Advisory Committee Chair
Charles N Landen
Advisory Committee Members
Robin G Lorenz
Ronald D Alvarez
Mary-Ann Bjornsti
Michael Conner
G Yancey Gillespie
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
2014
Degree Name by School
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Heersink School of Medicine
Abstract
Ovarian cancer while the second most common gynecologic malignancy is the most commons cause of death due to a gynecologic malignancy and the fifth most common cause of death to cancer in women. In 2014, there will be an expected 21,980 cases and 14,270 deaths. Unfortunately, the five-year survival for ovarian cancer is only 40% and this has barely increased over the past 30 years. New approaches need to be developed in order to study ovarian cancer and identify methods of overcoming chemotherapy resistance. This dissertation presents the work conducted in the development of a patient-derived xenograft model of ovarian cancer to characterize the chemotherapy resistant population and identify novel methods of targeting ovarian cancer. The ovarian cancer patient-derived xenograft model recapitulates the heterogeneity of the patients' tumor and has demonstrated clinical relevance in response to primary therapy. Using RNA-seq, it was identified that ribosomal synthesis was up-regulated and targeting RNA Polymerase I is a potential method of overcoming chemotherapy resistance. Using a patient-derived xenograft model provides a novel platform for understanding chemotherapy resistance and recurrence in ovarian cancer.
Recommended Citation
Dobbin, Zachary Christopher, "Development of a Patient-Derived Xenograft Model of Ovarian Cancer to Characterize the Chemotherapy Resistant Population" (2014). All ETDs from UAB. 1534.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/1534