PRODUCT RESEARCH

Product Research Program focuses on developing clinically applicable deliverables out of the work carried out in the Discovery group. In addition to knowledge, translational clinical research yields 4 types of products (i) Therapeutics (ii) diagnostics (iii) Platforms and (iv) Policies/Methods. For each type, specific deliberations are required to ascertain the 3S: stability, sustainability and scalability of the product before it can be taken to the users/patients through industry and/or approving agencies. In this newly formed group we concentrate on ‘productizing’ a concept which has already been proven of its application in any of the core research groups at MSMF. ‘Productizing’ chiefly involves validation in patient samples and checking the 3S of the products.

Principal Investigator

Smitha P K, PhD

Team

Name Position
Ram Kishore Junior Research fellow
Nagapushpa Junior Research fellow
Dr Sumsum Sunny Consultant/PhD Student
Ms Sai Lakshmi Research Technician

People

Dr. M A Kuriakose, MD, FRCS

Dr. Kuriakose is Professor and Director, Surgical Oncology and Chief of the Head and Neck Oncology Program, Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center, Narayana Health, Bangalore. He is also a professor and the director of head and neck oncology translational research program, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo. Previously, he has served as Director, Head and Neck Oncology Translational Research program, New York School of Medicine.
He has been instrumental in establishing collaborations with national and international institutions/universities of complementary expertise to address the various issues with the disease in a co-ordinated, multi-centric manner. He has chaired two international and four national conferences and has successfully carried out several projects in chemoprevention and translational research. His work is published in Oral Oncology, Head and Neck, Journal of Applied genetics, Journal of Cancer Research and Therapeutics, Current Opinion in Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery and Laryngoscope. He has served leadership positions in many national and international organizations including Secretary General of International Academy of Oral Oncology, Chairman of Oral Oncology special interest group of International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, Member of AO Research Review Commission, member of steering committee of HPV-AHEAD study of International Agency for Research in Cancer (WHO), secretary of Head and Neck Oncology Cooperative Research Group of India and Secretary of the Foundation of Head and Neck Oncology of India.

Dr. Amritha Suresh, Ph.D.
Principal Scientist
amritha.suresh@ms-mf.org

Dr. Amritha Suresh is a Principal Scientist of the Integrated Head and Neck Oncology Program, at Mazumdar Shaw Center for Translational Research (MSCTR), Narayana Health, Bangalore. She is also a faculty of the Roswell Park-Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center collaborative Research program. Dr. Suresh completed her doctoral program from Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology (JNU) and served as a Research Associate at Head and Neck Institute, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Kochi during which period she was involved in setting up the research facility and the establishment of a Head and Neck tissue repository at the center. She is the recipient of the Young Investigator grant from DBT apart from other grants from DBT and ICMR. She is a member of the Head and Neck Cooperative group of India, a consortium involved in collaborative projects in head and neck cancer and member of executive committee of Foundation of Head and Neck Oncology of India. She has presented in multiple national and international conferences and has published in journals such as Translational Oncology, Head & Neck, Genomics, Oral Oncology and Genome Research.

Bonney Lee James (MSc, MTech Genetic Engineering)
Senior Research Fellow

Project: “Biomarkers for nodal metastasis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma” (Department of Health Research, Government of India). Working on the proteomics approach to identify the molecular players in nodal metastasis. Also working towards developing molecular marker based intra-operative assay system for diagnosing nodal metastasis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Previously worked in “A Low-Cost Simple Oral Cancer Screening Device for Low-Resource Setting (NIH-DBT Joint funding). The project involved early cancer detection by Optical coherence Tomography (OCT) to detect potentially malignant lesion and differentiating it from benign and variations of normal mucosa.

Sumsum Sunny (BDS, MDS, Oral Medicine and Radiology)
DBT-Wellcome Trust Research Trainee
PhD Scholar, Manipal University
sumsum.sunny@ms-mf.org

Project: Molecular cytology of oral potentially malignant and malignant lesions”Although several novel optical imaging technologies have been introduced for early detection of oral neoplastic lesions, ultimately it requires histopathologic confirmation. Cytology has the potential to develop as oral cancer screening method, with proven efficacy when used pap-smear test in cervical cancer screening program. The proposed project focuses on developing a minimally invasive, marker based cytology method for the detection of potentially malignant and malignant lesions.

Älso involved in piloting early detection research programs – 1) Oncogrid-mobile based early detection (NIH), 2)Cellscope as a telemicroscopic tool (Siemens) 3)Optical Coherence Tomography- Optical diagnostic imaging tool in low resource settings(NIH-DBT) and 4) Fluorescent Imaging- Point of care in-vivo cancer imaging (Vista Dental).

Gangotri Siddappa(MSc, Genetics)
Senior Research Fellow (SRF)
gangotri.siddappa@ms-mf.org

Project: ‘Role of Tumor-Initiating Cells (TICs) (stem cell-like cells) in the progression of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC)’ (Partly funded by Scientific and Engineering Research Board, Government of India). The project involves the discovery of Cancer-Initiating Cell (CIC) markers that may be involved during oral carcinogenesis. It also involves assessing CIC-cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs)cross talk in chemopreventive resistance.

M.V Ram Bhupal Reddy (MSc MTech, Genetic Engineering)
Senior Research Fellow (SRF, ICMR fellowship)
PhD scholar, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore
rambhupal.reddy@ms-mf.org

Project: ‘Molecular profile specifying resistance/response to cytotoxic andtargeted chemotherapy in Head and Neck cancer’. The main aim of the study is to identifymarkers/pathway that   can   predict   response/resistance   to   a   specific   treatment, using the meta-analysis approach, and evaluate their efficacy to   improvedisease outcome in head and neck cancer using in vitro and in vivo models. The study attempts to be a step towards the development of personalizedtherapy approach in HNSCC.

Vaishnav Vasudevan
(MSc, Biomedical Genetics)
Senior Research Fellow (SRF)

Project: “Phase IIb/III study to determine the efficacy of curcumin and metformin to reduce the incidence of second primary tumours of aero-digestive tract in patients with history of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma” funded by National Cancer Grid (NCG). Also working on, profiling the expression of the EGFR/TGFß pathway and immune response in HNSCC tumours and its correlation with clinical, pathological and prognostic parameters.

Safeena Kulsum(MSc, MTech Biotechnology)
Senior Research Fellow
safeena.kulsum@ms-mf.org

Project: “Molecular signatures specifying cancer stem-like cells from oral squamous cell carcinoma and their relevance in chemo resistance” (RGYI Grant, Department of Biotechnology, Govt of India).  Project involves in re-visiting the concept of oral Cancer stem cells (CSCs) in drug resistance/ treatment failure and whether the drug-resistance CSC-markers can be explored for application in a clinical format. In addition, the strategy of targeting the CSC-fibroblast niche towards reversal of metastasis and chemo resistance in Head and Neck squamous cell carcinoma is also being investigated.

MADHUMATHI HK (MTech, Biotechnology)
Senior Research fellow (SRF)

Project: Biomarkers for nodal metastasis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma” (Department of Health Research, Government of India). The main aim of the study is to identify the markers associated with nodal metastasis through multiple approaches. Currently working on identifying the markers through a meta-analysis-based approach and literature search and subsequently validating them retrospectively/prospectively for their clinical utility.

Alumni

Publications

  • Govindan SV, Kulsum S, Ramanan S, Das D, Seshadri M, Hicks Jr W, Kuriakose MA, Suresh A Establishment and characterization of triple drug resistant head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell lines. MMR 2014 (Accepted)
  • Baeten J, Suresh A, Johnson A, Kuriakose MA, Flynn A and Kademani D Molecular imaging of oral premalignant and malignant lesions using fluorescently labeled lectins. Translational Oncology 2014 (Accepted)
  • Kekatpure VD, Singh M, Selvam S, Shetkar G, Hedne NC, Trivedi NP, Siddappa G, Govindan SV, Suresh A, Rangarajan B, Dannenberg AJ, Kuriakose MA. Factors Predicting Outcome Following Salvage Treatment for Stage IV Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Evidence of the Potential Importance of the COX-2-Prostaglandin E2 Pathway. Head Neck. 2014 Apr 25. doi: 10.1002/hed.23721
  • Elango JK, Suresh A, Elango EM, Lakshmi S, Hiran KR, Sundaram K, Kuriakose MA. Role of Human Papilloma Virus in Oral Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma. As Pac J Can prev 2011; 12(4):889-96.
  • Elango JK, Anandkrishnan N, Suresh A, Iyer SK, Sundaram K R, Kuriakose MA Mouth Self-Examination to improve oral cancer awareness and early detection in a high-risk population Oral Oncol. 2011 Jul; 47(7):620-4. Epub 2011 Jun 8.
  • Suresh A, Vannan M, Dhanya K, Priya S, Elango EM, Thangaraj K and Kuriakose MA. Resistance Response Molecular Signature for Oral Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma Disease markers 31 (2011) 1-14
  • Vallinayagam S, Jehan Z, Pradhan S, Hemakumar R, Suresh A, Sridevi R, Ahuja YR, Singh L and Rachel AJ. Novel non-coding RNA from human Y distal heterochromatic block (Yq12) generates testis-specific chimeric Cdc2L2. Genome Research, 2007; 17 (4):433-40.
  • Suresh A, Shah V, Rani DS, Singh BN, UmaPrasad G, Subramanian S, Kumar S and Singh L. A mouse gene encoding a novel member of the WD family of proteins is highly conserved and predominantly expressed in the testis (Wdr13). Molecular Reproduction and Development 72 (2005) 299-310.
  • Singh BN, Suresh A, UmaPrasad G, Subramanian S, Sultana M, Goel S, Kumar S, and Singh L. A highly conserved human gene encoding a novel member of WD-repeat family of proteins (WDR13). Genomics 81 (2003) 315–328.
  • Kekatpure VD, Singh M, Selvam S, Shetkar G, Hedne NC, Trivedi NP, Siddappa G, G SV, Suresh A, Rangarajan B, Dannenberg AJ, Kuriakose MA. Factors predicting outcome following salvage treatment for stage IV oral squamous cell carcinoma: Evidence of the potential importance of the COX-2-prostaglandin E (2) pathway. Head Neck. 2014 Apr 25. doi: 10.1002/hed.23721. Epub ahead of print
  • Folaron M, Kalmuk J, Lockwood J, Frangou C, Vokes J, Turowski SG, Merzianu M, Rigual NR, Sullivan-Nasca M, Kuriakose MA, Hicks WL Jr, Singh AK, Seshadri M. Vascular priming enhances chemotherapeutic efficacy against head and neck cancer. Oral Oncol. 2013 Sep; 49(9):893-902. doi: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2013.06.011. Epub 2013 Jul 23.
  • Battoo AJ, Thankappan K, Ahmad SZ, Hedne N, Balasubramanian D, Trivedi N, Iyer S, Kuriakose MA. Efficacy of per oral access in the surgical management of T2/T3 oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2012 Dec; 147(6):1069-75. doi: 10.1177/0194599812456812. Epub 2012 Aug 7.
  • Suresh A, Vannan M, Kumaran D, Gümüs ZH, Sivadas P, Murugaian EE, Kekatpure V, Iyer S, Thangaraj K, Kuriakose MA. Resistance/response molecular signature for oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma. Dis Markers. 2012; 32(1):51-64. doi: 10.3233/DMA-2012-0860.
  • Elango KJ, Suresh A, Erode EM, Subhadradevi L, Ravindran HK, Iyer SK, Iyer SK, Kuriakose MA. Role of human papilloma virus in oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2011; 12(4):889-96.
  • Elango KJ, Anandkrishnan N, Suresh A, Iyer SK, Ramaiyer SK, Kuriakose MA. Mouth self-examination to improve oral cancer awareness and early detection in a high-risk population. Oral Oncol. 2011 Jul; 47(7):620-4. doi: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2011.05.001. Epub 2011 Jun 8.
  • Trivedi NP, Ravindran HK, Sundram S, Iyer S, Kekatpure V, Durah S, Kuriakose MA. Pathologic evaluation of sentinel lymph nodes in oral squamous cell carcinoma. Head Neck. 2010 Nov; 32(11):1437-43. doi: 10.1002/hed.21345.
  • Kekatpure VD, Trivedi NP, Shetkar G, Manjula BV, Mathan Mohan A, Kuriakose MA. Single perforator based anterolateral thigh flap for reconstruction of large composite defects of oral cavity. Oral Oncol. 2011 Jun; 47(6):517-21. doi: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2011.03.023. Epub 2011 Apr 12.
  • Cancer stem cell mediated acquired chemoresistance in head and neck cancer can be abrogated by aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 A1 inhibition. Kulsum S, Sudheendra HV, Pandian R, Ravindra DR, Siddappa G, R N, Chevour P, Ramachandran B, Sagar M, Jayaprakash A, Mehta A, Kekatpure V, Hedne N, Kuriakose MA, Suresh A. MolCarcinog. 2016 Jul 6. doi: 10.1002/mc.22526.
  • A Minimal DNA Methylation Signature in Oral Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma Links Altered Methylation with Tumor Attributes. Krishnan NM, Dhas K, Nair J, Palve V, Bagwan J, Siddappa G, Suresh A, Kekatpure VD, Kuriakose MA, Panda B. Mol Cancer Res. 2016 Sep;14(9):805-19. doi: 10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-15-0395.
  • A Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Phase IIB Trial of Curcumin in Oral Leukoplakia. Kuriakose MA, Ramdas K, Dey B, Iyer S, Rajan G, Elango KK, Suresh A, Ravindran D, Kumar RR, R P, Ramachandran S, Kumar NA, Thomas G, Somanathan T, Ravindran HK, Ranganathan K, Katakam SB, Parashuram S, Jayaprakash V, Pillai MR. Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2016 Aug;9(8):683-91. doi: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-15-0390.
  • Elevated Levels of Urinary PGE-M Are Found in Tobacco Users and Indicate a Poor Prognosis for Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients.Kekatpure VD, Bs N, Wang H, Zhou XK, Kandasamy C, Sunny SP, Suresh A, Milne GL, Kuriakose MA, Dannenberg AJ. Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2016 Jun;9(6):428-36. doi: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-15-0412.
  • Integrated analysis of oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma identifies key variants and pathways linked to risk habits, HPV, clinical parameters and tumor recurrence. Krishnan N, Gupta S, Palve V, Varghese L, Pattnaik S, Jain P, Khyriem C, Hariharan A, Dhas K, Nair J, Pareek M, Prasad V, Siddappa G, Suresh A, Kekatpure V, Kuriakose M, Panda B.F1000Res. 2015 Nov 5;4:1215. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.7302.1.
  • Mobile health application for remote oral cancer surveillance.Birur PN, Sunny SP, Jena S, Kandasarma U, Raghavan S, Ramaswamy B, Shanmugam SP, Patrick S, Kuriakose R, Mallaiah J, Suresh A, Chigurupati R, Desai R, Kuriakose MA. J Am Dent Assoc. 2015 Dec;146(12):886-94. doi: 10.1016/j.adaj.2015.05.020.
  • Meta-Analyses of Microarray Datasets Identifies ANO1 and FADD as Prognostic Markers of Head and Neck Cancer. Reddy RB, Bhat AR, James BL, Govindan SV, Mathew R, Ravindra DR, Hedne N, Illiayaraja J, Kekatpure V, Khora SS, Hicks W, Tata P, Kuriakose MA, Suresh A. PLoS One. 2016 Jan 25;11(1):e0147409. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147409. eCollection 2016.
  • Data from human salivary proteome - A resource of potential biomarkers for oral cancer.Sivadasan P, Kumar Gupta M, Sathe GJ, Balakrishnan L, Palit P, Gowda H, Suresh A, Abraham Kuriakose M, Sirdeshmukh R. Data Brief. 2015 Jul 2;4:374-8. doi: 10.1016/j.dib.2015.06.014.
  • Impact of Short-term 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 on the Chemopreventive Efficacy of Erlotinib against Oral Cancer.Bothwell KD, Shaurova T, Merzianu M, Suresh A, Kuriakose MA, Johnson CS, Hershberger PA, Seshadri M. Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2015 Sep;8(9):765-76. doi: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-14-0454.
  • Human salivary proteome--a resource of potential biomarkers for oral cancer.Sivadasan P, Gupta MK, Sathe GJ, Balakrishnan L, Palit P, Gowda H, Suresh A, Kuriakose MA, Sirdeshmukh R. J Proteomics. 2015 Sep 8;127(Pt A):89-95. doi: 10.1016/j.jprot.2015.05.039.
  • Establishment and characterization of triple drug resistant head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell lines.Govindan SV, Kulsum S, Pandian RS, Das D, Seshadri M, Hicks W Jr, Kuriakose MA, Suresh A. Mol Med Rep. 2015 Aug;12(2):3025-32. doi: 10.3892/mmr.2015.3768.
  • Cancer stem cells and field cancerization of oral squamous cell carcinoma. Simple M, Suresh A, Das D, Kuriakose MA. Oral Oncol. 2015 Jul;51(7):643-51. doi: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2015.04.006. Review.
  • Molecular imaging of oral premalignant and malignant lesions using fluorescently labeled lectins.Baeten J, Suresh A, Johnson A, Patel K, Kuriakose M, Flynn A, Kademani D. TranslOncol. 2014 Apr;7(2):213-20. doi: 10.1016/j.tranon.2014.02.006.
  • Factors predicting outcome after salvage treatment for stage IV oral squamous cell carcinoma: Evidence of the potential importance of the cyclooxygenase-2-prostaglandin E2 pathway.Kekatpure VD, Singh M, Selvam S, Shetkar G, Hedne NC, Trivedi NP, Siddappa G, Govindan SV, Suresh A, Rangarajan B, Dannenberg AJ, Kuriakose MA. Head Neck. 2015 Aug;37(8):1142-9. doi: 10.1002/hed.23721.