Debabrata (Dev) Mukhopadhyay
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, USA
Title: Targeting Axonal Guidance Proteins in Tumorigenesis: Role of Genetic Status of KRAS and TGF-ï¢1 Signaling Pathways
Biography
Biography: Debabrata (Dev) Mukhopadhyay
Abstract
The current body of works suggest that most of the axon guidance proteins interplay with vascular system that leads to vascular development and abnormalities of those pathways usually cause several pathological consequences including cancer. The axon guidance molecules and their receptors are often incongruously expressed in cancers however the molecular pathways of those axon guidance proteins in the tumor cells related to tumorigenesis processes need deeper evaluation. Neuropilin-1 (NRP1), a non-tyrosine kinase receptor, originally discovered as one of the axonal guidance receptor, is overexpressed in several cancers including renal, pancreatic and lung cancers. Originally, our laboratory demonstrated that inhibition of NRP1 expression can lead to differentiation of tumor cells and growth inhibition in renal cell carcinoma and later other laboratories also demonstrated the similar observation on different tumor types including melanoma and brain tumors. Interestingly, our recent data defined a differential role of NRP1 on tumorigenesis, depends upon genetic status of KRAS in the tumor cells. More in depth signaling pathways and its intricacy with respect to drug development will be discussed in this meeting.