Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women worldwide.A treatment regime, both effective and safe and can only be achieved once more effective chemotherapeutic agents are discovered or identified. These “drugs” must selectively induce cell death such as apoptosis or necroptosis in the cancer cells. Apoptotic cell death allows a cell to “commit suicide” in genetically- controlled or programmed mechanism(s). The microenvironment of the tumour is important since a nurturing malignant environment is required for tumour maintenance, progression and ultimately the development of metastasis. Due to the correlation of the tumour microenvironment to aggressive tumour progression, emphasis should be placed on the constituents of the tumour’s microenvironment. In recent years, the understanding of intracellular pathways in cancer cells has increased rapidly, contributing to the development of drugs with more specific targets such as growth factors, signalling molecules, cell adhesion proteins, proteases, cell-cycle proteins, modulators of apoptosis and molecules that promote angiogenesis and metastasis. The main aim of this study was thus to identify a few potential or active compounds from a library of synthetically-derived compounds as possible alternative breast cancer treatment candidates.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:27354 |
Date | January 2017 |
Creators | Davison, Candace |
Publisher | Nelson Mandela University, Faculty of Science |
Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Thesis, Doctoral, DPhil |
Format | xxxiii, 318 leaves, pdf |
Rights | Nelson Mandela University |
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