Role of dre-1/FBXO11 in apoptosis

描述(由申请人提供)：对细胞凋亡的精确控制对生物体的生存至关重要。如果这一过程调控不当，可能会导致发育缺陷、癌症、神经退化和过早衰老。在整个动物界，细胞凋亡调控的分子机制在功能和序列上都非常保守，对模式生物的研究提供了大量与人类与细胞死亡相关的疾病相关的信息。我发现了一个保守基因dre-1/FBXO11在控制线虫线虫细胞凋亡中的新作用。我们有理由怀疑该基因在人类淋巴瘤的发病机制中起着重要作用。我的论文研究项目将包括研究DRE-1/FBXO11的作用机制，以期提高我们对细胞凋亡调控的理解。生物学中一个令人惊讶的事实是，人类和其他有机体中的许多细胞做出了自杀的决定。这是一个正常的过程，有助于在出生时产生一个适当发育的有机体，有助于防止异常的癌前细胞失控生长，并有助于产生能够对抗感染的免疫细胞。我们想更好地理解这一决定是如何做出的，以便开发出更好的治疗癌症和自身免疫性疾病(细胞在应该死亡的时候不会死亡)以及神经退化和衰老(丢失了本应存活的细胞)的方法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The precise control of apoptosis is vital to the survival of an organism. If this process is improperly regulated, developmental defects, cancer, neurodegeneration and premature aging can result. The molecular mechanisms for apoptotic regulation are remarkably well-conserved in function and sequence across the animal kingdom, and studies in model organisms have provided an immense amount of information relevant to human diseases related to cell death. I have uncovered a novel role for a conserved gene, dre-1/FBXO11, in controlling apoptosis in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. We have reason to suspect that this gene is important for the pathogenesis of human lymphoma. My thesis research project will involve investigating the mechanism of dre-1/FBXO11 action in the hope of improving our understanding of apoptotic regulation. A surprising fact in biology is that many cells in humans and other organisms make the decision to commit suicide. This is a normal process that helps produce a properly-developed organism at birth, helps prevent abnormal pre-cancerous cells from growing out of control, and helps produce immune cells that can fight infection. We would like to better understand how this decision is made in order to develop better treatments for cancer and autoimmune disease (in which cells do not die when they should) and neurodegeneration and aging (in which cells are lost that should survive).