Margreet Catherina Maria Vissers | |
---|---|
Alma mater | University of Otago |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Biochemistry, Free radicals |
Institutions | University of Otago |
Thesis |
Margreet Catherina Maria Vissers is a New Zealand biochemistry academic, and as of 2019 is a full professor at the University of Otago. [1]
After a PhD titled 'The Effects of neutrophil oxidants and proteinases on the degradation of glomerular basement membrane : implications for inflammatory tissue damage ' at the University of Otago, Vissers joined the staff, rising to full professor. [1]
Vissers' research includes looking at Vitamin C's impact on immune cells and cancer. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits and vegetables, also sold as a dietary supplement and as a topical 'serum' ingredient to treat melasma and wrinkles on the face. It is used to prevent and treat scurvy. Vitamin C is an essential nutrient involved in the repair of tissue, the formation of collagen, and the enzymatic production of certain neurotransmitters. It is required for the functioning of several enzymes and is important for immune system function. It also functions as an antioxidant. Most animals are able to synthesize their own vitamin C. However, apes and monkeys, most bats, some rodents, and certain other animals must acquire it from dietary sources.
Tumor hypoxia is the situation where tumor cells have been deprived of oxygen. As a tumor grows, it rapidly outgrows its blood supply, leaving portions of the tumor with regions where the oxygen concentration is significantly lower than in healthy tissues. Hypoxic microenvironements in solid tumors are a result of available oxygen being consumed within 70 to 150 μm of tumour vasculature by rapidly proliferating tumor cells thus limiting the amount of oxygen available to diffuse further into the tumor tissue. In order to support continuous growth and proliferation in challenging hypoxic environments, cancer cells are found to alter their metabolism. Furthermore, hypoxia is known to change cell behavior and is associated with extracellular matrix remodeling and increased migratory and metastatic behavior.
Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are transcription factors that respond to decreases in available oxygen in the cellular environment, or hypoxia. They are only present in parahoxozoan animals.
Succinate dehydrogenase [ubiquinone] iron-sulfur subunit, mitochondrial (SDHB) also known as iron-sulfur subunit of complex II (Ip) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SDHB gene.
The study of the tumor metabolism, also known as tumor metabolome describes the different characteristic metabolic changes in tumor cells. The characteristic attributes of the tumor metabolome are high glycolytic enzyme activities, the expression of the pyruvate kinase isoenzyme type M2, increased channeling of glucose carbons into synthetic processes, such as nucleic acid, amino acid and phospholipid synthesis, a high rate of pyrimidine and purine de novo synthesis, a low ratio of Adenosine triphosphate and Guanosine triphosphate to Cytidine triphosphate and Uridine triphosphate, low Adenosine monophosphate levels, high glutaminolytic capacities, release of immunosuppressive substances and dependency on methionine.
The Von Hippel–Lindau tumor suppressor also known as pVHL is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the VHL gene. Mutations of the VHL gene are associated with Von Hippel–Lindau disease.
Duodenal cytochrome B (Dcytb) also known as cytochrome b reductase 1 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the CYBRD1 gene.
Hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha, also known as HIF-1-alpha, is a subunit of a heterodimeric transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) that is encoded by the HIF1A gene. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019 was awarded for the discovery of HIF.
Endothelial PAS domain-containing protein 1 is a protein that is encoded by the EPAS1 gene in mammals. It is a type of hypoxia-inducible factor, a group of transcription factors involved in the physiological response to oxygen concentration. The gene is active under hypoxic conditions. It is also important in the development of the heart, and for maintaining the catecholamine balance required for protection of the heart. Mutation often leads to neuroendocrine tumors.
Carbonic anhydrase IX is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the CA9 gene. It is one of the 14 carbonic anhydrase isoforms found in humans and is a transmembrane dimeric metalloenzyme with an extracellular active site that facilitates acid secretion in the gastrointestinal tract. CA IX is overexpressed in many types of cancer including clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC) as well as carcinomas of the cervix, breast and lung where it promotes tumor growth by enhancing tumor acidosis.
In molecular biology mir-210 microRNA is a short RNA molecule. MicroRNAs function to regulate the expression levels of other genes by several mechanisms.
Sir Peter John Ratcliffe, FRS, FMedSci is a British Nobel Laureate physician-scientist who is trained as a nephrologist. He was a practising clinician at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford and Nuffield Professor of Clinical Medicine and head of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine at the University of Oxford from 2004 to 2016. He has been a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford since 2004. In 2016 he became Clinical Research Director at the Francis Crick Institute, retaining a position at Oxford as member of the Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research and director of the Target Discovery Institute, University of Oxford.
Hypoxia-inducible factor-proline dioxygenase (EC 1.14.11.29, HIF hydroxylase) is an enzyme with systematic name hypoxia-inducible factor-L-proline, 2-oxoglutarate:oxygen oxidoreductase (4-hydroxylating). This enzyme catalyses the following chemical reaction
The Pacak-Zhuang syndrome is a recently described disease manifestation in females that includes multiple paragangliomas or pheochromocytomas and somatostatinomas, both neuroendocrine tumors, and secondary polycythemia associated with high erythropoietin levels. Paragangliomas in these patients are mainly localized to the abdomen whereas somatostatinomas are found in the second portion of the duodenum, as shown by imaging or biochemistry. This syndrome is of special interest as finding more than one type of neuroendocrine tumor in one individual is unusual. Such co-occurrences are usually seen in patients carrying hereditary syndromes like multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN), neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1), or von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease.
Gregg Leonard Semenza is a Pediatrician and Professor of Genetic Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He serves as the director of the vascular program at the Institute for Cell Engineering. He is a 2016 recipient of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research. He is known for his discovery of HIF-1, which allows cancer cells to adapt to oxygen-poor environments. He shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for "discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability" with William Kaelin Jr. and Peter J. Ratcliffe.
William G. Kaelin Jr. is an American Nobel laureate physician-scientist. He is a professor of medicine at Harvard University and the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute. His laboratory studies tumor suppressor proteins. In 2016, Kaelin received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research and the AACR Princess Takamatsu Award. He also won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2019 along with Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza.
Jacques Pouysségur is a French engineer and researcher. He was born on November 10, 1943 in Toulouse, Haute-Garonne.
Bridget Anne Robinson is a New Zealand oncology academic. As of 2018, she is a full professor at the University of Otago, holding the Mackenzie Chair since 2010.
Intravenous Ascorbic Acid, is a process that delivers soluble ascorbic acid directly into the bloodstream. It is not approved for use to treat any medical condition.
Ascorbyl glucoside (AA-2G) is an ascorbic acid derivative that contains at least one glycosyl group. Ascorbyl glucoside is commonly used in cosmetic products to administer vitamin C topically. Ascorbyl glucoside exhibits superior stability and penetration ability compared to ascorbyl phosphate salts, but the rate of its in vivo conversion to ascorbic acid is not known. Ascorbyl glucosides such as AA-2G, like many other derivatives of the ascorbic acid, show antiscorbutic effects. It is also sometimes used in skin whitening products.