Chemoprevention of oxidative stress

Description of projects available to graduate students:
Numerous epidemiological studies have demonstrated that oxidative stress, resulting in a depletion of bodily antioxidant reserves, may be either associated with or an etiological factor in a variety of adverse health outcomes, particularly cancer, circulatory disorders (atherosclerosis, ischemia/reperfusion injury, excessive platelet aggregation), neural, pulmonary and eye diseases and aging. This suggests that inhibitors of free radical processes in cells and biological fluids, antioxidants, may be used for chemoprevention of diseases. Successful chemoprevention by antioxidants may only be possible if exact mechanisms and pathways of free radicals involved are elucidated. Therefore, this group is developing mechanism-based approaches to disease prevention by antioxidants.

Two projects are proposed for student rotations in 1999:

“Chemoprevention of disease through mechanism-based interventions to block oxidative stress”:

Project 1. Chemoprevention of acute myeloid leukemia through free radical mechanisms of etoposide in myeloperoxidase-rich cells (jointly with Dr. J. Yalowich, Department of Pharmacology)

Project 2. Chemoprevention of oxidative stress in preeclampsia through regulation of transition metal binding by plasma proteins (jointly with Magee Womens Research Institute)

Techniques graduate student will learn:
TBA