Fatores associados a cancro

: proposta de ontologia

Abstract

Cancer appears as a consequence of multiple molecular events resulting in cell disruption having as ultimate cause the loss of cellular homeostasis. Some patients are susceptible to these events of deregulation due to hereditary characteristics, others, by contact with external factors that caused cell disruption. Cancer has the second highest mortality rate all over the world, only behind cardiovascular diseases. However, if detected at an early stage, it becomes less debilitating and the survival rate increases. Despite the extensive amount of published data and dedicated investigations to best understand the factors that impact on carcinogenic pathology, the terminology is not standardized or organized, and this information remains difficult to interpret. Information Systems that use Semantic Web technology allow the standardization of dispersed terminologies, which will help in this matter. The work performed under this dissertation aimed to create a system of ontologies that could describe the factors associated with cancer. They were then gathered in OntoXcancer tool. The OntoXcancer is a bioinformatics tool that allows the management and analysis of factors associated with cancer and allowed the construction of a structured database - FactorXcancer. Within this dissertation, the cancer-associated factors were cataloged according to the ontologies generated by OntoXcancer and bibliographic information concerning these factors allowed the establishment of a methodology for consulting of the information available in FactorXcancer.

Date of Award	18 Mar 2014
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Marlene Barros (Supervisor) & Joel Perdiz Arrais (Co-Supervisor)