The role of survivin in autophagy

Survivin is a highly conserved protein with important roles in cell death and mitosis; deletion of the survivin gene is embryonically lethal. It is highly expressed in most cancers, making it a promising target for cancer therapy. Autophagy, an important homeostatic cellular recycling system, promot...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Humphry, Nicola
Format: Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55462/
_version_ 1848799167896354816
author Humphry, Nicola
author_facet Humphry, Nicola
author_sort Humphry, Nicola
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Survivin is a highly conserved protein with important roles in cell death and mitosis; deletion of the survivin gene is embryonically lethal. It is highly expressed in most cancers, making it a promising target for cancer therapy. Autophagy, an important homeostatic cellular recycling system, promotes cell survival under stresses such as DNA damage, nutrient starvation and hypoxia. Recent research has begun to identify a link between survivin and autophagy, and therefore the aim of this thesis was to clarify the role of survivin in autophagy and to study the reported interaction between survivin and the autophagic protein microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 (LC3). To achieve this aim, a variety of cell biology and molecular biology techniques were employed. Cultured human cells were modified to express survivin and LC3 with fluorescent tags and studied with fluorescence microscopy to investigate the localisation and characteristics of both survivin and autophagic bodies. Co-immunoprecipitation was used to study the interaction between survivin and LC3, and gene manipulation was used to identify the critical amino acid residues. This thesis reports that high levels of survivin reduce the rate of autophagy and are associated with smaller autophagic bodies and larger acidic bodies. In addition, this study reveals that survivin interacts with LC3 through a canonical LC3-interaction region at residues 61-64, but this interaction is not critical to the role of survivin in regulating autophagosome or acidic body size. Finally, it raises the possibility that survivin-LC3 interaction may affect the mitotic role of survivin.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T20:31:22Z
format Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
id nottingham-55462
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T20:31:22Z
publishDate 2018
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-554622025-02-28T14:17:25Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55462/ The role of survivin in autophagy Humphry, Nicola Survivin is a highly conserved protein with important roles in cell death and mitosis; deletion of the survivin gene is embryonically lethal. It is highly expressed in most cancers, making it a promising target for cancer therapy. Autophagy, an important homeostatic cellular recycling system, promotes cell survival under stresses such as DNA damage, nutrient starvation and hypoxia. Recent research has begun to identify a link between survivin and autophagy, and therefore the aim of this thesis was to clarify the role of survivin in autophagy and to study the reported interaction between survivin and the autophagic protein microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 (LC3). To achieve this aim, a variety of cell biology and molecular biology techniques were employed. Cultured human cells were modified to express survivin and LC3 with fluorescent tags and studied with fluorescence microscopy to investigate the localisation and characteristics of both survivin and autophagic bodies. Co-immunoprecipitation was used to study the interaction between survivin and LC3, and gene manipulation was used to identify the critical amino acid residues. This thesis reports that high levels of survivin reduce the rate of autophagy and are associated with smaller autophagic bodies and larger acidic bodies. In addition, this study reveals that survivin interacts with LC3 through a canonical LC3-interaction region at residues 61-64, but this interaction is not critical to the role of survivin in regulating autophagosome or acidic body size. Finally, it raises the possibility that survivin-LC3 interaction may affect the mitotic role of survivin. 2018-12-13 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en arr https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55462/1/NicolaHumphry_Thesis_Uploaded.pdf Humphry, Nicola (2018) The role of survivin in autophagy. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. Survivin; lc3; Autophagy; Mitosis
spellingShingle Survivin; lc3; Autophagy; Mitosis
Humphry, Nicola
The role of survivin in autophagy
title The role of survivin in autophagy
title_full The role of survivin in autophagy
title_fullStr The role of survivin in autophagy
title_full_unstemmed The role of survivin in autophagy
title_short The role of survivin in autophagy
title_sort role of survivin in autophagy
topic Survivin; lc3; Autophagy; Mitosis
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55462/