Date of Graduation

5-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Biomedical Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

Muldoon, Timothy

Abstract

Colorectal cancer research is a field of increasing importance as disease prevalence continues to increase over time. In looking at the origin of the disease, a driver gene known as p53 is of particular interest for its role in the stimulation of the mutated Wnt pathway. Developing as a missense-type mutation, this gene that ordinarily functions as a tumor suppressor is investigated as a gene of interest for tumor development. In this study, a mouse model was used to examine the development of colorectal cancer with a total of n=34 samples, including n=9 tumors and n=25 colons. The concentration of the expressed p53 gene was investigated for its relationship to mouse tissue types and its response to the chemotherapies 5-fluorouracil, cisplatin, and saline. In order to investigate these relationships, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed on mouse colon and tumor tissue and measured for absorbance. An ANOVA and t-test evaluation for statistical significance showed no significance in mouse tissue type between tumors and colons in the expression of p53. The ANOVA performed for the tumor samples, however, found a statistically significant difference between chemotherapy treatment types and the expression of p53 in the tissue. In comparison the control group of saline chemotherapy, cisplatin was revealed to show the highest amount of p53 expression in the tumor tissue. These relationships should be further investigated in the future with larger treatment groups and similar laboratory conditions. Other potential driver genes can also be investigated for their connection to colorectal cancer development.

Keywords

Genetics; Colorectal Cancer

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