Rajesh Mukthavaram

Targeting and depletion of circulating leukocytes and cancer cells by lipophilic antibody-modified erythrocytes.

Published in Journal of Controlled Release

There is a great interest in targeting and selective ablation of populations of circulating cells for research or therapeutic purposes. Red blood cells (RBCs) are readily available and fully biocompatible long-circulating intravascular carriers (natural life is 120days) that are amenable to chemical modifications, drug loading and reinjection. Here...

Mitochondrial p32 is upregulated in Myc expressing brain cancers and mediates glutamine addiction.

Published in Oncotarget

Metabolic reprogramming is a key feature of tumorigenesis that is controlled by oncogenes. Enhanced utilization of glucose and glutamine are the best-established hallmarks of tumor metabolism. The oncogene c-Myc is one of the major players responsible for this metabolic alteration. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in Myc-induced metabolic...

Novel anti-glioblastoma agents and therapeutic combinations identified from a collection of FDA approved drugs.

Published in Journal of Translational Medicine

Assembly and targeting of liposomal nanoparticles encapsulating quantum dots.

Published in Bioconjugate Chemistry

Quantum dots (QDs) are attracting intense interest as fluorescence labeling agents for biomedical imaging because biocompatible coatings and relatively nontoxic rare earth metal QDs have emerged as possible options. QD photoemissions are bright, of narrow wavelength range, and very stable. We sought to encapsulate QDs within targeted PEGylated lipo...

In silico modeling predicts drug sensitivity of patient-derived cancer cells.

Published in Journal of Translational Medicine

Effect of the JAK2/STAT3 inhibitor SAR317461 on human glioblastoma tumorspheres.

Published in Journal of Translational Medicine

Multiple spatially related pharmacophores define small molecule inhibitors of OLIG2 in glioblastoma.

Published in Oncotarget

In vitro and in vivo anticancer effects of mevalonate pathway modulation on human cancer cells.

Published in British Journal of Cancer

Direct recognition of superparamagnetic nanocrystals by macrophage scavenger receptor SR-AI.

Published in ACS Nano

Scavenger receptors (SRs) are molecular pattern recognition receptors that have been shown to mediate opsonin-independent uptake of therapeutic and imaging nanoparticles, underlying the importance of SRs in nanomedicine. Unlike pathogens, engineered nanomaterials offer great flexibility in control of surface properties, allowing addressing specific...

High-efficiency liposomal encapsulation of a tyrosine kinase inhibitor leads to improved in vivo toxicity and tumor resp...

Published in International Journal of Nanomedicine

Staurosporine (STS) is a potent pan-kinase inhibitor with marked activity against several chemotherapy-resistant tumor types in vitro. The translational progress of this compound has been hindered by poor pharmacokinetics and toxicity. We sought to determine whether liposomal encapsulation of STS would enhance antitumor efficacy and reduce toxicity...

Distearoyl anchor-painted erythrocytes with prolonged ligand retention and circulation properties in vivo.

Published in Advanced Healthcare Materials

Red blood cells (RBCs) attract significant interest as carriers of biomolecules, drugs, and nanoparticles. In this regard, versatile technologies to attach molecules and ligands to the RBC surface are of great importance. Reported here is a fast and efficient surface painting strategy to attach ligands to the surface of RBCs, and the factors that c...

Recovery of Drug Delivery Nanoparticles from Human Plasma Using an Electrokinetic Platform Technology.

Published in Small

The effect of complex biological fluids on the surface and structure of nanoparticles is a rapidly expanding field of study. One of the challenges holding back this research is the difficulty of recovering therapeutic nanoparticles from biological samples due to their small size, low density, and stealth surface coatings. Here, the first demonstrat...

Isolation of rare tumor cells from blood cells with buoyant immuno-microbubbles.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are exfoliated at various stages of cancer, and could provide invaluable information for the diagnosis and prognosis of cancers. There is an urgent need for the development of cost-efficient and scalable technologies for rare CTC enrichment from blood. Here we report a novel method for isolation of rare tumor cells fr...