Trace the Scientific Method in a Primary Research Scientific Article Epigallocat

Question

Trace the Scientific Method in a Primary Research Scientific Article

Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate Inhibits Stem-Like Inflammatory Breast Cancer Cells

Nora D. Mineva, K. Eric Paulson, [...], and Gail E. Sonenshein

1. What is the overall hypothesis of this experiment? (Reminder: a hypothesis is a statement that can be tested).

2. In the Materials and Methods section of the paper, the authors discuss the cell culture and treatment conditions. What was the control group treated with in this section (make sure to look only at the Cell Culture and Treatment section of the paper)? Why?

3. In the Results section of the paper, the authors clearly summary their multiple findings. In the "EGCG Reduces Growth of Pre-existing Tumors Derived from SUM-149 Stem-like Cells" results sub-section, the authors report a specfic finding. What specific result do the researchers report?

4. Did the researchers follow the scientific method in their experimental design? Explain.

5. Based on the results, was the hypothesis supported, and what can you conclude from this experiment?

Explanation / Answer

1. The overall hypothesis of the experiment is that green tea polyphenol epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) improves the prognosis of breast cancer patients.

2. The control group was treated with the vehicle solvent DMSO in which the green tea has been dissolved for treating the cells in culture. It was done so to test that the improved prognosis was due to the green tea alone and not due to the solvent in which it has been dissolved.

3. SUM-149 has stem cell like populations which are cancerous too. Here the researchers show that green tea can stop a tumour from metastasizing which has been derived from the population of SUM-149 stem cells.

4. Yes the authors followed scientific method as all the proper positive, negative and vehicle controls were included which rules out the possibility that the impoved prognosis is due to some other factor other han green tea.

5. Yes the hypothesis was supported. I conclude that green tea polyphenol epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) decreased expression of genes that promote proliferation, migration, invasion, and survival and ultimately improved prognosis of breast cancer.

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