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Full-Text Articles in Cell and Developmental Biology

Cancer Salt Nostalgia, Aashish S. Allu, Venkataswarup Tiriveedhi May 2021

Cancer Salt Nostalgia, Aashish S. Allu, Venkataswarup Tiriveedhi

Biology Faculty Research

High-salt (sodium chloride) diets have been strongly associated with disease states and poor health outcomes. Traditionally, the impact of salt intake is primarily studied in cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and renal diseases; however, recently there has been increasing evidence demonstrating the role of salt in autoimmune diseases. Salt has been shown to modulate the inflammatory activation of immune cells leading to chronic inflammation-related ailments. To date, there is minimal evidence showing a direct correlation of salt with cancer incidence and/or cancer-related adverse clinical outcomes. In this review article, we will discuss the recent understanding of the molecular role of salt, and …


Perplexing Role Of P-Glycoprotein In Tumor Microenvironment, Kianna Robinson, Venkataswarup Tiriveedhi Mar 2020

Perplexing Role Of P-Glycoprotein In Tumor Microenvironment, Kianna Robinson, Venkataswarup Tiriveedhi

Biology Faculty Research

Development of multidrug resistance (MDR) still remains a major obstacle to the long-term success of cancer therapy. P-glycoprotein (P-gp) is a well-identified membrane transporter with capability to efflux drug molecules out of the cancer cell leading to reduced efficiency of chemotherapy. Cancer cells upregulate P-gp expression as an adaptive response to evade chemotherapy mediated cell death. While several P-gp inhibitors have been discovered by in silico and pre-clinical studies, very few have successfully passed all phases of the clinical trials. Studies show that application of P-gp inhibitors in cancer therapy regimen following development of MDR achieved limited beneficial outcomes. While, …


Immunogenicity Of Tumor Initiating Stem Cells: Potential Applications In Novel Anticancer Therapy, Durga Khandekar, Suneetha Amara, Venkataswarup Tiriveedhi Apr 2019

Immunogenicity Of Tumor Initiating Stem Cells: Potential Applications In Novel Anticancer Therapy, Durga Khandekar, Suneetha Amara, Venkataswarup Tiriveedhi

Biology Faculty Research

Tumor initiating stem cells (TISCs) are a subset of tumor cells, which are implicated in cancer relapse and resistance to chemotherapy. The metabolic programs that drive TISC functions are exquisitely unique and finely-tuned by various oncogene-driven transcription factors to facilitate pro-cancerous adaptive challenges. While this change in TISC metabolic machinery allows for the identification of associated molecular targets with diagnostic and prognostic value, these molecules also have a potential immunological application. Recent studies have shown that these TISC-associated molecules have strong antigenic properties enabling naïve CD8+T lymphocytes to differentiate into cytotoxic effector phenotype with anticancer potential. In spite of the …


The Five Immune Forces Impacting Dna-Based Cancer Immunotherapeutic Strategy, Suneetha Amara, Venkataswarup Tiriveedhi Mar 2017

The Five Immune Forces Impacting Dna-Based Cancer Immunotherapeutic Strategy, Suneetha Amara, Venkataswarup Tiriveedhi

Biology Faculty Research

DNA-based vaccine strategy is increasingly realized as a viable cancer treatment approach. Strategies to enhance immunogenicity utilizing tumor associated antigens have been investigated in several pre-clinical and clinical studies. The promising outcomes of these studies have suggested that DNA-based vaccines induce potent T-cell effector responses and at the same time cause only minimal side-effects to cancer patients. However, the immune evasive tumor microenvironment is still an important hindrance to a long-term vaccine success. Several options are currently under various stages of study to overcome immune inhibitory effect in tumor microenvironment. Some of these approaches include, but are not limited to, …