Integrated Head and Neck Oncology

Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common malignancy worldwide and the most prevalent cancer in the Asian subcontinent. A significant proportion—over two-thirds—of patients present with advanced Stage III/IV disease, where overall survival remains below 20%. In India, outcomes for advanced disease are approximately 25% lower than in developed countries. In contrast, early-stage cancers, which can be treated with a single modality, demonstrate survival rates of around 80%, comparable to global benchmarks. Despite curative-intent treatment, nearly 50% of head and neck cancers recur. As with many solid tumors, recurrent or metastatic disease has limited curative options.

The Integrated Head and Neck Oncology Research Program at Mazumdar-Shaw Medical Center is designed to address two critical challenges in the field:

(a) Downstaging oral cancer through screening/early detection: A major focus of our research is to understand the biology of oral carcinogenesis, develop affordable early detection strategies, and identify opportunities to intervene in the carcinogenic pathway. The team leverages heterogeneity in clinical images, auto-fluorescence, cytology and saliva to sequentially triage oral lesions as suspicious, high grade lesions or cancer. Development of AI-integrated, point-of-care technologies that can be positioned across the healthcare pathway of oral cancer is of prime interest; collaborations with dental clinics, hospitals, academia and industry are established toward this effort. A comprehensive effort for multi-omic profiling, and developing prognostic models that can predict malignant transformation is another major area of focus.

(b) Addressing or Reversing treatment resistance in head and neck cancers: The second key focus of our program is to elucidate mechanisms of treatment resistance, enable early detection of relapse, and develop effective therapeutic strategies for recurrent and metastatic disease. Our long-term goal is to advance molecular pathway–guided, adaptive personalized therapy for patients. Multi-omic profiling, in vitro cell line and organoid models, and AI-based efforts drive the program that aims to develop biomarker-based prognostic assays, models for precision medicine/drug screening and multi-model AI models for prediction/prognosis.

To ensure meaningful clinical translation, the research program is closely integrated with the Department of Head and Neck Oncology, Endocrinology, Pathology at Mazumdar-Shaw Medical Center and is supported by a strong network of National and International collaborations that bring complementary expertise.

People

Dr. Amritha Suresh is a molecular biologist with a PhD. from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, under JNU. She serves as [designation/title] at MSMF, where she leads research in Head and Neck Oncology, with expertise in cancer stem cell biology, 2D/3D models, biomarker development, chemoresistance, and stem cells in neurodegenerative disorders. A Life Member of the Foundation of Head and Neck Oncology (FHNO) and Executive Committee Member of the International Academy of Oral Oncology (IAOO), she has authored 60+ publications, holds 4 granted patents, and filed 13 more, with a Google Scholar h-index of 35. She also serves on the Editorial Board of Oral Cancer and reviews for leading journals including Scientific Reports and PLOS One. She is a part of the MSMF-Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Institute Collaborative Program apart from being a part of national and international collaborative networks.

Project: Oral potentially malignant lesion atlas project:A prospective longitudinal study validating efficacy of novel,point-of-care oral cancer diagnostics and for developing an integrated multidimensional,prognostic nomogram (ICMR, Co-I), Multimodel intra oral imaging system for oral cancer detection and diagnosis in low resource setting -optimization phase (NIH, Co-I), Molecular marker-based multimodel approach for accurate delineation of indeterminate thyroid nodules (ESI, Co-I), Ultraviolet cytology imaging for detection of dysplastic and neoplastic oral lesions (ANRF, Co-PI), A point of care AI-based screening tool for oral cancer (Ministry of Health, Co-I), Forecasting oral cancer progression adaptive time-based machine learning to predict recurrence by combining histology and radiomics (MSMF, Co-I), Phase IIb/III study to determine the efficacy of Curcumin and Metformin to reduce the incidence of second primary tumors of aero-digestive tract in patients with history of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (NCG, Co-I), A Comprehensive platform for low-cost screening and image- guided photodynamic therapy(PDT)treatment of pre-malignant oral lesions in low-resource settings (NIH, Co-I), Development of comprehensive pre-cancer genome/transcriptome atlas(CPCGA)of oral cavity (ICMR, Co-PI), Unveiling Early Autoimmunity in Dental Practice: Investigating Oral Health and Exploring Caries and Oral Mucosa Topography as Predictors of Sjögren’s Syndrome (ICMR, Co-I)

Project: A high confidence biomarker panel for detection of occult nodal metastasis in oral squamous cell carcinoma (ICMR Innovation and Translational Research Fellowship), The main aim of the study is to identify the markers associated with nodal metastasis through multiple approaches. Evaluation of multiple assay platforms for detection of nodal metastasis from tumors.

Project: Core Team_Repository/Immunohistochemistry

Project: Core Team_Repository/Oral cancer screening team

Project: Core Team_Repository

Project: Phase IIb/III study to determine efficacy of Curcumin and Metformin to reduce the incidence of second primary tumors of aero-digestive tract in patients with history of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Project: Triaging of indeterminate thyroid nodules combining radiomics, molecular cytopathology and mutation profile

Project: Mobile oral cancer screening system for low-resource settings, Development of Salivary based assay for oral cancer early detection

Project: A 3D model incorporating Extracellular matrix stiffness to predict clinical response in Head and Neck squamous cell carcinoma (ICMR Innovation and Translational Research Fellowship),We investigate the influence of tumor stiffness on cancer progression and chemoresistance. We fabricate biomimetic 3D hydrogels that closely mimic the in vivo tumor tissue architecture. These models enable us to better understand the molecular mechanisms influencing stiffness-mediated tumor behaviour and replicate patient-specific clinical response to chemotherapeutic agents and radiotherapy.
This approach aims to bridge the gap between bench to bedside by providing a predictive platform for clinical outcomes in HNSCC. The work is supported under ICMR Innovation and Translational Research Fellowship, and the prestigious Prime Minister Fellowship for Doctoral Research, with the goal of advancing precision oncology through mechanobiology-driven insights.

Project: Oral cancer screening team

Project: ICMR OPML ATLAS Project

Project: Oral cancer prognostic study, multimodle imagining collaboration with KLE

Project: ICMR OPML ATLAS Project collaboration with KLE

Adjunct Scientists

Project: 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.

Project:

Collaborators

Alumni

Dr Sindhu VG (PhD)
Doctoral Student
Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (2016)
Project: Cancer stem cell signatures for drug resistance in Head and Neck Squamous cell Carcinoma
Currently working: Oncostem Diagnostics, Bangalore

Priya Sivadas (MSc Biotechnology)
PhD Scholar, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences
Project: Salivary Transcriptome and Proteome for Diagnosis and Prognosis of Oral Cancer (Department of Biotechnology, Govt of India). The project aims at identification and validation of the potential biomarker candidates in human saliva for the early detection and prognostication of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) as a step towards development of point-of care assay systems. The study involves proteomic profiling by Massspectrometry and subsequent validation by ELISA and Real-time PCR.

Simple Mohanta (M.Sc Biotechnology)
DST Women Scientist
Project: “Role of Tumor-Initiating Cells in the Development of FieldCancerization in Oral Carcinogenesis”, (Department of Science and Technology, WOS-A scheme). The project aims at mapping of the field of cancerization in terms of the presence of tumor initiating cells and involves correlating the pre-malignant changes occurring in the tumor adjacent normal area with the CSC specific expression profile and subsequently evaluating its prognostic relevance in terms of recurrence and second primary tumor.

Ms. Priyanka Palit
Junior Research Fellow Science facilitator, Primary and Middle School, Mainadevi Bajaj International School, Mumbai, India

Dr Roshan D Cruz (MBBS)
Internship (6 months)
Project: Cancer stem cells in the pattern of Invasion in head and neck cancer.
Currently Resident, Albert Einstein Healthcare Center, Philadelphia

Sudheendra HV(M.Sc Biotechnology)
Senior Research Fellow (SRF)
Project: The current project working on is titled “TRAIL & its receptorsin chemotherapy resistant Head & Neck Cancer & possible therapeutic strategies”. The main objective of this project is to profile TRAIL and its receptor expression in chemotherapy resistant HNSCC, correlate expression of DR4 and DR5 with CSC like cells and explore possibility oftargeting these cells by TRAIL mediated therapy. Also involved in validation of salivary proteomic profile and in providing protein-profiling based support for other ongoing projects.

Ravindra D R (BMLT)
Project Assistant Project: Head and Neck Biorepository Program which involved preparation and cataloguing of FFPE specimen from the patients. Also involved in carrying out marker profiling for the different projects ongoing in the group with expertise in immunohistochemistry, immuno-fluorescence, immunocytochemistry and Florescent-in-situ hybridization (FISH).
Currently working in Medgenome, Bangalore.

Dr. Subin T Surendran (Research Technologist)

Project Assistant Research Technologist, Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, New York, USA Currently working in Medgenome, Bangalore.

Ms. Amrutha Sherly Mohan

Junior Research Fellow, Research Technologist, Department of Cancer Prevention and Control, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, New York, USA

Sujatha Darsi (MSc, Biochemistry)
Project Assistant
Project: Program Support in Head and Neck Oncology (DBT, Govt of India), HPV in oral cancer (HNCOG). The projects were multi-centric and involved in co-ordination in terms of patient recruitment, clinical cataloguing and compilation of follow up details in terms of treatment response, recurrence and overall survival.

Mr. Harshavardhan N R

Senior Research Fellow Project: Senior Scientist, NeoDx Biotech Labs Private Limited, Bangalore, India.

Mr. Rohit Mathew

Intern Project: Associate Director, Carlisle & Company, Inc., New York, USA

Dr Anjana Muralidharan P (BDS, MDS Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology)
Clinical Trial Co-ordinator
Project: Working on a project titled, “Phase IIb/III study to determine the efficacy of curcumin and metformin to reduce the incidence of second primary tumors of aero-digestive tract in patients with history of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma”. The project is a clinical trial funded by National Cancer Grid (NCG

Mr. Javaregowda G N (Manu Gowda)
Project Assistant
Project: Quality Control Microbiologist, Anthem Biosciences Private Limited, Bangalore, India

Mr. Sumanth Kumar Reddy Gopi Reddy
Project Assistant
Project: Junior Data Analyst, Cognizant, Bangalore, India

Mr. Mohammed Awase Qarni Baig

Project Assistant
Project: Student, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, United Arab Emirates University, UAE

Ms. Aditi Hariharan
Research Assistant

Mr. Vaishnav Vasudevan
Senior Research Fellow

Dr Ram B Reddy
Senior Research Fellow/ PhD Student

Dr Pramila Mendonca
Consultant

Dr. Safeena Kulsum
Post-Doctoral Fellow 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.

Dr Sruthi Nambiar
(Program Manager) MD – Rasa Shastra and Bhaishajya Kalpana, Project: Phase IIb/III Study To Determine Efficacy Of Curcumin And Metformin To Reduce The Incidence Of Second Primary Tumors Of Aero-digestive Tract In Patients With History Of Head And Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Gangotri Siddappa
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.

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.

Ms Aswini T M
(Trial Coordinator) M.Sc – Bioinformatics, Project: Phase IIb/III Study To Determine Efficacy Of Curcumin And Metformin To Reduce The Incidence Of Second Primary Tumors Of Aero-digestive Tract In Patients With History Of Head And Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Dr Bhargabi Paul Majumdar
(Consultant) MDS – Oral Medicine and Radiology, Project: Multimodal intraoral imaging system for oral cancer detection and diagnosis in low resource setting.

Dr Lekshmi Pradeep
(Consultant) MDS Oral Pathology, Project: Multimodal intraoral imaging system for oral cancer detection and diagnosis in low resource setting , Molecular Cytometry in detection of Thyroid nodules.

Ms Gopika C
(JRF) MTech, Biotechnology Engineering, Project: Mobile oral cancer screening system for low-resource settings, Development of Salivary based assay for oral cancer early detection.

Ms Pavithra
(JRF) MTech, Biotechnology, Project: Mobile oral cancer screening system for low-resource settings, Flow cytometry based detection of oral cancer.

Ms Aiswarya RK
(Research Assistant) MSc, Biochemistry and Molecular Biolog, Project: Core_Team Cell culture; Biomarkers for nodal metastasis in head and neck aquamous cell carcinoma.

Ms Reba Elsa Sam
(SRF) MSc, Biotechnology, Project: Development of a Comprehensive atlas for Oral Potentially malignant lesions.

Ms Prashasti Shetty
(Research Assistant) MSc,Biological Science, Project: Chemoprevention Study, OPML ATLAS .

Publications

Vasudevan V, Siddappa G, Sam RE, Madhumathi HK, Thomas A, Sunny SP, Shetty V, Bhushan V, Dokhe Y, Pillai V, Birur P, Kuriakose MA, Suresh A. Transcriptomic landscape of oral potentially malignant disorders: a meta-analysis approach. Hum Cell. 2026 May 4;39(5):72. doi: 10.1007/s13577-026-01373-5. PMID: 42082814.
Sunny SP, Chen J, Wang Y, Paulmajumder B, Song B, Subhashini AR, Pillai V, Kuriakose MA, Birur N P, Suresh A, Liang R. Label-free deep UV microscopy in oral cytology: a step towards stain-free diagnostics. Biomed Opt Express. 2025 Jul 28;16(8):3415-3423. doi: 10.1364/BOE.569553. PMID: 40809968; PMCID: PMC12339316.
James BL, Zaidi SN, Aiswarya RK, Shetty V, Vidya Bhushan R, Dokhe Y, Naveen BS, Pillai V, Dhar SK, Kuriakose MA, Suresh A. Modeling the lymph node stromal cells in oral squamous cell carcinoma: insights into the stromal cues in nodal metastasis. Hum Cell. 2025 Jan 6;38 (2):41. doi: 10.1007/s13577-024-01166-8. PMID: 39760828.
Sunny SP, D R R, Hariharan A, Mukhia N, Gurudath S, G K, Raghavan S, Kolur T, Shetty V, R VB, Surolia A, T S, Chandrashekhar P, R N, Pandya HJ, Pillai V, N PB, Kuriakose MA, Suresh A. CD44-SNA1 integrated cytopathology for delineation of high grade dysplastic and neoplastic oral lesions. PLoS One. 2023 Sep 25;18(9):e0291972. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0291972. PMID: 37747904; PMCID: PMC10519609.
Sumsum P Sunny, Asif Iqbal Khan, Madhavan Rangarajan, Aditi Hariharan, Praveen Birur N, Hardik J Pandya, Nameeta Shah, Moni A Kuriakose, Amritha Suresh Oral epithelial cell segmentation from fluorescent multichannel cytology images using deep learning Computer Science and Program in Biomedicine October 2022
Birur N P, Song B, Sunny SP, G K, Mendonca P, Mukhia N, Li S, Patrick S, G S, A R S, Imchen T, Leivon ST, Kolur T, Shetty V, R VB, Vaibhavi D, Rajeev S Pednekar S, Banik AD, Ramesh RM, Pillai V, O S K, Smith PW, Sigamani A, Suresh A, Liang R, Kuriakose MA. Field validation of deep learning based Point-of-Care device for early detection of oral malignant and potentially malignant disorders. Sci Rep. 2022 Aug 22; 12(1):14283. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-18249-x. PMID: 35995987; PMCID: PMC9395355