The experiments presented were designed to test the hypothesis that the well-known carcinogen, benzo[a]pyrene has epigenetic effects, specifically the ability to alter cytosine methylation patterns. MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells were treated for a period of sixty days with 100 nM benzo[a]pyrene. The methylation status of two genes, Ecadherin and GSTP 1 were examined using methyl-specific PCR and Southern blot analysis. After sixty days, no detectable change in methylation was observed. Evidence exists that de novo methylation is a consequence of transcriptional inactivity. Benzo[a]pyrene can contribute to transcriptional repression by sequestering the transcription factor, Spl. To test this hypothesis in our system, MCF-7 cells were transiently transfected with a reporter construct containing Sp 1 sites. These experiments demonstrated an 8.4 fold increase in reporter gene activity over a promoterless control plasmid; however, a difference could not be established between benzo[a]pyrene-treated and untreated cells.
","abstract_html":"<p>The experiments presented were designed to test the hypothesis that the well-known carcinogen, benzo[a]pyrene has epigenetic effects, specifically the ability to alter cytosine methylation patterns. MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells were treated for a period of sixty days with 100 nM benzo[a]pyrene. The methylation status of two genes, Ecadherin and GSTP 1 were examined using methyl-specific PCR and Southern blot analysis. After sixty days, no detectable change in methylation was observed. Evidence exists that de novo methylation is a consequence of transcriptional inactivity. Benzo[a]pyrene can contribute to transcriptional repression by sequestering the transcription factor, Spl. To test this hypothesis in our system, MCF-7 cells were transiently transfected with a reporter construct containing Sp 1 sites. These experiments demonstrated an 8.4 fold increase in reporter gene activity over a promoterless control plasmid; however, a difference could not be established between benzo[a]pyrene-treated and untreated cells.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Kozina, Vladimir Joseph"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (M.S.)","degree_level":"Thesis - Pacific Access Restricted","degree_discipline":"Biological Sciences","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Lisa A. Wrischnik"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2005,"date_issued":"2005-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2005-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:36:35Z","subjects":["Breast Cancer","DNA Methylation","Carcinogenesis Molecular aspects","Life Sciences"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/609","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Lisa A. Wrischnik"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Kozina, Vladimir Joseph"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2018-06-29T09:06:35Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Biological Sciences"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis - Pacific Access Restricted"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (M.S.)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Breast Cancer","DNA Methylation","Carcinogenesis Molecular aspects","Life Sciences"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/609"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The experiments presented were designed to test the hypothesis that the well-known carcinogen, benzo[a]pyrene has epigenetic effects, specifically the ability to alter cytosine methylation patterns. MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells were treated for a period of sixty days with 100 nM benzo[a]pyrene. The methylation status of two genes, Ecadherin and GSTP 1 were examined using methyl-specific PCR and Southern blot analysis. After sixty days, no detectable change in methylation was observed. Evidence exists that de novo methylation is a consequence of transcriptional inactivity. Benzo[a]pyrene can contribute to transcriptional repression by sequestering the transcription factor, Spl. To test this hypothesis in our system, MCF-7 cells were transiently transfected with a reporter construct containing Sp 1 sites. These experiments demonstrated an 8.4 fold increase in reporter gene activity over a promoterless control plasmid; however, a difference could not be established between benzo[a]pyrene-treated and untreated cells.
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"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/609"],"dc:rights":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:source":["54"],"dc:subject":["Breast Cancer","DNA Methylation","Carcinogenesis Molecular aspects","Life Sciences"],"dc:title":["Induction and characterization of de novo methylation by benzo[A]pyrene in the cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Biological Sciences"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis - Pacific Access Restricted"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (M.S.)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:36:35Z"}