Hannah Carlo

Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Ryba, Tyrone

Area of Concentration

Biology

Abstract

Stimulatory and inhibitory immunological checkpoint pathways are carefully balanced to control and determine the function of cells of the innate and adaptive immune system, to both promote immunity and maintain tolerance. Human cancers have shown remarkable ability to modify and evade stimulatory pathways and co-opt inhibitory checkpoints to avoid detection and destruction by the immune system. Acquisition of these capabilities are known to promote tumor progression. However, this dynamic relationship between the immune system and cancer is still not well understood. A study was established to test the significance of key gene mutations corresponding to immune function and other hallmark functions on three different patient outcome variables across six cancer types. Twelve significant gene mutations corresponding to a diverse range of immune and tumor promoting functions were found to be concentrated in melanoma and lung adenocarcinoma. Three of the significant gene mutations had dual outcome implications, with overall survival and disease free months.

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