DHRUV

Dr. DHRUV KUMAR

Address 1	:
Address 2	:
Title	:	Dr.
First Name	:	DHRUV
Last Name	:	KUMAR
Email ID	:	[email protected]
Country	:	United States
State	:	Kansas
Zipcode	:	66103

Department	:	Otolaryngology
Area of Research
Cancer Therapeutics and Cancer Prevention
Area of Expertise
Cancer Biology, Bioinformatics
Brief Description of Research Interest :
Understanding the molecular cross-talk between head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and tumor-associated fibroblasts (TAFs) in tumor progression. The major part of HNSCC tumor is consist of TAFs. Emerging evidence demonstrates molecular crosstalk between HNSCC and TAFs in tumor progression. Our lab is in the process of identifying signaling molecules involved in the cross-talk between HNSCC and TAFs. Specifically, the signaling molecules involved in metabolic-symbiosis between TAFsand HNSCC. Fibroblasts also play a critical role in radiation-induced fibrosis (RIF). RIF is an adverse effect of radiation therapy in cancer patients that has a significant impact on the quality-of-life. Most head and neck cancer patients treated with radiotherapy develop RIF. Currently, there are no effective therapeutic interventions to mitigate this condition. Our lab is developing pre-clinical models for RIF with a goal of finding new therapeutic targets for intervention.
Representative Publications :
1. Kumar D, Gupta D.K. (2010). Insilico Analysis of Interaction between HIV-1 Proteases and derivatives of Cyclic Urea Inhibitor and its ADME Toxicity Properties. Biofrontiers, 1, 2. 2. Pivato M, De Franceschi G, Tosatto L, Frare E, Kumar D, et al. (2012). Covalent alphasynuclein dimers: chemico-physical and aggregation properties. PloS one 7:e50027. PMID: 23272053. PMCID: PMC3521728 3. Singh BN, Kumar D, Shankar S, Srivastava RK. (2012). Rottlerin induces autophagy which leads to apoptotic cell death through inhibition of PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway in human pancreatic cancer stem cells. Biochem Pharmacol. 84:1154-63. PMID: 22902833. 4. Kumar D, Shankar S, Srivastava RK. (2013). Rottlerin-induced autophagy leads to the apoptosis in breast cancer stem cells: molecular mechanisms. Mol Cancer.12. PMID: 24359639. PMCID: PMC3914415 5. Nanta R, Kumar D, Meeker D, Rodova M, Van Veldhuizen PJ, et al. (2013). NVP-LDE-225 (Erismodegib) inhibits epithelial-mesenchymal transition and human prostate cancer stem cell growth in NOD/SCID IL2Rgamma null mice by regulating Bmi-1 and microRNA-128. Oncogenesis. 2:e42. PMID: 23567619. PMCID: PMC3641359. 6. Shankar S, Kumar D, Srivastava RK. (2013). Epigenetic modifications by dietary phytochemicals: Implications for personalized nutrition. Pharmacol Therapeut. 138:1-17. PMID: 23159372. PMCID: PMC4153856. 7. Kumar D, Shankar S, Srivastava RK. (2014). Rottlerin induces autophagy and apoptosis in prostate cancer stem cells via PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. Cancer Lett. 343:179-89. PMID: 24125861. 8. Plotegher N, Kumar D, Tessari I, Brucale M, Munari F, et al. (2014). The chaperone-like protein 14-3-3eta interacts with human alpha-synuclein aggregation intermediates rerouting the amyloidogenic pathway and reducing alpha-synuclein cellular toxicity. Human molecular genetics. 23:5615-29. PMID: 24895406. 9. Kumar D, Shankar S, Srivastava RK. (2014). Understanding the biological functions and therapeutic potentials of stem cells and cancer stem cells: Where are we? Journal of Cancer Stem Cell Research 2:e1002:1-8. 10. Kumar D, Plotegher N, Bubacco L, Brucale M. (2014). Quantitative AFM morphometry of non-fibrillar Î±-synuclein aggregation products induced by the chaperone-like protein 14-3-3. Italian Society for Microscopical Sciences. Vol 11, No 1. DOI: 10.4081/microscopie. 2014.4998. 11. Kumar D, Gupta D, Shankar S, Srivastava RK. (2015). Biomolecular characterization of exosomes released from cancer stem cells: Possible implications for biomarker and treatment of cancer. Oncotarget:1-12. PMID: 25682864. PMCID: PMC4413653. 12. Kumar D, Kandl C, Hamilton C, Shnayder Y, Tsue T, Kakarala K, Ledgerwood L, Sun X S, Huang H, Girod D, Thomas S M. (2015). Anti-HGF antibody ficlatuzumab mitigates tumor-associated fibroblast-facilitated head and neck cancer progression. JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery. 1;141(12):1133-9. PMID: 26540318.