Cancer is a deadly disease where one of the only treatments we have is chemotherapy. But what is the cause of cancer? There are many environmental factors that can play a role in the diagnosis of cancer. Obesity, age, viruses, genetic mutations, and various carcinogens can cause cancer. However, what is happening at the cellular level when cancer metastasizes throughout the body? There are many different known causes, but most of them revolve around the cells ability to stop proliferating and growing. The problem is within the cell’s signaling pathways. Some factor is getting in the way of the cell to pace itself. One of these signaling pathways that has been shown to play a part in cancer is the pathway that involves cyclic adenosine monophosphate
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It is a cyclic nucleotide. There are two that will be discussed: cAMP and cGMP. It plays a major role in almost every cellular function. It has physiological and pathological effects in the body. Like many other pathways the cAMP intracellular pathway is responsible for a wide range of cross talks. cAMP receives its signal initially from the G-protein Coupled Receptor (GPCR). GPCR is heterotrimeric protein that has a 7-transmembrane protein. It contains a beta, gamma, and alpha subunit attached to the transmembrane protein. When an extracellular signal (hormonal, cytokine, etc.) is received, the beta and gamma subunit detach from the alpha subunit. The G-alpha subunit binds to a membrane bound protein called adenylyl cyclase (AC). AC and the G-alpha subunit interact with ATP which creates a cAMP molecule. Isozymes of the enzyme phosphodiesterase will then degrade cAMP to AMP. The protein that carries out the effects of cAMP is protein kinase A (PKA). PKA is an important enzyme in the products that are formed in the cell. It is a tetramer that consists of two catalytic subunits and two regulatory subunits. cAMP must activate PKA. It will do this by binding to a regulatory subunit. So it will take two cAMP to bind to both PKA regulatory subunits. When one cAMP binds to one PKA regulatory subunit it detaches from the PKA tetramer. The catalytic subunit will then be active. The active subunit can enter the nucleus and …show more content…
The first thing in order to test for the cause of the disease is to test the concentration of the various proteins involved in the transduction pathway. Each protein plays a major role, but since cAMP is the most relative, the detection of that protein will be discussed. The levels of cAMP can be detected using an ELISA kit. “cAMP levels are based on non-affinity-purified polyclonal anti-cAMP antibodies.” (4838136) To better visualize the levels of cAMP under a microscope, fluorescent manipulation was integrated into the process. This lead to accurate detection of levels of cAMP. When the levels are low, various treatments have been found to increase or inhibit the
It is a cyclic nucleotide. There are two that will be discussed: cAMP and cGMP. It plays a major role in almost every cellular function. It has physiological and pathological effects in the body. Like many other pathways the cAMP intracellular pathway is responsible for a wide range of cross talks. cAMP receives its signal initially from the G-protein Coupled Receptor (GPCR). GPCR is heterotrimeric protein that has a 7-transmembrane protein. It contains a beta, gamma, and alpha subunit attached to the transmembrane protein. When an extracellular signal (hormonal, cytokine, etc.) is received, the beta and gamma subunit detach from the alpha subunit. The G-alpha subunit binds to a membrane bound protein called adenylyl cyclase (AC). AC and the G-alpha subunit interact with ATP which creates a cAMP molecule. Isozymes of the enzyme phosphodiesterase will then degrade cAMP to AMP. The protein that carries out the effects of cAMP is protein kinase A (PKA). PKA is an important enzyme in the products that are formed in the cell. It is a tetramer that consists of two catalytic subunits and two regulatory subunits. cAMP must activate PKA. It will do this by binding to a regulatory subunit. So it will take two cAMP to bind to both PKA regulatory subunits. When one cAMP binds to one PKA regulatory subunit it detaches from the PKA tetramer. The catalytic subunit will then be active. The active subunit can enter the nucleus and …show more content…
The first thing in order to test for the cause of the disease is to test the concentration of the various proteins involved in the transduction pathway. Each protein plays a major role, but since cAMP is the most relative, the detection of that protein will be discussed. The levels of cAMP can be detected using an ELISA kit. “cAMP levels are based on non-affinity-purified polyclonal anti-cAMP antibodies.” (4838136) To better visualize the levels of cAMP under a microscope, fluorescent manipulation was integrated into the process. This lead to accurate detection of levels of cAMP. When the levels are low, various treatments have been found to increase or inhibit the