This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Medulloblastoma is the most common brain tumor of childhood. Precisely targeting the signaling pathways involved in medulloblastoma is needed to increase treatment efficacy. One promising treatment, inhibiting the protein Smoothened (SMO), downregulates the Hedgehog signaling pathway, but treatment resistance and severe side effects such as muscle spasms remain a concern for SMO inhibitors. In a new study, researchers sought to better understand Hedgehog signaling pathway regulation in medulloblastoma. Using quantitative phosphoproteomics to evaluate human medulloblastoma cells, they found that Hedgehog signaling via SMO affected ciliary assembly, trafficking, and signal transduction. Several signaling pathways were differentially regulated by SMO inhibitors, including ERK/MAPK, Protein Kinase A, and mTOR. These results help to elucidate the downstream signaling pathways triggered by SMO inhibitor treatment, providing important insight to help prevent adverse effects and therapeutic resistance..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Farnesyltransferase (FTase) is an enzyme implicated in various diseases, including cancer, hepatitis D, and progeria. One of the two subunits that make up FTase has a proline-rich region, which has been shown to affect signal transduction. Could this region be the key to FTase’s function, especially in disease? To find out, researchers recently explored how modifications altered the behavior of FTase. Phylogenetics revealed that the proline-rich region of FTase is highly conserved in mammals, with the exception of marsupials, which harbor an alanine-rich region instead. Interestingly, when the proline-rich region was removed, FTase retained the ability to bind to its normal physiological partners and did not appear to bind to itself. Indeed, the presence or absence of the proline-rich region did not affect the activity of FTase from either humans or rats. And prominent FTase inhibitors, namely lonafarnib and tipifarnib, worked just as well on either form..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Autophagy is the process by which healthy cells degrade and recycle waste material. Researchers are finding that this vital function is interrupted in different forms of cancer, including brain cancer. A new review describes how researchers are repairing broken autophagy pathways in tumors using microRNAs, or miRNAs. miRNAs are small non-coding RNA molecules that regulate a variety of cellular processes— including autophagy. Understanding the molecular targets of miRNAs and their function is crucial, as it could lead to the development of new therapies for patients with brain tumors..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Endemic Burkitt lymphoma (eBL), a malignancy of immune B cells, is the most common childhood cancer in sub-Saharan Africa eBL is curable when it's identified early, but it's rapidly fatal without treatment Children in sub-Saharan Africa are over 50 times more likely to develop eBL than children living anywhere else in the world Unfortunately, few studies have examined the risk factors associated with eBL To address that gap, researchers conducted a study of eBL in children in three countries in East Africa They analyzed the relationship between eBL and infections, environmental, and genetic risk factors and focused their conclusions on results observed in at least two countries to minimize false-positives Risk of eBL was associated with low socio-economic status inpatient malaria treatment and living in areas targeted for malaria suppression In addition to exploring eBL risk factors, this study also demonstrates the potential to study cancer risk in East Africa and to detect, treat, or prevent e.."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Anticoagulation is the cornerstone of therapy for venous thromboembolism, or VTE, in cancer patients, but it may also cause bleeding. Recent studies examining the frequency of these events have primarily focused on the elderly population. A new report in the American Journal of Hematology aimed to take a closer look at the effects of the drugs in younger patients. The work specifically focused on cancer patients who were predominantly under 65 years of age. Researchers evaluated the recurrence of VTE and major bleeding following treatment of a first episode of VTE. Using a retrospective cohort study design, they assessed the outcomes of nearly 14,000 commercially-insured patients initiated on rivaroxaban, warfarin, or low-molecular-weight heparin. Only data from patients with lower extremity deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism were included. Patients were required to have initiated anticoagulation within 7 days of their VTE..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Gliomas are the most common brain tumors They’re also the most aggressive, able to resist various forms of chemotherapy Part of that ability comes from cancer stem cells rare cells with the capacity to form new tumors Researchers recently set out to understand how these cells are linked to drug resistance and prognosis among patients with glioma Using data from gene atlases, they developed a so-called risk signature This signature was designed to identify genetic factors tied to an increased risk of resistance to the popular chemotherapy drug temozolomide Tests showed that the risk signature could well predict the prognosis of patients with drug-resistant gliomas with a high risk score indicating shorter survival and malignant traits The risk signature also provides new ways to classify gliomas which could help clinicians deliver targeted treatment sooner With further refinement, the signature could serve as a stand-alone biomarker for the personalized treatment of patients with glioma.."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Cancer cells interact with neighboring cells through proteins in the extracellular matrix (ECM), a scaffold of molecules that support cells and tumor development. As part of this process, cancer cells release extracellular vesicles that participate in tumor progression, either interacting with ECM or tumor surrounding cells, allowing tumor cells to develop, metastasize, and become drug-resistant. Adhesion receptors called integrins are found in extracellular vesicles (EVs) from tumor cells. These receptors are responsible for the interaction of tumor cells/EVs with the ECM. EVs – nanovesicles secreted from cells and packed with bioactive cargo can mediate communication between cells. EVs are classified according their size, biogenesis mechanism and cargoes (SEVs: size 50–150 nm, LEVs: size 100–1000 nm). Integrins in EVs have been shown to promote cancer cell migration and metastasis, although how this happens is unclear..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Since the first SRC family kinase (SFK) was discovered in 1911, numerous SFKs have been identified in humans. SFKs are expressed in diverse tissues and cell types, where they regulate various biological processes. Posttranslational modification of these membrane-associated kinases can regulate their activity to affect cell signaling in different ways, but dysregulation of SFKs can promote cancer progression, invasion, and metastasis. In cancer cells, the kinases can promote epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) to promote invasion. Specifically, they destabilize cell junctions, change cell polarity, and mediate invadopodia formation by influencing the actin cytoskeleton. SFKs also activate EMT-inducing molecules by influencing signaling pathways such as the TGF-β/SMAD, Wnt, NOTCH, and EGFR pathways. Given the roles of SFKs in cancer, SFK inhibitors have been developed as therapies for metastatic disease..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Exosomes are extracellular vesicles that can be transferred from cancer cells to surrounding cells in the tumor microenvironment. Despite their tiny size, exosomes have a huge effect on cell-to-cell communication, facilitating tumor progression and contributing to metastasis. Their widespread effects have drawn the attention of scientists hoping to develop new cancer therapies. A recent study focused on a specific type of exosome cargo – microRNAs (miRNAs), which can act as nucleic acid messengers between cells. Certain miRNAs are known to be enriched in cancer cell exosomes, but how this enrichment occurs is unclear. Using a pancreatic cancer cell line, researchers identified RNA-binding proteins that could bind to a common cancer-associated miRNA, miR-1246. They found that the protein SRSF1 could bind strongly with miR-1246. Reducing SRSF1 expression decreased the enrichment of miRNAs in exosomes, while overexpressing SRSF1 enhanced the enrichment..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death. Treatment options for advanced colorectal cancer are limited, but cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cell therapy may be a useful approach. In this type of immunotherapy, blood cells from a patient are incubated with several proteins (anti-CD3 antibodies, IL-2, and IFN-γ). This generates CIK cells, which are then injected or transfused into the patient for treatment. These cells can proliferate more quickly and exert better antitumor effects than other types of cancer-fighting immune cells. CIK cells’ killing effects are mediated primarily by binding of the membrane protein NKG2D to corresponding ligands on tumor cells and by signaling through the AMPK/Akt/mTOR, Notch, Wnt/β-Catenin, and HIF-1α pathways. Clinical studies have indicated that CIK cell treatment is generally a safe addition to routine radio- and chemotherapy and that it can help prolong survival in some patients..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"A recent report in the journal Cancer Science adds to the growing body of evidence demonstrating that prexasertib is a promising option for several types of cancer. Two prior clinical trials conducted in the United States showed prexasertib has both antitumor activity and an acceptable safety profile. A new clinical trial extends these findings by looking at how the drug performs in a new demographic of patients – namely, Japanese patients with advanced solid tumors. Prexasertib is a novel inhibitor of the protein checkpoint kinase 1 – a serine/threonine kinase that promotes DNA repair, controls initiation of DNA replication, and coordinates mitosis. Blocking the protein’s activity prevents cells from resolving replication stress and/or repairing DNA double-strand breaks, which leads to apoptosis. Inhibitors of checkpoint kinase 1 can augment the efficacy of DNA‐damaging chemotherapeutics, but they’re also being evaluated as single-agent therapies..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Phosphatidylserine (PS) is a fatty substance normally located on the inner membrane of healthy cells, but cancer cells tend to express high levels of PS on their surface. That tiny difference has paved the way for a new cancer-targeting agent called SapC-DOPS. SapC-DOPS is a nanovesicle that effectively targets and kills several types of cancer, including pancreatic, lung, brain, and pediatric cancers, while leaving surrounding cells unharmed. The nanovesicle achieves this by selectively inducing apoptotic cell death in malignant and metastatic cancer cells rich in surface PS. One phase I clinical trial showed that SapC-DOPS was safe and yielded favorable outcomes in patients with solid tumors, but more pre-clinical studies are needed to better understand the properties of SapC-DOPS, including how SapC-DOPS can eliminate cancer cells that express high levels of surface PS but evade apoptotic cell death and how effective SapC-DOPS is in treating advanced cancers..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The development of solid tumors like melanomas is driven by cancer stem cells (CSCs). These cells can also promote tumor growth, dormancy, metastasis, recurrence, and chemoresistance, which contribute to poor cancer outcomes. An intracellular degradation/recycling pathway called autophagy is thought to regulate the “stemness” of CSCs to enable these effects. To clarify the mechanism, a recent study examined CSCs isolated from human melanoma cell lines. The expression of the molecule Sec23a was lower in the CSCs than in the original melanoma cells, and the reduced Sec23a expression was associated with increased stemness in vitro and tumor growth in vivo, indicating a negative correlation between Sec23a and CSC stemness. Further experiments revealed that Sec23a downregulation increases CSC stemness by promoting autophagy. Specifically, Sec23a downregulation enhances endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, which leads to upregulation of the ER stress-responsive protein FAM134B..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Through this concluding lesson and its associated activity, students experience one valuable and often overlooked skill of successful scientists and engineers communicating your work and ideas. They explore the importance of scientific communication, including the basic, essential elements of communicating new information to the public and pitfalls to avoid. In the associated activity, student groups create posters depicting their solutions to the unit's challenge question accurate, efficient methods for detecting cancer-causing genes using optical biosensors which includes providing a specific example with relevant equations. Students are also individually assessed on their understanding of refraction via a short quiz. This lesson and its associated activity conclude the unit and serve as the culminating Go Public phase of the Legacy Cycle, providing unit review and summative assessment.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"While best known for its role in the brain, serotonin does more in our body than influence mood. There is even growing evidence that it is involved in tumor development. However, little is known about its role in colorectal cancer. In a recent study, researchers found that serotonin promotes colon cancer cell growth in cell culture and animal models. Further tests revealed that serotonin is moved into colorectal cancer cells via its transporter SERT and that once the serotonin is inside the cancer cells, the enzyme TG2 links serotonin to the protein RhoA, activating it. Through down-stream signaling mediators, activated RhoA increases expression of the known cancer-promoting protein YAP. Blocking SERT from transporting serotonin with citalopram reversed the serotonin-induced YAP expression and cell proliferation increases and blocked serotonin’s effects on tumor formation in mice..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) ensures that newly synthesized proteins in a cell are properly folded. But when the number of new proteins exceeds the ER’s capacity to fold them, ER stress can occur and the “unfolded protein response” (UPR) is triggered to help return the cell back to normal. If the UPR can’t restore this balance, the cell dies. Triggering cell death by ER stress via the UPR is one way to treat diseases such as cancer, but we must fully understand the signaling mechanisms involved to design drugs to effectively trigger the UPR. ER stressors such as thapsigargin can induce UPR-mediated cell death, but the detailed mechanisms are unclear. In a recent study, researchers sought to better understand how ER stressors work. They analyzed molecular changes in human prostate and colon cancer cell lines exposed to thapsigargin or its analogs. Their results demonstrated which UPR components and cell death processes are required for an ER stressor to effectively kill a cell..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

By this point in the unit, students have learned all the necessary information and conceptualized a design for how an optical biosensor could be used to detect a target strand of DNA associated with a cancer-causing gene as their solution to the unit's challenge question. Now student groups act as engineers again, using a poster format to communicate and prove the validity of the design. Successful posters include a description of refraction, explanations of refraction in a thin film, and the factors that can alter the interference pattern of a thin film. The posters culminate with an explanation of what is expected to be seen in a biosensing device of this type if it were coupled to a target molecule, proven with a specific example and illustrated with drawings and diagrams throughout. All the poster elements combine to prove the accuracy and viability of this method of gene detection. Together with its associated lesson, this activity functions as part of the summative assessment for this unit.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Metastatic invasion is driven by the reorganization of the cytoskeleton and the formation of cell-membrane protrusions called ‘invadopodia’. Invadopodia assembly is regulated by protein tyrosine kinases, but little is known about the roles of tyrosine phosphatases. An improved understanding of the mechanisms that form invadopodia could be used to combat tumor spread. To reduce this gap, researchers recently examined the role that the tyrosine phosphatase Shp1 plays in this process. They found that Shp1 localized to invadopodia and that this localization was facilitated by a phosphoinositide metabolite, glycerophosphoinositol (GroPIns). Once there, Shp1 associated with and dephosphorylated cortactin, which reduced the formation and extracellular matrix degradation activity of invadopodia. Treatment with GroPIns inhibited tumor invasion in mice when Shp1 was present, but this effect was dependent on the presence of Shp1..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Temozolomide , or TMZ , is a chemotherapy agent used to treat glioblastoma. TMZ causes DNA damage that results in tumor cell apoptosis and thereby increases the survival rate of patients with glioblastoma. Over time, however, glioblastoma cells can become less responsive to TMZ because the drug induces autophagy in these cells, clearing otherwise toxic cargo and saving the cells from premature death. This chemoresistance can prove fatal for patients who rely on the anti-cancer effects of TMZ. Now, researchers have discovered a way to keep TMZ working long-term: by combining it with the cholesterol-reducing statin simvastatin , or Simva. Previous studies have shown that long-term consumption of statins prior to or in addition to cancer therapeutics can increase the survival rates of patients with different forms of cancer. Simva is shown to be less toxic towards the liver and gastrointestinal tract than other statins and can cross the blood-brain barrier to target glioblastoma cells..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Pancreatic cancer remains extremely deadly despite advances in detection and treatment, largely because the cancer microenvironment protects the cancer cells from therapies. This microenvironment consists of various cell types, connective material, and secreted factors such as small extracellular vesicles (sEVs). sEVs carry proteins, nucleic acids, and other bioactive substances and are important vehicles for cell–cell communication, including pro-metastasis communication. For example, sEVs derived from pancreatic cancer cells can recruit pancreatic stellate cells, major components of the tumor stroma, to tumor sites. They can also promote inflammation and fibrosis. In turn, sEVs derived from pancreatic stellate cells can stimulate cancer cell proliferation and metastasis. Furthermore, sEVs from tumor sites can transport proangiogenic factors to distant organs to form pre-metastatic niches..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.