NTU Undergraduates' research April 2014 - Biosciences | Page 130

Fatin Al-Janabi
N0374145

The effect of glucolipotoxicity on beta pancreatic cells: the role of
S100 calcium binding proteins

The increased blood glucose and fatty acid levels, which is known as glucolipotoxicity,
characterize type 2 diabetes mellitus. This project focused on examining the expression of
two members of S100 proteins family, which are S100A3 and S100A4, under glucolipotoxic
conditions. Previous studies have linked the pathogenesis of some diseases e.g. metastatic
and neurodegenerative in relation to the increased expression of S100A3 and S100A4.
However, the role of S100A3 and S100A4 proteins in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes
mellitus is still far from clear. Here, we concluded that the mean fold change of S100A4
protein expression was increased by 1.81 ± 0.44 under glucolipotoxic conditions from
control, however S100A3 protein research was discontinued due to poor specificity of antiS100A3 primary antibody and the limited time provided to carry out the project.