Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Major Research Interest:

(a) Roles of different chemokines and chemokine receptors in the progression of human cancers. Recent reports suggest that different chemokines and their receptors play critical role(s) in tumor progression and tumor metastasis. We plan to study the role(s) of oncogenes and some kinases in modulating the expression of different chemokines/chemokine receptors in human breast cancer and renal cancer. Our studies are focused on the signal transduction pathways that are involved in the development and progression of tumor. We have shown that the oncogenic ras pathway can modulate the expression of the splice variants of the chemokine receptor CXCR3, and may play a critical role in the development and rapid progression of cancer (Datta & Pal et al, Cancer Research, 2006).

(b) Mechanism(s) for the development of post-transplantation cancer, and primarily renal and skin cancer. We plan to study the role of different immunosuppressive drugs in modulating the expression of angiogenic cytokines (like vascular endothelial growth factor) and chemokines post-transplantation. We have recently shown that the calcineurin inhibitors (used in transplant patients) can promote rapid progression of human renal cancer through the overexpression of the angiogenic cytokine VEGF (Basu & Pal et al, Cancer Research, 2008; Basu & Pal et al, J Biological Chemistry, 2010). We have also demonstrated that the calcineurin inhibitors can activate the ras oncogenic pathway(s) in human renal cancer cells (Datta & Pal et al, Cancer Research, 2009).

(c) Role of the cytoprotective enzyme heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in regulating the expression of different genes for the effective repair mechanism(s) of human renal tubular epithelial cells in response to various shock and injury. We have demonstrated that during renal injury, HO-1 may play a critical role in the repair mechanism(s) by regulating several genes, including angiogenic factors (Laxmanan & Pal et al, J Am Soc of Nephrology, 2005; Datta & Pal et al, Am Journal of Physiology, 2007).