AKT pathway in malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor treatment and white adipose tissue metabolism

Abstract

There are two projects in this thesis. In the first project, a natural compound named DAW22 was tested in vitro and in vivo to evaluate its efficacy on malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST) treatment. DAW22 was found to inhibit human MPNST cancer cell line growth viability in vitro and reduce tumor growth in vivo by targeting AKT/ERK/CTNNB1 pathways and inducing apoptosis in cancer cells. In the second project, the role of Schwann cells (SCs) in the regulation of white adipose tissue (WAT) metabolism was investigated using a transgenic mouse model. SCs-specific phosphatase and tensin homolog (Pten) gene inactivation was demonstrated to affect the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) function and subsequently influence SNS-driven lipolysis in WATs.