Researcher ORCID Identifier

0009-0006-3356-7101

Graduation Year

2025

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Biology

Reader 1

Pete Chandrangsu

Reader 2

Marion Preest

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© 2025 Vanessa M Gutierrez

Abstract

F. nucleatum is an oral commensal bacteria that turns pathogenic in the presence of periodontitis. Current research that has focused on the role that F. nucleatum plays in pancreatic cancer has primarily focused on its effects on immune cells. There is a lack of research on how it contributes to altered genetic expression, especially in patients with pancreatic cancer and periodontitis. My proposal will focus on testing the contribution that F. nucleatum has in the genetic expression of the commonly mutated genes, KRAS, TP53, CDKN2A, and SMAD4, in pancreatic cancer, as well as the activity of the pathways the genes are involved with and the virulence factor, FadA. A qPCR and qRT-PCR will be conducted on pancreatic tissue of patients without periodontitis and without pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), with PDAC only, and with both periodontitis and PDAC. A qRT-PCR and a quantitative Western Blot analysis will be conducted on three similar groups of mice. It is expected that the patient and mice group with greater levels of F. nucleatum, the group with periodontitis and PDAC, will cause greater genetic alterations in KRAS and CDKN2A. The activity of the pathways KRAS and CDKN2A and the virulence factor FadA will also experience greater altered protein expression. The proposal will provide further information on the role that F. nucleatum has in the genetic alterations most commonly found in PDAC. It also provides possible mechanisms that affect tumor progression and what aspect of F. nucleatum can potentially aid in the genetic and pathway changes.

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