ABSTRACT
TRANSCRIPTION PATTERN COMPARISON OF TWO UBIQUITIN
SPECIFIC PROTEASES (USP6 AND USP32)
Akhavan Tabasi, Shiva
M.Sc., Department of Biology
Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. A. Elif Erson
August 2007, 93 pages
Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women
worldwide. The incidence of breast cancer is 1 in 8 among women. Usually loss
of tumor suppressor genes and overexpression of proto-oncogenes are known to
be involved during mammary tumorigenesis. USP32 (Ubiquitin Specific Protease
32) gene is located on chromosomal band 17q23, a region of amplification in
breast cancer. Gene amplification is known to be a common mechanism in breast
cancer cells, through which proto-oncogenes are overexpressed and contribute to
tumor progression. Presence of multiple oncogene candidates on 17q23 requires
individual characterization of these genes.
USPs (Ubiquitin Specific Protease), have various roles in protein
degradation pathways (e.g / by editing the ubiquitin chains, recycling of ubiquitin,
v
deubiquitinating the target proteins and inhibiting their degradation by the
proteasome). Deregulated expression of USPs is likely to interfere with the
degradation of many key regulatory proteins in the cell. Therefore, USP32
becomes an interesting oncogene candidate that may have roles in protein
degradation pathways based on the fact that it is located on an amplicon region
and that it is overexpressed in breast tumors.
On the other hand, USP6 (Ubiquitin Specific Protease 6), a known
oncogene on 17p13, is also a deubiquitinating enzyme, with conserved histidine
and cysteine domains, which are also shared by USP32. Interestingly there is a
97% sequence similarity between bases 3,197 to 7,831 of USP6 and 2,390 to
7,024 of USP32 gene.
In this study, we aimed to investigate the expression patterns of USP32
and USP6 (including alternative transcripts) in breast tissue to avoid any
possibility of overlapping functions of two enzymes due to their high sequence
similarity.
In addition, we sub-cloned USP32 gene into TOPO-TA vector, so that
further functional studies (e.g / localization and overexpression) can be performed.
Further characterizations of Ubiquitin Specific Protease 32, may help us
understand its importance in the protein degradation pathway during breast
tumorigenesis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12608679/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 August 2007 |
| Creators | Akhavan Tabasi, Shiva |
| Contributors | Erson, Ayse Elif |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | M.S. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for public access |
Page generated in 0.0023 seconds