Örebro Studies in Medicine 61
örebro 2011 Doctoral Dissertation
Biomarkers in non-small cell lung carcinoma
Methodological aspects and influence of gender, histology and
smoking habits on estrogen receptor and epidermal growth factor
family receptor signalling
Christina Karlsson
Medical Science with focus on Biomedicine
2011
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ÖREBRO STUDIES IN MEDIcINE 61christina karlsson is a registered Biomedical scientist. She graduated from Gothenburg University in 1989 as a graduate histotechnologist. Thereafter she worked at the Dept of Pathology, Örebro University Hospital until 1994. At that time she joined the teach-ing staff of Örebro University and combined teachteach-ing with further studies in biomedical sciences earning her B.Sc from Örebro University in 1998 and her Master of Medical Sciences from Umeå University in 2000. In recent years she has combined her teaching duties with doctorial studies at School of Health and Medical Sciences at Örebro University.
Non small cell lung carcinoma is a leading cause of cancer mortality world-wide. There are gender and smoking associated differences both in tumour types and clinical outcome. The present thesis elucidates methodological questions concerning biomarker studies on biobanked tumour tissues, es-pecially concerning formalin fixed tumour material and in situ detection of proteins and nucleic acids. Furthermore, estrogen receptors as well as epidermal growth factor receptor family signalling pathways are elucidated with immunohistochemistry and molecular biology techniques. A number of mechanisms which may contribute to gender and smoking associated differences in morphology as well as concerning outcome in non small cell lung cancer are described. The question of estrogen receptor and epidermal growth factor family signalling crosstalk as a potential target for combined targeted therapy is raised.
issn 1652-4063 isbn 978-91-7668-827-4