Nine Cancer Center Researchers Selected for Presentations at the 2018 AACR Annual Meeting

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) selected nine Stephenson Cancer Center researchers to present oral and poster presentations at the AACR 2018 Annual Meeting in Chicago.

This meeting, held April 14-18, brought together 20,000 cancer physicians, researchers, and medical professionals from across the world to discuss some of the latest discoveries in the fight to end cancer. The theme for this year’s annual meeting was, “Driving Innovative Cancer Science to Patient Care.”

“We are immensely proud of this year’s group of investigators whose work has been selected for presentation at the nation’s largest meeting of cancer researchers,” noted Stephenson Cancer Center director Dr. Robert Mannel. “Their presentations highlight the important work being done in Oklahoma in the fight against cancer.”

The Stephenson Cancer Center researchers selected for presentation at the AACR conference specialize in basic, translational, and clinical research, including molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis, genomics and epigenetics of cancer, cancer biomarkers and inhibitors, and designing and conducting early-phase clinical trials.

The following were chosen to make oral presentations:

• Kathleen Moore, MD, the Jim and Christy Everest Endowed Chair in Cancer Research and director of Oklahoma’s TSET Phase I Clinical Trials Program. Moore presented on a phase I clinical trials expansion study, targeting MUC16 genes with the THIOMABTM-drug conjugate DMUC4064A in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.
• Chinthalapally V. Rao, PhD, the Kerley-Cade Endowed Chair in Cancer Research and director of the Center for Cancer Prevention and Drug Development. Rao presented research findings on how intermittent dosing regimens of the drugs naproxen and aspirin inhibit azoxymethane-induced adenoma progression to adenocarcinoma and carcinoma invasion in experimental models.
• Naveena Janakiram, PhD. Janakiram presented about how the drug Celastrol inhibits high fat diet-induced obesity and intestinal tumorigenesis in experimental models by modulating gut microbes and inflammation.

Additionally, those selected for poster session presentations were: Venkateshwar Madka, PhD; Dongfeng Qu, PhD; Dinesh Babu Somasundaram; Aravindan Natarajan, PhD; Nathaniel Weygant; and Jie Wu, PhD.

The AACR was founded in 1907 and is the world’s oldest and largest professional organization devoted to the advancement of cancer research and a mission to prevent and cure cancer.