Manjeet Rao, PhD, Awarded NCI, R01 Grant to Test Efficacy of Novel Drug

February 25, 2020

Dr. Manjeet Rao, Greehey CCRI Deputy Director (interim), was recently awarded a grant from National Cancer Institute ($2.1 million) to test the therapeutic efficacy of a novel drug that can inhibit the function of a protein that is highly expressed in cancers. Cancer cells use various mechanisms to manage their survival such as repairing DNA […]

Manjeet Rao, PhD in his lab


Frontiers in Oncology: Nanoformulation of Talazoparib Increases Maximum Tolerated Doses in Combination With Temozolomide for Treatment of Ewing Sarcoma (Kurmasheva Lab)

February 24, 2020

Paige Baldwin1,  Rostislav Likhotvorik2,  Nabeela Baig2,  Jodie Cropper2,  Ruth Carlson2,  Raushan Kurmasheva2,3*† and  Srinivas Sridhar1,4,5*† The Pediatric Preclinical Testing Program previously identified the PARP inhibitor talazoparib (TLZ) as a means to potentiate temozolomide (TMZ) activity for the treatment of Ewing sarcoma. However, the combination of TLZ and TMZ has been toxic in both preclinical and clinical […]

Raushan Kurmasheva, Ph. D.


Greehey CCRI Faculty Awarded $1.2M CPRIT Grant to Support Osteosarcoma Research

February 24, 2020

Written by: Will Sansom An award of $1.2 million from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) went to Greehey CCRI Deputy Director and principal investigator Manjeet Rao, PhD, professor of cell systems and anatomy, for studies of an enzyme protein that helps osteosarcoma cells to survive and spread.  The team, which includes co-principal investigator Yogesh Gupta, […]

Rao & Gupta


Luiz O.F. Penalva, PhD, Co-corresponding Senior Author on NPJ Genomic Medicine publication.

February 22, 2020

“Proneural and mesenchymal glioma stem cells display major differences in splicing and lncRNA profiles” Abstract Therapy resistance and recurrence in high-grade gliomas are driven by their populations of glioma stem cells (GSCs). Thus, detailed molecular characterization of GSCs is needed to develop more effective therapies. We conducted a study to identify differences in the splicing […]

Prof. Luiz O.F. Penalva, PhD



Advances in Urology: Microbiome within Primary Tumor Tissue from Renal Cell Carcinoma May Be Associated with PD-L1 Expression of the Venous Tumor Thrombus

February 18, 2020

Michael A. Liss,1 Yidong Chen,2 Ronald Rodriguez,1 Deepak Pruthi,1 Teresa Johnson-Pais,3 Hanzhang Wang,1 Ahmed Mansour,1 James R. White,4 and Dharam Kaushik1 Abstract Objective. To perform a proof of concept microbiome evaluation and PD-L1 expression profiling in clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (cc-RCC) with associated tumor thrombus (TT). Methods. After IRB approval, six patients underwent radical nephrectomy (RN) with venous tumor thrombectomy (VTT). We collected fresh tissue […]



Springer: Prospective use of the single-mouse experimental design for the evaluation of PLX038A

January 11, 2020

Samson Ghilu, Qilin Li, Shaun D. Fontaine, Daniel V. Santi, Raushan T. Kurmasheva, Siyuan Zheng & Peter J. Houghton Abstract Purpose Defining robust criteria for drug activity in preclinical studies allows for fewer animals per treatment group, and potentially allows for the inclusion of additional cancer models that more accurately represent genetic diversity and, potentially, allows for tumor sensitivity biomarker identification. Methods […]


Endocrinology: Inhibitory Interplay of SULT2B1b Sulfotransferase with AKR1C3 Aldo-keto Reductase in Prostate Cancer

January 2, 2020

Sulgi Park, Chung-Seog Song, Chun-Lin Lin, Shoulei Jiang, Pawel A Osmulski, Chiou-Miin Wang, Brett T Marck, Alvin M Matsumoto, Colm Morrissey, Maria E Gaczynska, Yidong Chen, Elahe A Mostaghel, Bandana Chatterjee Abstract SULT2B1b (SULT2B) is a prostate-expressed hydroxysteroid sulfotransferase, which may regulate intracrine androgen homeostasis by mediating 3β-sulfation of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), the precursor for 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) biosynthesis. The aldo-keto reductase (AKR)1C3 regulates androgen receptor (AR) activity in […]


Frontiers in Biosciences (Elite Ed) Cytogenetics of hepatoblastoma

January 2, 2020

Gail E Tomlinson 1 Abstract The cytogenetics of hepatoblastoma demonstrate recurring events which include whole chromosome trisomies, most commonly trisomy of chromosome 2, 8, or 10. In addition, unbalanced translocations involving a breakpoint on the proximal short arm of chromosome 1 are observed which results in a duplication of the long arm of chromosome 1q. The […]