Keykavous Parang
Chapman University, CA·Pharmacology
Doxorubicin (DOX) is a widely used chemotherapy drug for breast, lung, ovarian, gastric and thyroid cancers. It has two big problems.
- Fields
Pharmacology
Chemistry
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
doxorubicin
chemotherapy
cardiotoxicity
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2028
What they work on
- Compare how five peptide-doxorubicin conjugates (PDCs) differ in killing cancer cells versus heart muscle cells, measuring reactive oxygen species, cell death (apoptosis) and calcium release.
- Track uptake and movement of PDCs and released doxorubicin inside heart, cancer and drug-resistant cells, and test their interaction with P-glycoprotein (P-gp), a pump that ejects drugs.
- Evaluate three PDCs tagged with PEG and folic acid or RGD in immunodeficient mice bearing normal or DOX-resistant tumors, measuring drug distribution, tumor suppression, heart toxicity and safety.
More about the research
Cancer cells often become resistant to it, and the body absorbs and clears it poorly, so high doses are needed. High cumulative doses damage the heart and kidneys. A way to deliver DOX more selectively to cancer cells could make it both safer and more effective.
Why it matters
Patients receiving doxorubicin for breast, lung, ovarian and other cancers risk lasting heart damage, and many tumors become drug-resistant. Peptide carriers that deliver the drug to cancer cells while sparing the heart could make this common chemotherapy safer and more effective. They could also provide a platform for delivering other cancer drugs.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Satoru Kobayashi
New York Institute of Technology, NY·Pharmacology
Measure how lysosomal membrane permeabilization (LMP) contributes to doxorubicin-induced heart injury, using an LMP reporter, the Lyso-tag lysosome isolation system and super-resolution imaging in heart cells and mice.
Jiashu Xie
University of Minnesota, MN·Pharmacology
Screen an in-house library of about 30 deazaflavin analogs for inhibition of the MRP1 drug efflux pump using membrane vesicle transport assays and a cell-based calcein retention assay, and define potency and structure-activity relationships.
Sham Kakar
University of Louisville, KY·Medicine & Clinical Research
Determine the safety, tolerability and maximum tolerated dose of withaferin A, given as oral ashwagandha capsules at 2, 4 and 8 g twice daily, combined with standard liposomal doxorubicin (DOXIL) in 18 patients with platinum-resistant recurrent ovarian cancer.
The school
Chapman University: 2 labs on PI Pages, $48M a year on research, 44 research doctorates a year.
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