin 3 expression and an increase of claudin 1 expression. The expression of ER, HER2, claudin 4, E- and N-cadherin proved to be stable. Assessment of standard BC markers is performed routinely during a bioptic investigation as a necessary factor for therapy indication. Our results support the current recommendations for the re-examination before indication of adjuvant chemotherapy. Claudins...

Introduction: About 5 - 10% of breast carcinomas are caused by genetic mutations. The most common genetic mutation that is involved in the development of this malignancy is a mutation in the tumor suppressor genes BRCA1/2 whose carriers have approximately a 70% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. The prognosis of patients with BRCA1/2-asociated breast carcinoma, compared to patients with sporadic breast carcinoma is the subject of many studies with ambiguous results. Aim: The aim of the theoretical part of this work was to approach the issue of breast cancer and the most common genetic syndromes associated with it. In the practical part of this work a retrospective study was carried out in order to compare BRCA1/2 mutated breast cancer patients with non-mutated breast cancer patients in the tumor profile, methods of treatment and prognosis. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data of 134 patients who were tested for the presence of BRCA1/2 mutation at the Institute of Medical Genetics, University Hospital in Pilsen during the years 2013-2018 and at the same time were treated for early breast cancer at the University Hospital in Pilsen during the years 2000-2020. 32 patients were BRCA1 positive (24%), 10 BRCA2 positive (7%) and 92 without BRCA1/2 mutation (69%). The follow- up time was...

Resistance to chemotherapeutics is a widespread phenomenon in cancer cells that may counteract the successful therapy of many patients. In resistant cells, higher level of ABC transporters, among others, often can be detected. This high level of ABC transporters represents a suspected mechanism of acquired cancer resistance. We studied the molecular mechanism of resistance to taxanes in cancer cells using SK-BR-3 and MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines. We analyzed the effect of paclitaxel on apoptosis induction in the originally sensitive cells of these lines as compared to their counterpart resistant cells, developed by gradual adaptation to paclitaxel. In resistant cells of the SK-BR-3 and MCF-7 lines, we did not detected ongoing induction of apoptosis but we did detect significantly increased expression of ABCB1 transporter after paclitaxel application. By silencing the expression of the transport via employment of small interfering RNA (siRNA), we tested the role of the ABCB1 transporter in cells resistant to paclitaxel. We found that resistant cells with silenced expression of the ABCB1 transporter had a statistically significant increase of sensitivity to paclitaxel as compared to control resistant cells with high expression of this transporter. Along with increased sensitivity, we demonstrated...