Prof. Asfar Sohail Azmi from Wayne State University, Karmanos Cancer Institute is going to be at SABITALKS on July 4, 2024 at 10:00. The event will take place in person. You can attend the event in person in Lecture Hall C-412
Location: Istanbul Medipol University Kavacık North Campus: https://goo.gl/maps/JDDjygVtFLWiPiMJA
*Participants from outside SABITA must fill in the participation form.
Nuclear protein transport regulates the proper localization of tumor suppressor proteins (TSPs) in the correct cellular compartment of the cells. TSPs such as p53, FOXO3a, Rb etc require nuclear localization and sequence specific DNA binding to conduct genome surveillance activity. However, in cancer disturbed nuclear transport especially enhancement in the nuclear export causes constant efflux of TSPs to the cytoplasm leading to their functional inactivation through mis-localization. Therefore, targeted inhibition of nuclear export is an attractive therapeutic strategy to activate multiple TSPs in cancer. I was instrumental in introducing nuclear export inhibitor selinexor into early phase clinical trials for pancreatic cancer and hematological malignancies (selinexor is currently >60 Phase I/II/III studies). The drug Selinexor was tested in pre-clinical models of pancreatic cancer in my lab that led to several Phase Ib/II clinical studies at Karmanos Cancer Institute and these pivotal studies results in the FDA approval of selinexor for tri-refractory multiple myeloma and diffused large b cell lymphoma. I am currently the PI on a clinical R37 MERIT from NCI that is focused on pre-clinical assessment and Phase Ib/II clinical trial validation using selinexor with gemcitabine and nap-paclitaxel. I have published my research on the topic of nuclear export in premier peer reviewed journals such as Clinical Cancer Research, Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, Cancers, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics and Cancer Letters. The first study involving selinexor and pancreatic cancer was deemed important enough to feature on the cover of Gastroenterology journal.
Dr. Asfar Azmi is a Professor of Oncology at Wayne State University School of Medicine. He is the Leader of Molecular Therapeutics Program as well as the Director of Pancreas Cancer Research at the NCI designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit Michigan. He has a record of accomplishment in the area of drug discovery research. Dr. Azmi made fundamental discoveries on the role of aberrant nuclear protein transport in pancreatic cancer development and drug resistance. He has made significant contributions on pre-clinical and early phase development of new drugs for pancreatic cancer and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors particularly, nuclear export inhibitor selinexor and KRAS pathway targeted therapies. Work done by his team led to the FDA approval of selinexor in several tumor indications. His lab uses high throughput technologies such as RNA-seq, sn-RNA-seq, spatial biology in patient derived tumors and genetically engineered mouse models to identify epigenetic and regulatory mechanisms of XPO1 and design novel drug combinations. Dr. Azmi’s group is also developing novel drugs against mutant KRAS pathway proteins. His team has discovered the role of Rho GTPase effector protein p21-activated kinase 4 (PAK4) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) biosynthesis pathway rate limiting enzyme nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT) in promoting tumor growth, desmoplasia and drug resistance in cellular and patient derived tumor models. His ongoing projects are focused on developing ways to favorably alter the pancreatic tumor microenvironment, making them more accessible to chemotherapeutic drugs. His lab is also exploring how targeting KRAS pathway proteins and NAD signaling can enhance immunotherapy strategies in therapy resistant cancers. Dr. Azmi has published more than 175 peer reviewed articles in prestigious journals such as Gastroenterology, Oncogene, Clinical Cancer Research, Clinical and Translational Medicine, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology and Seminars in Cancer Biology. He is the editor of several books on drug discovery topics. Dr. Azmi is the recipient of NIH MERIT award, and young investigator awards from American Pancreatic Association, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and American Society of Hematology (ASH). He is the recipient of Academy of Scholars Award from Wayne State University, Kales Endowed Faculty Award for Innovative Cancer Research and Heroes of Cancer Award from Karmanos Cancer Institute. His lab is continuously funded by NIH, Cancer Foundations and the pharma industry.