Maria Del Carmen Chacon Castro

University of Texas at Dallas | UTD · Department of Molecular and Cell Biology

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that leads to dementia and patient death. AD is characterized by intracellular neurofibrillary tangles, extracellular amyloid beta (Aβ) plaque deposition, and neurodegeneration. Diverse alterations have been associated with AD progression, including genetic mutations, neuroinflamm...

Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for 15% of all lung cancers with exceptionally high proliferative rate, early metastasis, and poor prognosis. Chemotherapy has provided SCLC patients considerable survival benefits over the past three decades. Etoposide-platinum (EP) is the preferred first-line regimen. SCLC is initially highly responsive to c...

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths and comprises of approximately 30% of all cancer cases affecting women in the United States. There are three subtypes of breast cancer based on receptor profiles, with the third subtype being triple-negative breast cancer. TNBC accounts for about 10-15% of all breast cancers. The TN...

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for approximately 85% of all lung cancers. KRAS mutations and LKB1 inactivation commonly occur in NSCLC and are associated with poor prognosis. Several studies enunciate the role of the immune system in lung cancer progression through cancer cells' ability to escape immune surveillance. Therefore, underst...

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States, with a 5-year survival rate of less than 25%. While most lung cancer patients receive radiation therapy, radioresistance severely impacts treatment outcomes. Thus, development of therapeutics to potentiate durable response to radiation therapy may be key to improving tre...

Breast cancer (BC) is the second leading cause of cancer death in women. Among the four main types of BC, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for 10 to 15% of BC. Although most TNBC patients have a poor prognosis, there are subsets of patients with tumors that respond well to chemotherapy. However, the outcome of chemotherapy in TNBC wors...

Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide with a 5-year survival rate of less than 18%. Current treatment modalities include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy. Despite advances in therapeutic options, resistance to therapy remains a major obstacle to the effectiveness of...

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death by cancer, and non-small cell lung cancer comprises of 85-90% of lung cancer cases. Previous studies have demonstrated the importance of heme in mitochondrial metabolism and OXPHOS. Heme is an essential molecule in the oxidative phosphorylation pathway especially since Complex II-IV all contain heme. During...

Heme is an essential prosthetic group in proteins and enzymes involved in oxygen utilization and metabolism. Heme also plays versatile and fascinating roles in regulating fundamental biological processes, ranging from aerobic respiration to drug metabolism. Increasing experimental and epidemiological data have shown that altered heme homeostasis ac...