I just finished my community college work at both Gavilan College and Cabrillo College and will begin studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz this September. As a human biology student, I plan to apply to a physician assistant program or medical school after my time at UCSC. I love the medical field and helping others has always been a great joy of mine. I also dedicate my work over this summer to my youngest cousin, Andrew, who was afflicted with cancer earlier this year. At the young age of 18, he has passed and is continuing to be a true warrior and inspiration to many. I hope one day we can finally have an end to this monstrous illness.
I was born and raised in Hollister, so I am accustomed to small-town living, but I am very much excited to continue my journey in Santa Cruz and beyond. In the Gavilan College STEM (short for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), I was given the wonderful opportunity to conduct research with professors at the San José State University (SJSU) Cancer Biology Lab over the summer. I understand that for many years now, Gavilan has been boosting the number and success of students in STEM fields.
During my internship at SJSU, I learned not only about research techniques but also more about an aggressive form of breast cancer. I studied how certain components of walnuts, calciferous fruits (e.g., kale and Brussel sprouts) and other plants can help prevent and treat Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC).
Breast cancer, or any cancer for that matter, is a topic that has been ongoing through the years and a priority of mankind. While most subgroups of breast cancer are somewhat treatable with chemotherapy, TNBC has been the hardest to treat and the most aggressive of all breast cancers. This is due in part because with most breast cancers, one of three hormone receptors are inactivated within the cell. Scientists can easily target one hormone and gear treatments towards it. But unfortunately with TNBC, all three hormone receptors are inactivated, making it much harder to treat. The reoccurrence level is high and so is the mortality rate.
We know that eating a good amount of fruits and vegetables is essential, but why? Most fruits and nuts such as walnuts have a very high antioxidant rate. Walnuts and components found in specific fruits and vegetables such as kale were targeted in this research because of their high antioxidant properties. Antioxidants can prevent or delay some cell damage. Such properties are good for preventing heart disease and other illnesses.
Certain components in walnuts and other such plants have been shown to arrest or “stop” a cell from growing at certain marks of a cell cycle. All mitotic cells go through the cell cycle during which, at different phases of the cycle, certain proteins are activated in order to move on to the next phase. The proteins that were looked at specifically in my research were found during the second to last stages of the cell cycle, Gap 2 and Mitotic. It was shown that with enough of a concentration of walnuts or fruit compounds, proteins at this stage where stopped in their tracks and thus no further growth occurred.
The main goal for this research project was to first look to see if there was any further evidence of this happening, which was found positive for walnut extracts and calciferous fruit compounds. I also looked into how much of a concentration of these fruits and nuts would lead to inhibition. With my time at the summer internship at SJSU, I was able to contribute to the ongoing research in the biology department lab. Further research of TNBC, and how it is affected by walnut extracts and other fruits, is ongoing and looks to have a promising lead in helping to better prevent and treat TNBC and other cancers in the future.