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Publication Date

2022-04-22

First Advisor

Stylianos P. Scordilis

Document Type

Honors Project

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Biochemistry

Keywords

mice-muscles, proteomics, myogenetics, tamoxifen, satellite cells, skeletal muscle, tandem mass tagging, mass spectrometry, breast cancer

Abstract

Tamoxifen is a well-known estrogen-positive breast cancer treatment that functions as a selective estrogen receptor modulator. In this role, tamoxifen competitively binds to estrogen receptors found in breast tissue and blocks the binding of endogenous estrogen which is known to stimulate cancer growth. Estrogen receptors are not confined to breast tissue though, they are also found on muscle cells. Evidently, skeletal muscle, like all other tissues in the body, is affected by sex hormones. In fact, many studies have cited differences between female and male muscle physiology and metabolism; these differences are found in hormone expression, metabolic rate, oxidative capacity, and energy expenditure (Oh et al., 2011). The use of a cell line derived from a female mouse will demonstrate how female muscle physiology and metabolism are affected by tamoxifen specifically. This is especially important considering women are more likely to suffer from breast cancer, 1 in 8 compared to 1 in 833 for men, and subsequently receive tamoxifen as a treatment (American Cancer Society). Furthermore, muscle development, myogenesis, does not only occur during embryonic development, it also occurs when there is muscle damage. Within fully mature skeletal muscle, a non-proliferating subset of myoblasts, satellite cells, is present and is responsible for repairing damaged muscle tissue. Intense muscular exertion is able to create plasmalemmal micro-tears thereby damaging the cells and requiring a recapitulation of myogenesis to create new myoblasts that elicit repair or replace the damaged cells and tamoxifen could affect these processes, so this must be examined. Lastly, examining the change in protein expression after removing the cell’s ability to make use of estrogen due to tamoxifen, will elucidate the molecular basis of gender dimorphism in skeletal muscle tissue.

Rights

©2023 Ahlenne Abreu. Access limited to the Smith College community and other researchers while on campus. Smith College community members also may access from off-campus using a Smith College log-in. Other off-campus researchers may request a copy through Interlibrary Loan for personal use.

Language

English

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