2009 UALC
Angelique Whitehurst, PhD
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Research Project:
Functional characterization of novel mechanisms supporting tumor cell mitosis
Summary:
Dr. Whitehurst is investigating ways to improve responsiveness to chemotherapeutic drugs by targeting genes involved in cell cycle progression. Her project is focused on a single protein (LAS1) shown to play a pivotal role in tumor cell mitosis. Her preliminary data show that reducing the amount of LAS1 in a tumor cell can make it more sensitive to chemotherapy. The goal of her work is to further characterize this gene and the associated pathways regulating mitosis that can be targeted therapeutically in combination with chemotherapy.
More Content:
Final Report
>Dr. Whitehurst used a live cell imaging system to observe how LAS1 functions in cell cycle progression. Her lab found that LAS1 depletion significantly enhanced cell cycle-associated errors or programmed cell death (apoptosis) when cells were exposed to paclitaxel. Because this cell line rarely undergoes an apoptotic response to paclitaxel, this indicates that LAS1 is required to inhibit death in the presence of chromosomal damage, and an important target to enhance response to chemotherapy. Strikingly, she found that lowering the amount of LAS1 could sensitize many different tumor cells compared to normal cells. To further investigate mechanism, Dr. Whitehurst isolated a number of other interacting proteins, and thus potential therapeutic targets for lung cancer.
Notable Accomplishments
Dr. Whitehurst received an award of $1,245,000 from the NCI to further her lung cancer studies on Mechanistic Elaboration of Fragility in the Tumor Cell Mitotic Spindle. She has also published her work in the journal Cancer Research. During the funding period, Dr. Whitehurst’s work has received funding from NCI, the Mary Kay Foundation, and Stand Up 2 Cancer. While not directly related to the UALC project, the UALC funded project has allowed her to generate a number of assays and observations that were the basis for these awards. Dr. Whitehurst also presented her work at the 2nd Annual Insights Into Research.