Suryavathi Viswanadhapalli
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, TX·Medicine & Clinical Research
Endometrial cancer, which starts in the lining of the uterus, is the fourth most common cancer in women. Cases are rising by about 1–2% a year, and they are rising fastest in women under 40.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Pharmacology
Biology
- Topics
endometrial cancer
uterine cancer
leukemia inhibitory factor
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- Determine how LIF/LIFR signaling, a growth-factor pathway linked to poor survival, drives endometrial cancer progression, using global genomic approaches in endometrial cancer cells.
- Test whether the LIFR-blocking drug EC359 reduces stemness (stem-cell-like traits) and chemotherapy resistance in endometrial cancer cells.
- Investigate how obesity switches on LIF/LIFR signaling in endometrial cancer, and test whether EC359 can reduce obesity-driven tumor growth.
- Evaluate EC359 alone and combined with chemotherapy in xenografts, patient-derived explants, organoids, and patient-derived xenografts (PDX) of type I and type II endometrial cancer.
More about the research
Obesity is linked to more than half of all cases. Surgery works for many patients. Women with advanced disease, however, often relapse even after added therapy, and they have few targeted treatment options. This project asks whether one cell-signaling pathway drives this cancer forward and whether a new drug that blocks it could become a treatment.
Why it matters
Women with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer, a disease growing more common with rising obesity, have few effective targeted treatments. If EC359 proves effective in these preclinical models, it could become a first-in-class targeted therapy. It could be used alone or combined with standard chemotherapy, including for obesity-associated tumors. The mechanistic findings could also guide the rational design of combination therapies.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Marcus Goncalves
New York University, NY·Medicine & Clinical Research
Test whether fructose enlarges intestinal villi and boosts fat uptake by blocking PKM2, a sugar-metabolism enzyme, by genetically and pharmacologically altering ketohexokinase and PKM2 in mouse intestines.
Ramesh Ganju
Ohio State University, OH·Microbiology & Immunology
Determine how S100A7 signaling controls genes that respond to interferon-gamma, especially PD-L1 and Fas, in African American TNBC cells and in engineered mice that overproduce mouse S100a7.
Saunjoo Yoon
University of Florida, FL·Pharmacology
Test the effectiveness of 4NSGnpcetu, anti-EGFR antibody-coated nanoparticles carrying a modified gemcitabine, in patient-derived pancreatic cancer organoids with stroma and in primary tumor cells from patients.
The school
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio: 15 labs on PI Pages, $313M a year on research, 149 research doctorates a year.
More about University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.