Programs
Departments & Divisions
Research
A. Pratap Kumar, Ph.D.
Professor and Vice Chair
Department of Molecular Medicine
Zachry Distinguished Chair in Molecular Medicine
CTRC 40th Anniversary Endowed Distinguished Professor in Oncology
Dr. Pratap Kumar, Ph.D., is a tenured Professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine with cross appointments in the Departments of Urology and Pharmacology, and a graduate faculty in the School of Biomedical Sciences at UT Health San Antonio. He is a co-leader of the Population Sciences and Prevention Program of the NCI designated Mays Cancer Center, and a Research Health Scientist at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System, San Antonio, Texas.
The major focus of Dr Kumar’s research program is to identify molecular alterations associated with development of therapeutic resistance to inhibit/delay cancer progression to reduce cancer burden and improve outcomes for patients. Seminal contributions from his research program include the development of natural products as adjuvants for cancer therapy and molecular marker signature for cancer prognosis. Basic science discoveries from the laboratory have been translated to the clinic. Current projects include understanding (i) the role of ribosomal protein, S6K and histone deacetylases in therapeutic resistance and developing approaches for therapeutic sensitization; (ii) cancer and microenvironment cell communication under nutrient deprivation that promote tumor growth and therapeutic resistance. The goal of these basic science projects is to determine which of these interactions can be exploited as an intervention strategy for treatment of pancreatic cancer. We use a combination of biochemical and omics approaches in various models including cell culture, preclinical animal models and human cancer samples.
Related diseases: Malignancies and non-malignant disease states of the genitourinary and gastrointestinal organs
Techniques: A host of state of the art cellular, biochemical, molecular biology and genetic techniques using cell culture, preclinical and human explant models are used in the laboratory.
-
Professional Background
Education
- 1997 - Postdoctoral Training - Gene Regulation - The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
- 1992 - Postdoctoral Training - Gene Regulation - Texas A&M University
- 1989 - PhD - Life Sciences - University of Hyderabad
- 1983 - MS - Microbiology (Distinction) - G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology
- 1980 - BS - Zoology and Chemistry (Distinction) - Osmania University
Appointments
- 1/2020 - Professor with Tenure - UT Health San Antonio, Molecular Medicine
- 1/2019 - Professor with Tenure Joint appointment - UT Health San Antonio, Molecular Medicine
- 9/2018 - Professor with Tenure - UT Health San Antonio, Urology
- 8/2013 - Professor with Tenure - UT Health San Antonio, Molecular Medicine
- 9/2010 - Professor with Tenure and Other - UT Health San Antonio, Urology
- 8/2006 - Research Health Scientist - South Texas Veterans Affairs Health System, San Antonio
-
Instruction & Training
- 2008 - Present, PhD. dissertations directed (8), UT Health San Antonio
- 2008 - Present, PhD dissertations directed as external committee member (2), , UT Austin
- 2008- Present, Masters' Thesis Directed (2), UT Health San Antonio
- 2008- Present, Membership on Supervising Committee, PhD, UT Health San Antonio
- 2008 - Present, Pre-Doctoral Student Supervision, UT Health San Antonio
- 2008 - 2022, Mentoring junior faculty, School of Nursing, UT Health San Antonio
- 2008 - Present , Membership on Supervising Committee, Masters in Microbiology & Masters in Personalized Molecular Medicine, UT Health San Antonio
- 2005 - 2020, Postdoctoral Student Supervision, UT Health San Antonio
- 2005 - Present , Supervision of Undergraduate, High School and Voelcker Scholars, UT Health San Antonio
- 2005 - Present , Supervision of Resident trainees and Medical Students interested in Research, Department of Urology, UT Health San Antonio
-
Research & Grants
The overarching goal of our translational research program is to understand the mechanism(s) associated with cancer progression, therapeutic response and resistance following conventional therapy. We focus on developing interception strategies to effectively manage and improve quality of life for cancer patients.
Grants
Federal
Funding Agency Department of Vertan Affairs Title VA Merit Award Status Active Period 7/2017 - 6/2021 Role Principal Investigator Grant Detail Funding Agency Department of Defense Title Horizon DOD predoctoral fellowship Status Active Period 4/2019 - 3/2021 Role Co-Investigator Grant Detail AP Kumar serve as mentor for Xiaoyu Yang Funding Agency NCCAM Title Oxidative stress and programmed cell death pathways: cross talk in pancreatic cancer Status Active Period 9/2012 - 8/2017 Role Principal Investigator Grant Detail
Private
Funding Agency William and Ella Owens Med Rsch Foundation Title Potentiation of Gemcitabine activity in pancreatic cancer Status Active Period 6/2019 - 5/2020 Role Principal Investigator Grant Detail Developing natural product palmatine in conjunction with conventional therapeutic agents as a novel treatment regiment for pancreatic cancer
State
Funding Agency CPRIT Title CPRIT individual investigator award Status Active Period 3/2019 - 2/2022 Role Principal Investigator Grant Detail Funding Agency CPRIT Title CPRIT predoctoral trainee award Status Active Period 9/2017 - 8/2019 Role Co-Investigator Grant Detail AP Kumar serve as mentor for Shih-Bo Huang Funding Agency CPRIT Title RP 150166 CPRIT Individual Investigator Research Award Status Active Period 3/2015 - 2/2018 Role Principal Investigator Grant Detail
-
Publications
Abstract
Suleman S. Hussain, Paul Rivas, Roble Bedolla, Nikos Papanikolaou, Robert L. Reddick, Brad H. Pollock, Daniel C. Chan, Rita Ghosh and Addanki P. Kumar. Downregulation of ribosomal protein rpS6 overcomes radioresistance in prostate cancer; 2015 Apr. (Proceedings of American Association for Cancer Research). Suleman S. Hussain, Paul Rivas, Roble Bedolla, Nikos Papanikolaou, Robert L. Reddick, Brad H. Pollock,Rita Ghosh and Addanki P. Kumar. Nexrutine? modulates PI3K/mTOR and NF?B signaling to target radioresistance in prostate cancer; 2014 Nov. (16th Annual South Padre Conference on Advances in Cell Signaling, Cancer Prevention and Therapy). Amanda R. Mu?oz, James W. Freeman, & Addanki P. Kumar. Elucidating the mechanism of the STAT3/NF-?B/EP4 signaling axis in pancreatic cancer; 2014 Nov. (16th Annual South Padre Conference on Advances in Cell Signaling, Cancer Prevention). Yun, HY., Xie, J., Batth, IS., Li, R., Ghosh, R., Kumar, AP. ER-β/Sp/NFκB/FLIP axis: Potential therapeutic target in prostate cancer; 2014 Nov. (Greehey CCRI 10th Anniversary Symposium, San Antonio). Yun, HY., Xie, J., Batth, IS., Li, R., Ghosh, R., Kumar. Potential therapeutic target in prostate cancer; 2014 Oct. (21th Annual Graduate Student Symposium, San Antonio). Yun, HY., Xie, J., Batth, IS., Li, R., Ghosh, R., Kumar. ER-β/Sp/NFκB/FLIP axis: Potential therapeutic target in prostate cancer; 2014 Oct. (16th Annual South Padre Conference on advances in cell signaling cancer prevention and therapy, South Padre Island). Divya Chakravarthy, Carolina B Livi, Jingjing Gong, Robert R Reddick, Rosa F Hwang, Addanki P Kumar. SPHK1-GLI-COL1A1 axis contributes to pancreatic stellate and cancer cell crosstalk: potential therapeutic avenue; 2014 Jul. (Aspen Cancer Conference). Chakravarthy, D., Gong, J., Reddick, R., Hwang, FR., Kumar, AP. Targeting desmoplasia in pancreatic cancer; 2014 May. (Cellular and Structural Biology Retreat). Batth, I., Meng, P., Bedolla, R., Reddick, RE, Kumar, AP. RON-mediated hijacking of AR signaling in androgen-independent prostate cancer; 2014 May. (Cellular and Structural Biology Retreat, San Antonio). Batth, I., Gong, J., Kumar, AP. Novel interaction between FLIP/DAPK: role for RON in androgen-independent prostate cancer; 2014 May. (Cellular and Structural Biology Retreat, San Antonio). Amanda R. Mu?oz, James W. Freeman, & Addanki P. Kumar. Elucidating the mechanism of the STAT3/NF-κB/EP4 signaling axis in pancreatic cancer; 2014 Apr. (16th Annual South Padre Conference on Advances in Cell Signaling, Cancer Prevention). Batth, I., Meng, P., Bedolla, R., Reddick, RE., Kumar, AP. RON-mediated hijacking of AR signaling in androgen-independent prostate cancer; 2014 Apr. (105th American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, San Diego).
Dissertation/Thesis
Jingjing Gong. NFkB/STAT3/COX-2 signaling axis: novel target for pancreatic cancer, 2013.
Izhar Singh Batth. New roles for RON in prostate cancer, 2014.
Huiyoung Yun. Estrogen receptor βeta and COBRA1 in prostate cancer: friend or foe? 2015
Divya Chakravarthy. Palmatine in pancreatic stellate cell and cancer cell interaction, 2015.
Suleman Salim Hussain. Therapeutic potential of nexrutine® in radiosensitization: involvement of ribosomal protein s6 kinase beta 1, 2016.
Amanda Rae Muñoz. Targeting inflammatory signaling by natural product nexrutine® for pancreatic cancer management, 2017.
Shih-Bo Huang. Sirtuin 1, a double-edged sword during prostate pathogenesis, 2020.
Kelsey Sidell. M.S. Personalized Molecular Medicine, 2021.
Xiaoyu Yang. Targeting glutamine/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 axis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, 2021.
Journal Article
Kumar AP. Receptor tyrosine kinase RON as predictive marker for aggressive prostate cancer in African Americans Molecular Carcinogenesis 2019 Mar;:1-8. Meng P, Bedolla RG, Yun H, Fitzpatrick JE, Kumar AP and Ghosh R. CONTEXTUAL ROLE OF E2F1 in suppression of melanoma cell motility and invasion Molecular Carcinogenesis 2018 Dec;58:1701-1710. Kumar AP. Suppression of ribosomal protein RPS6KB1 by Nexrutine increases sensitivity of prostate tumors to radiation Cancer Letters 2018 Oct;433:232-241. Kumar AP. BRCA1 interacting protein COBRA1 facilitates adaptation to castrate resistant growth conditions International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2018 Jul;19(7):1-12. Kumar AP, D Chakravarthy, A Munoz, A Su, RF Hwang, BR Keppler, DE Chan, G Halff, R Ghosh. Palmatine suppresses glutamine-mediated interaction between pancreatic cancer and stellate cells through simultaneous inhibition of survivin and COL1A1 Cancer Letters 2018 Apr;419:103-115. Kumar AP. Single cell RNA Seq reveal subpopulation of prostate cancer cells Cancer Research 2018 Feb;78:853-864. Zhang Y, Li L, Wang J, Cheng W, Zhang J, Li X, Zhang Z, Gong J, Ghosh R, Kumar AP, Xie J. Combination of Nexrutine and Docetaxel suppresses NFκB-mediated activation of c-FLIP MOLECULAR CARCINOGENESIS 2017 May;. Huang G, Osmulski PA, Bouamar H, Mahalingam D, Lin CL, Liss MA, Kumar AP, Chen
CL, Thompson IM, Sun LZ, Gaczynska ME, Huang TH. TGF-β signal rewiring sustains epithelial-mesenchymal transition of circulating tumor cells in prostate cancer xenograft hosts Oncotarget 2016 Nov;7(47):77124-77137. Zhao S, Chen C, Chang K, Karnad A, Jagirdar J, Kumar AP, Freeman JW. CD44 Expression Level and Isoform Contributes to Pancreatic Cancer Cell Plasticity, Invasiveness, and Response to Therapy Clinical Cancer Research 2016 Nov;22:5592-5604. Batth, IS., Yun, H., Meng, P., Osmulski, P., Huang, TH., Bedolla, R., Reddick, RE., Kumar AP. Crosstalk between RON and androgen receptor signaling in the development of castration resistant prostate cancer Oncotarget 2016 Jan;. Hambright HG, Meng, P, Kumar AP and Ghosh R. Inhibition of PI3K/AKT/mTOR axis disrupts oxidative stress-mediated survival of melanoma cells. Oncotarget (in press) Oncotarget 2015 Jan;. Swanson, GP., Jones WE., Ha, CS., Jenkins, CA., Kumar AP and Basler, J. Tolerances of Phellodendron amurense bark extract (Nexrutine) in human prostate cancer patients. Phytotherapy Research doi: 10.1002/ptr. 5221. [Epub ahead of print] PMID:25205619 Phytotherapy Research 2015 Jan;. Yun, HY., Xie, J., Olumi, AF., Ghosh, R., Kumar AP. Activation of AKR1C1/ERB induces apoptosis by downregulation of c-FLIP in prostate cancer cells: A prospective therapeutic opportunity Oncotarget 2015 Jan;. Kumar AP. Combined targeting of Stat3/NF B/Cox-2/EP4 for effective management of pancreatic cancer Clinical Cancer Research 2014 Jan;20. Thapa D, Meng P, Bedolla RG, Reddick RL, Kumar AP AND Ghosh R. NQO1 suppresses NF-kB-p300 interaction to regulate inflammatory mediators associated with prostate tumorigenesis Cancer Research 2014 Jan;74(5644):5644-5655. Gong, JJ., Xie, J., Bedolla, R., Rivas, P., Chakravarthy, D. Freeman, JW., Reddick, R., Kopetz, S., Peterson, A., Wang, H., Fischer, SM and Kumar AP. Combined targeting of Stat3/NFkB/Cox-2/EP4 for effective management of pancreatic cancer Clinical Cancer Research (in press;doi:10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-13-1664);Selected as on of the highlights of the issue 2014 Jan;. Kumar AP. Palmatine suppresses rpS6/NFκB/FLIP to inhibit growth and invasion in androgen independent prostate cancer cells Molecular Carcinogenesis 2014 Jan;.Review Article
Halff G, Amanda r. Munoz, Divya Chakravarthy, Jingjing Gong, Rita Ghosh, Addanki P. Kumar. Pancreatic Cancer: Current Status and Challenges Current Pharmacology Reports 2017 Oct;3:396-408. SS Hussain, APKumar and R Ghosh. Food based natural products for cancer management: Is the whole greater than the sum of the parts? Seminars in Cancer Biology 2016 Aug;. Hussain, SS., Patel, D., Ghosh, R and Kumar AP. Extracting the Benefit of Nexrutine? for Cancer Prevention Curr Pharmacol Rep 2015 Dec;:365-372. Kumar AP. Recepteur d'origine nantais (RON), more than a kinase: Role in castrate-resistant prostate cancer Molecular Carcinogenesis 2015 Oct;. Mukherjee,N., Kumar AP and Ghosh R. DNA Methylation and Flavonoids in Genitourinary Cancers Curr Pharmacol Rep 2015 Apr;:112-120. Gong, JJ., Kumar,S., Graham, G, and Kumar, AP. FLIP: Molecular switch between apoptosis and necroptosis Molecular Carcinogenesis (in perspective, DOI 10.1002/MC.22027) 2013 Jan;.