Urologic Cancers

Research Description

Dr. Kundu has successfully conducted and published on prospective evaluations of patients with urologic cancers and found that the impact of cancer treatment goes beyond physical limitations associated with treatment. The application of these findings have resulted in interventions to improve the physician-patient relationship, patient education and the health care environment overall.

Dr. Kundu is currently performing genetic studies to distinguish mechanisms that drive prostate cancer development in men with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). His research aims to identify the specific factors underlying prostate cancer and IBD to uncover the mechanisms that may drive carcinogenesis in this inflammatory condition. In this podcast, Dr. Kundu explains approach to screening, diagnosing and treating this unique combination of conditions. Listen here>>

Select Publications

Meyers TJ, Weiner AB, Graff RE, Desai AS, Cooley LF, Catalona WJ, Hanauer SB, Wu JD, Schaeffer EM, Abdulkadir SA, Kundu SD, Witte JS. Association between inflammatory bowel disease and prostate cancer: A large-scale, prospective, population-based study. International Journal of Cancer. 2020 Jan.

Burns JA, Weiner AB, Catalona WJ, Li EV, Schaeffer EM, Hanauer SB, Strong S, Burns J, Hussain MHA, Kundu SD. Inflammatory Bowel Disease and the Risk of Prostate Cancer. European Urology. 2019 May.

Weiner AB, Tsai KP, Keeter MK, Victorson DE, Schaeffer EM, Catalona WJ, Kundu SD. The Influence of Decision Aids on Prostate Cancer Screening Preferences: A Randomized Survey Study. Journal of Urology. 2018 Nov.

Research Description

The Meeks lab is investigating the epigenetics and genetic mutations associated with cancer biology. Specifically, he is studying how chromatin remodeling genes play a role in bladder cancer. In addition, he is investigating the “driver mutations found in bladder cancer. In the future, he hopes to develop novel systemic and intravesical therapies to improve survival of patients with bladder cancer.

In the United States, there are an estimated 72,570 new cases of bladder cancer each year. Dr. Meeks is conducting innovative research to increase our understanding of the biology of bladder cancer and to identify new therapies and technologies for bladder cancer in order to improve quality of life for our patients. In this podcast, Joshua Meeks, MD, PhD, shares how his team of scientists are involved in three active trials focused on genetic and epigenetic changes in bladder cancer, as well as immuno-oncology in bladder cancer. Listen here>>

Dr. Meeks is investigating the gender disparities in bladder cancer by dissecting the tumor and immune mechanisms of resistance to chemotherapy and immunotherapy. This research may translate into novel pathways and potential therapeutic targets to improve outcomes and reduce gender disparities in bladder cancer. In this video, Meeks shares details about his work. Watch here>>

Select Publications

Meeks JJ, Robertson AG. Immune Signatures Dominate Molecular Subtyping to Predict Response to Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy. European Urology. June 2020.

Robertson AG, Groeneveld CS, Jordan B, Lin X, McLaughlin KA, Das A, Fall LA, Fantini D, Taxter TJ, Mogil LS, Lindskrog SV, Dyrskjøt L, McConkey DJ, Svatek RS, de Reyniès A, Castro MAA, Meeks JJ. Identification of Differential Tumor Subtypes of T1 Bladder Cancer. European Urology. January 2020.

Fantini D, Glaser AP, Rimar KJ, Wang Y, Schipma M, Varghese N, Rademaker A, Behdad A, Yellapa A, Yu Y, Sze CC, Wang L, Zhao Z, Crawford SE, Hu D, Licht JD, Collings CK, Bartom E, Theodorescu D, Shilatifard A, Meeks JJ. A Carcinogen-induced mouse model recapitulates the molecular alterations of human muscle invasive bladder cancer. Oncogene. April 2018.

Refer to PubMed for a full list of publications. 

Email Dr Meeks

Phone 312-695-8146

Research Description

Shad Thaxton MD, PhD, invented, synthesized, and characterized the first biomimetic high-density lipoprotein nanoparticles. High density lipoproteins (HDLs) are natural nanoparticles that circulate in the human body to carry cholesterol. Cholesterol carried by HDLs is often referred to as “good cholesterol” because HDL blood levels inversely correlate with the development of cardiovascular disease. The Thaxton Group utilizes a gold nanoparticle scaffold to assemble the natural surface chemical components of HDLs to create synthetic HDL nanoparticles. The HDL nanoparticles recapitulate the size, shape, surface chemistry, and cholesterol binding properties of natural HDLs. As such, The Thaxton Lab is using these unique biomimetic materials to better understand the structure-function properties of natural HDLs and also as potential therapies for atherosclerosis and heart disease.

For more information, see the faculty profile of  C. Shad Thaxton, MD, PhD

Publications

• Henrich SE, Hong BJ, Rink JS, Nguyen SBT, Thaxton CS. Supramolecular Assembly of High-Density Lipoprotein Mimetic Nanoparticles Using Lipid-Conjugated Core Scaffolds. Journal of the American Chemical Society. June 2019.

• Henrich SE, Thaxton CS. An update on synthetic high-density lipoprotein-like nanoparticles for cancer therapy. Expert Review of Anticancer Therapy. June 2019. 

• Rink JS, Sun W, Misener S, Wang JJ, Zhang ZJ, Kibbe MR, Dravid VP, Venkatraman S, Thaxton CS. Nitric Oxide-Delivering High-Density Lipoprotein-like Nanoparticles as a Biomimetic Nanotherapy for Vascular Diseases.  ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. February 2018.

View Dr. Thaxton's other publications at PubMed

Contact

Email Dr. Thaxton

Phone 312-503-1826

Lab Staff

Post-doctoral Fellows

Nick Angeloni, Kannan Mutharasan, Jonathan Rink

Graduate Students

Kaylin M. McMahon, Michael Plebanek, Sushant Tripathy, Andrea Luthi

Research Technician

Amritha Singh

Research Description

Dr. Wu's research focuses on understanding the very fundamental questions of cancer development and progression with the ultimate goal to translate our knowledge into clinics. Dr. Wu’s laboratory is interested in specific aspects of Onco-immune interaction and cancer biology:

1. Mechanisms of cancer immune evasion and development of novel cancer immunotherapy with specific focus on the NKG2D signaling pathways
2. Inflammation and cancer with focus on understanding the role of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-6 in cancer initiation and progression
3. Cancer biomarker discovery with focus on identifying biomarkers to distinguish progressive vs. indolent prostate cancer and to biomarkers to predict cancer patients at large who will be the better responders to immune checkpoint therapy

For more information please view the faculty profile of Jennifer Wu, PhD.

Recent Publications

Basher F, Dhar P, Wang X, Wainwright DA, Zhang B, Sosman J, Ji Z, Wu JD. Antibody targeting tumor-derived soluble NKG2D ligand sMIC reprograms NK cell homeostatic survival and function and enhances melanoma response to PDL1 blockade therapy. J Hematol Oncol. June 2020.

Zhang J, Larrocha PS, Zhang B, Wainwright D, Dhar P, Wu JD. Antibody targeting tumor-derived soluble NKG2D ligand sMIC provides dual co-stimulation of CD8 T cells and enables sMIC + tumors respond to PD1/PD-L1 blockade therapy. J Immunother Cancer.  August 2019.

View a full list of publications by Jennifer Wu at PubMed

Contact Us

Email Jennifer Wu, or phone at 312-503-1521