Wiggles Isn’t Wiggling: Apoptosis Edition
The Feasibility of Cancer Treatment for the Family Dog
Author(s)
Abstract
This case study tells the story of a family pet that is diagnosed with cancer. Claire learns that her dog Wiggles has lymphoma, and that histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) offer a potential treatment. Students integrate material related to the central dogma as they learn how HDACi work and their potential in treating cancer. Finally, students are asked to decide the feasibility of cancer treatment for a family dog. This case study is closely related to another by the same author: "Wiggles Isn't Wiggling: Gene Expression Edition." Both cases were written for the same course and share the same basic story. The apoptosis edition is used as a review for the section on cell cycle regulation and signal transduction pathways. The gene expression version is used at the end of the section on regulation of gene expression. Although there is some overlap, the two cases have different sets of objectives and question sets (with the exception of the final assignment).
Objectives
- Explain the function of particular proteins in the apoptosis pathway.
- Use a signal transduction pathway to determine how a cancer treatment induces apoptosis.
- Design an experiment to determine if a potential HDACi causes apoptosis using proper controls, reagents, and experimental techniques. Predict the results that could be obtained from such an experiment.
- Discuss feasibility of cancer treatment in the context of a pet dog.
Keywords
epigenetics; histones; histone acetyltransferases; histone deacetylase; depsipeptides; cancer; cell cycle control; apoptosis; chromatin; gene expression; signal transductionTopical Areas
Ethics, Scientific methodEducational Level
Undergraduate lower division, Undergraduate upper divisionFormat
PDFType / Methods
Directed, DiscussionLanguage
EnglishSubject Headings
Cell Biology | Biochemistry | Medicine (General) | Molecular Biology |
Date Posted
10/5/2017Teaching Notes
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