Schnugh, Desmond Jo2006-03-232006-03-232006-03-23http://hdl.handle.net/10539/284Master of Science - Biologyá-catenin plays a crucial role in cell adhesion. Expression levels of á-catenin have been shown to be decreased in almost all tumours studied. The levels of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) were shown to be increased in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cell lines. á-catenin therefore, may play a part in linking the EGF pathway or other signal transduction pathways, bringing about some of the changes in the OSCC cell lines. The á-catenin gene from five OSCC cell lines was sequenced. Three out of five OSCC cell lines studied were found to harbour mutations. One of the mutations resulted in a change in the amino acid sequence of á-catenin. It was concluded that this alteration may not have affected the functioning of á-catenin. á-catenin was largely expressed at the plasma membrane with some weaker cytoplasm/nuclear expression occurring in all of the OSCC cell lines. Treatment of the OSCC cells with EGF for a 12 hour period resulted in no noticeable change in the expression levels of á- catenin. The results obtained from this study indicated that á-catenin could play a role in signal transduction pathways in the OSCC cell lines.42771 bytes1463523 bytes28103 bytesapplication/pdfapplication/pdfapplication/pdfencarcinomacellsquamousoesophagealcateninThesis