My research is focused in three main areas: 1) Effects of neuroendocrine pathways on ovarian cancer growth and progression. The adverse effects of stress pathways on the immune system have been known for a long time. My laboratory made the novel observation that stress hormones can have direct…
more effects on ovarian cancer cells via beta-adrenergic receptors and promote angiogenesis, tumor growth and metastasis. Ongoing work is focused on dissecting the molecular and biological processes involved in mediating the effects of stress biology on the tumor microenvironment. 2) Development of novel anti-vascular therapeutic approaches. Our ongoing studies in this area are focused on understanding the functional significance of key tyrosine kinases such as EphA2 and focal adhesion kinase in tumor angiogenesis. In addition, we are examining the relevance of perivascular cells in protecting tumor-associated endothelial cells. Based on these findings, we have developed novel strategies for targeting both endothelial cells and pericytes in ovarian cancers. 3) Development of new strategies for systemic in vivo siRNA delivery. The use of siRNA as a method of gene silencing has rapidly become a powerful tool for determining protein function and gene discovery. The extraordinary sequence specificity of siRNA makes it an attractive tool for cancer therapy. We are utilizing nanoparticles for highly efficient in vivo delivery of siRNA with the hope of translating this work for clinical applications in the near future.
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