Author ORCID Identifier
Date of Award
7-2022
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Interdisciplinary Studies (MIS)
Department
Biomedical Sciences
First Advisor
Dr. Hongyu Qiu
Second Advisor
Dr. Chunying Li
Abstract
Recent studies have demonstrated that the Valosin-containing protein (VCP), an ATPase – associated protein, plays a protective role in the heart against cardiomyopathies and injuries caused by various cardiac stresses, including ischemia and pressure overload. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. It has been shown that VCP presents in stressed hearts. Our hypothesis is that VCP plays an essential role in cardiomyocyte growth and survival through a dual regulatory effect on the signaling of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR). Thus, we used a functional gain and loss strategy to determine the critical role of VCP in regulating mTOR signaling in cardiomyocytes in vitro. By using recombined adeno-virus system (Ad-CMV-GFP-VCP for overexpression and Ad-U6- siRNA-VCP for knockdown), we successfully overexpressed VCP and knocked down VCP in H9C2 cells respectively. This study aimed to better understand how VCP overexpression and knockdown affected certain proteins involved in the mTOR pathway – in particular phosphorylated Akt (pAkt T308 and pAkt S473), Raptor, Rictor and mTOR. Western blots were also done to confirm VCP knockdown and overexpression with GaPDH as the loading control. This preliminary study, although did not yield substantial results, can be designed as an in vitro system to better understand VCP and mTOR interactions.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/6SSD-6389
Recommended Citation
Siri, Sharadhi, "Vasolin-Containing Protein (VCP) in Cardiomyocyte Survival and Growth via MTOR Complex Mediated Signaling." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2022.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/6SSD-6389