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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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John McDonald, Ph.D. - faculty host
Summary Sentence: "Engineering Effector Proteins as Modulators of Cell Signaling Pathways for Breast Cancer Therapy" - Julie Champion, Ph.D. - Georgia Tech
Full Summary: No summary paragraph submitted.
Integrated Cancer Research Center"Engineering Effector Proteins as Modulators of Cell Signaling Pathways for Breast Cancer Therapy"
Julie A. Champion, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Tanner Junior Faculty Fellow
School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Georgia Tech
Abstract
Bacterial pathogens trigger cell death by a variety of mechanisms, including injection of effector proteins. Effector proteins have great potential as anti-cancer agents because they efficiently subvert a variety of eukaryotic signaling pathways involved in cancer development, drug resistance, and metastasis. In this talk, I will discuss our use of YopJ, an effector from Yersinia pestis, as a potential breast cancer therapeutic. In breast cancer, MAPK and NFκB pathways are known to be dysregulated. YopJ down-regulates MAPK and NFκB pathways to induce cell death in specific cell types and we seek to exploit this infection-enabling protein for therapeutic use. We engineered YopJ to self-assemble into protein nanoparticles to efficiently deliver protein to cells, replacing the need for the pathogen secretion mechanism for effector delivery to host cells. YopJ nanoparticles induced dose and time-dependent death in multiple breast cancer cell lines. Treatment with sub-lethal doses of nanoparticles was still seen to be beneficial as well, decreasing metastasis-related behaviors and MAPK signaling. YopJ nanoparticles demonstrate the potential of engineered effector proteins as breast cancer therapeutics.
