BMP2 Nuclear Variant and Expression of Cancer Genes

Authors

Devin Holden, Brigham Young University
Dr. Laura Bridgewater, Brigham Young University

Keywords

BMP2, nuclear variant, cancer genes, bone morphogenic protein 2

College

Life Sciences

Department

Microbiology and Molecular Biology

Abstract

Bone morphogenic protein 2 (BMP2) is a protein that is secreted outside many different types of mammalian cells and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of various forms of cancer. Recently, a variant of this protein that is localized to the nucleus (nBMP2) of the cell was discovered and characterized “i”. In order to further characterize this novel variant of BMP2 a microarray analysis was performed to assess what influence nBMP2 has on the expression levels of different genes in a typical mammalian cell. This analysis revealed a list of several genes whose expression levels are potentially altered by nBMP2. From this list I chose to focus on five genes, all of which have previously been implicated in cancer. I performed experiments to confirm the findings of the microarray analysis, and am working towards testing whether or not nBMP2 is binding to the DNA in order to exert its regulatory effects.

Recommended Citation

Holden, Devin and Bridgewater, Dr. Laura (2013) "BMP2 Nuclear Variant and Expression of Cancer Genes," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2013: Iss. 1, Article 1280.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2013/iss1/1280