Magister Scientiae - MSc (Medical BioSciences)

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Browsing by Author "Abdul-Rasool, Sahar"

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    The effects of various combinations of different classes of anticancer drugs and tyrosine kinase inhibitors on the human MCF-7 breast carcinoma cell line
    (University of the Western Cape, 2014) Abrahams, Beynon; Hiss, D.C.; Abdul-Rasool, Sahar
    This study investigated the effects of TKIs on the growth and proliferation of MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells in culture. MCF-7 cells were exposed to different concentrations of TKIs alone and in combination with each other. Inhibition of cell growth by TKIs used individually occurred in a dose- and time-dependent manner. When EGFR Inhibitor I, EGFR Inhibitor II/BIBX1382 and the multi-specific EGFR/ErbB-2/ErB-4 Inhibitor were used in combination with each other at equimolar log dose concentrations, the combined effects on cell growth was significantly different to inhibitors used individually as reflected in a decreased EC50 (IC50) during combination treatments. Generally, for the combinations with DOX, CPL and the TKIs, synergistic as well as antagonistic effects were observed at isoeffective concentrations with resultant decreases in dose reduction indices (DRIs) implying greater efficacies with the respective combinations. In this study, conventional PCR was used to detect and illustrate the presence of the EGFR gene in the samples, while RT-qPCR was used to determine the mRNA expression levels of this gene in MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells
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    The potential therapeutic role of palm oil on prostate cancer
    (University of the Western Cape, 2020) Hasan, Ghanaim; Abdul-Rasool, Sahar
    Prostate cancer is one of the heterogeneous groups of neoplastic diseases originating from the reproductive system of the male naming, the prostate gland. In the west, prostate cancer is the most common cancer affecting African men in older age (over the age of 55) and usually with a family history of the disease. The initiation and progression of this disease is thought to result from the genetic alterations of gene expression in the prostate epithelial cells. Prostate cancer has a very slow progression. This observation provides the advantage of early detection and the notion for using diet to prevent the cellular and molecular processes of carcinogenesis. Epidemiological research has documented a positive health role for red palm oil on atherosclerosis, arterial thrombosis and several types of cancers. This thesis focuses on investigating the effect of different concentrations of the red palm oil (0.1, 1, 10, 100, 500, 1 000 μg/ml) on malignant (LNCaP) prostate cells and benign (PWR-1E) prostate cells over 24 and 72- hours. The following parameters were investigated: cell morphology and viability (using MTT assay), the expression of androgen receptors and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) via RT-PCR and/or PSA ELISA kit. The results of this study demonstrate that red palm oil has significant cytotoxic effects on malignant (LNCaP) prostate cells but caused only a slight decrease in cell viability of benign (PWR- 1E) prostate cells. Morphologically, we noted a clear increase in detachment and cell death in malignant (LNCaP) cells as the concentrations of red palm oil increased. Moreover, the viability decreased significantly in both 24 and 72-hour treatment of red palm oil. Further to this, red palm oil significantly promoted the reduction of total PSA concentration in malignant (LNCaP) prostate cells whereas in benign (PWR-1E) prostate cells the Red Palm Oil maintained the total serum PSA at its basal physiological level. In conclusion, red palm oil is significantly cytotoxic to malignant (LNCaP) prostate cells whereas weakly cytotoxic effect toward benign (PWR-1E) prostate cells. The potent inhibition to mitochondrial dehydrogenase activity is responsible for the aforementioned effects respectively. The decrease in total serum PSA demonstrate the strong therapeutic effects that red palm oil has on malignant (LNCaP) prostate cells