Date of Award
2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Natural Sciences
First Advisor
Ryba, Tyrone
Area of Concentration
Biology
Abstract
Cigarette smoking costs America in both lost productivity and direct medical expenses due to attributable health complications. Research has extensively linked negative health effects and chronic smoking. Research has also found that cigarette smoke exposure leads pulmonary cells to enter senescence early, and have hypothesized that premature senescence may contribute to the development of many health complications found in the smoking population. What is under investigation here is how acute cigarette exposure may be linked to cellular senescence. Senescent cells have a discernable phenotype from replicative cells. Using RNA-Seq, mRNA was analyzed from both a senescent and acutely exposed cigarette smoke condition. In total 1,892 genes were found to be significantly enriched, 1,529 in a senescent condition, 599 in the cigarette exposed condition, with 243 of those genes enriched in both conditions. Of the 243 candidate genes changing similarly in both conditions, genes PIR, SLIT1/SLIT3, FLOT2, EGFR, PRR1 were reccomended using ToppGene as targets of future study.
Recommended Citation
Voic, Hannah, "Gene Expression Analysis to Investigate Connections Between Cigarette Smoke Exposure and Cellular Senescence" (2016). Theses & ETDs. 5286.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/5286