Date of Completion

2023

Thesis Type

College of Arts and Science Honors

Department

Biochemistry

First Advisor

Frances E. Carr

Second Advisor

Jose S. Madalengoitia

Keywords

Glycogen, Thyroid, Cancer, Metabolism, ROS, Signaling

Abstract

Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is one of the most lethal cancers, yet there are few therapeutic treatments that increase patient survival. Thyroid hormone receptor beta (TRβ) is a transcription factor that acts as a tumor suppressor through several different mechanisms including modulation of the transcriptome, and altering gene expression in numerous intracellular signaling pathways. One notable mechanism is through downregulating cancer metabolism. Previous data from the Carr lab, as well as data from this study, suggest TRβ inhibits glycogen metabolism through differentially regulating the expression of proteins involved in the molecular signaling for glycogen synthesis and breakdown. Understanding the relationship between TRβ and glycogen metabolism can help to delineate the importance of glycogen in cancer, to understand one mechanism in which TRβ is able to suppress tumor growth, and to discover new potential therapeutic targets in these pathways for treatment of ATC.

Available for download on Wednesday, May 21, 2025

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