Event Title

The Impact of Enzyme X on the Growth of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Presenter Information

Austen Bayne, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Hunter Burgess, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Location

CSU Ballroom

Start Date

12-4-2022 2:00 PM

End Date

12-4-2022 3:30 PM

Student's Major

Biological Sciences

Student's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Mentor's Name

Samantha Katner

Mentor's Department

Biological Sciences

Mentor's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Description

Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer in the world, and one of the deadliest types of cancers with a 14% survival rate within 5 years of diagnosis [1]. Surgery is the main treatment option for HCC but can only be used in early stages of the cancer, which is only about 37% of diagnosed cases [2]. The other treatment options come down to liver transplant, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or the 1 FDA-approved drug [2]. This project is looking to target glypican-3 (GPC3) receptors on the cell surface and how enzyme X may promote HCC progression. GPC3 regulates pathways for the growth and migration of HCC tumor cells, with 70% of HCC tumors showing high levels of GPC3 [3]. Enzyme X is an endo-beta glucuronidase enzyme that modifies the structure of GPC3 and can stimulate the HCC cells to promote invasion metastasis [4]. It is expected that a higher concentration of enzyme X will correlate to more modifications of GPC3 and induce its removal from the cell surface. This would indicate that enzyme X could be a drug therapy target to more effectively target GPC3 receptors to treat HCC.