Research

As part of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center's Pediatric Research Program at Georgetown University, we focus our research on childhood cancers. Our primary goal is to develop small molecules that will become the next generation of medicines for Ewing Sarcoma and Osteosarcoma. As we develop small molecules targeting fusion protein products of tumor specific chromosomal translocations, we expand our research program to Rhabdomyosarcoma, Synovial sarcoma and prostate cancer. ​
Development of a first-in-class small molecule inhibitor for ETS transcription factors in prostate cancer.
Our lab focuses on developing small molecule inhibitors for undruggable target proteins in different cancers. Our generic approach has been to screen small molecules that can directly bind to target proteins in surface plasmon resonance instruments (Biacore). Compounds that can directly bind to target proteins then evaluated in functional assays to eliminate nonspecific binders and binders with no functional significance. This approached provided us YK-4-279 in a Ewing Sarcoma project. We demonstrated that YK-4-279 can directly bind to ERG and ETV1 proteins in prostate cancer cells. We established that YK-4-279 effectively inhibits ERG and ETV1 functions in prostate cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo.​


​Development of first-in-class small molecule inhibitors of ezrin to prevent metastasis in osteosarcoma.
Our lab studies the molecular mechanism of tumor metastasis in osteosarcoma (OS). Most tumors are found in extremities, which can be effectively treated by surgical resection or amputation if necessary. All OS patients die because of pulmonary failure due to tumor metastasis. Ezrin is a key regulator of metastasis in OS and other tumors. We discovered two lead compounds that can directly bind to ezrin protein and prevent metastatic phenotype. These compounds inhibited protein-protein interactions involving ezrin and blocked OS metastasis to lungs in mouse models. 
Identification of a key signaling pathway in Ewing Sarcoma and discovery of a novel therapeutic approach.
Our laboratory investigates signal transduction pathways in pediatric sarcomas. We established the role of Wnt/beta-catenin and Hedgehog/GLI pathways in Ewing Sarcoma pathogenesis. We discovered that GLI expression was directly regulated by the Ewing Sarcoma specific EWS-FLI1 oncoprotein. We demonstrated that an FDA approved agent, arsenic trioxide (ATO), can directly bind to GLI1 transcription factor and inhibit its function. ATO inhibited growth of Ewing Sarcoma and medulloblastoma growth in mouse models. Many of the current agents in clinical trials targeting Hedgehog pathway are acting on the plasma membrane by inhibiting the receptor (smoothened). In medulloblastomas and basal cell carcinomas, patients are developing resistance to these agents by mutation in smoothened protein. Our discovery of ATO’s effect on GLI1 provides and alternative downstream mechanism that can be used even in patients with mutant smoothened. 
Development of targeted therapies for Ewing Sarcoma.
​Ewing Sarcoma contains a tumor specific chromosomal translocation that is present in 95% of cases. The protein product of this fusion gene, EWS-FLI1, is required for cancer cell survival. Since EWS-FLI1 chimeric protein is absent in any of the normal cells, it represents the perfect molecular target. We were able to purify high quality EWS-FLI1 recombinant protein. This accomplishment led to discovery of novel EWS-FLI1 binding protein partners and screening studies, where identified small molecules that can directly bind to EWS-FLI1. YK-4-279 was developed as the EWS-FLI1 specific small molecule inhibitor. All preclinical work is completed and an IND application has been approved. Phase I clinical trials in children with Ewing sarcoma has begun in 2016.
Development of a novel mouse model for HPV-induced cervical cancer.
​All cervical cancer patients carry Human Papilloma Virus DNA in their genome. The role of the virus in initiating the neoplasm was clearly established. However, HPV infections are very common with millions of women being infected every year. Even though every cervical cancer had HPV, every patient with HPV infection did not develop cervical cancer. It was not known who among HPV infected population would develop cervical cancer. We discovered that activation of Wnt/beta-catenin pathway in HPV positive cervical epithelium was enough to cause malignant transformation. We demonstrated this finding in cell culture and developed a transgenic mouse model to confirm our hypothesis.

Lab Members
Aykut Üren, MD
Principal Investigator
Weekend Radiology
Google Scholar
Twitter
Patents
Haydar Çelik, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
ResearchGate
Purushottam Tiwari, PhD
Biacore Shared Resource
Lombardi
ScienceExchange
Jeff Petro
​Research Assistant
Erin Conn, BS
Graduate Student



​
Anna Molotkova
Undergraduate Student
Marilyn Kouassi-Brou
​Research Assistant
​Tsion Z. Minas, PhD
Yasemin Saygıdeğer Kont, MD/PhD
Jenny Han, BS
​​Said Rahim, PhD
George Kosturko, PhD
Gülay Bulut, PhD
Elspeth Beauchamp, PhD
Shannon Fallen, MS
Linshan Yuan, MS
Brian DuChez, BS
Elizabeth Drebing, BS
Kevin Chen, MD
Matthew McCormick, MD
Diana Lee, MD
Jared Taylor Murdoch, BS
Kerry Adam, BS
Veronica Rodriquez, BS
Sarah Justvig, BS
Benjamin Marsh, MD
Christina Kraus, MD
Elif Gelmez, BS
Idil Temel, BS
Bess Flashner, MD
Dila Kalyoncu
Hayden Jones, BS
Gabi Perazza Young​, MS
Jay Patel
​
Madeline Helwig​
Rakeem Marcelle​
Sarah Hour
​Bersu Özcan
David Allegakoen, MS
Ceyda Seren Ceyhan

Publications

Visit Dr. Üren's NCBI Bibliography for the lab's most recent publications.

92.
Javaheri T, Kazemi Z, Pencik J, Pham HT, Kauer M, Noorizadeh R, Sax B, Nivarthi H, Schlederer M, Maurer B, Hofbauer M, Aryee DN, Wiedner M, Tomazou EM, Logan M, Hartmann C, Tuckermann JP, Kenner L, Mikula M, Dolznig H, Üren A, Richter GH, Grebien F, Kovar H, Moriggl R. Increased survival and cell cycle progression pathways are required for EWS/FLI1-induced malignant transformation. Cell Death Dis. 2016 Oct 13; 7(10):e2419. doi: 10.1038/cddis.2016.268


91.
Hunegnaw R, Vassylyeva M, Dubrovsky L, Pushkarsky T, Sviridov D, Anashkina AA, Üren A, Brichacek B, Vassylyev DG, Adzhubei AA, Bukrinsky M. Interaction Between HIV-1 Nef and Calnexin: From Modeling to Small Molecule Inhibitors Reversing HIV-Induced Lipid Accumulation. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2016 Sep; 36(9):1758-71. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.116.307997


90.
Tiwari PB, Chapagain PP, Banda S, Darici Y, Üren A, Tse-Dinh YC. Characterization of molecular interactions between Escherichia coli RNA polymerase and topoisomerase I by molecular simulations. FEBS Lett. 2016 Sep; 590(17):2844-51. doi: 10.1002/1873-3468.12321


89.
Heckler MM, Zeleke TZ, Divekar SD, Fernandez AI, Tiek DM, Woodrick J, Farzanegan A, Roy R, Üren A, Mueller SC, Riggins RB. Antimitotic activity of DY131 and the estrogen-related receptor beta 2 (ERRβ2) splice variant in breast cancer. Oncotarget. 2016 May 30; ():. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.9719


88.
Kont YS, Dutta A, Mallisetty A, Mathew J, Minas T, Kraus C, Dhopeshwarkar P, Kallakury B, Mitra S, Üren A, Adhikari S. Depletion of tyrosyl DNA phosphodiesterase 2 activity enhances etoposide-mediated double-strand break formation and cell killing. DNA Repair (Amst). 2016 Jul; 43():38-47. doi: 10.1016/j.dnarep.2016.04.009


87.
Minas TZ, Surdez D, Javaheri T, Tanaka M, Howarth M, Kang HJ, Han J, Han ZY, Sax B, Kream BE, Hong SH, Çelik H, Tirode F, Tuckermann J, Toretsky JA, Kenner L, Kovar H, Lee S, Sweet-Cordero EA, Nakamura T, Moriggl R, Delattre O, Üren A. Combined experience of six independent laboratories attempting to create an Ewing sarcoma mouse model. Oncotarget. 2016 May 15; ():. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.9388


86.
Çelik H, Bulut G, Han J, Graham GT, Minas TZ, Conn EJ, Hong SH, Pauly GT, Hayran M, Li X, Özdemirli M, Ayhan A, Rudek MA, Toretsky JA, Üren A. Ezrin Inhibition Up-regulates Stress Response Gene Expression. J Biol Chem. 2016 Jun 17; 291(25):13257-70. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M116.718189


85.
Roudier MP, Winters BR, Coleman I, Lam HM, Zhang X, Coleman R, Chéry L, True LD, Higano CS, Montgomery B, Lange PH, Snyder LA, Srivastava S, Corey E, Vessella RL, Nelson PS, Üren A, Morrissey C. Characterizing the molecular features of ERG-positive tumors in primary and castration resistant prostate cancer. Prostate. 2016 Jun; 76(9):810-22. doi: 10.1002/pros.23171


84.
Saygideğer-Kont Y, Minas TZ, Jones H, Hour S, Çelik H, Temel I, Han J, Atabey N, Erkizan HV, Toretsky JA, Üren A. Ezrin Enhances EGFR Signaling and Modulates Erlotinib Sensitivity in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells. Neoplasia. 2016 Feb; 18(2):111-20. doi: 10.1016/j.neo.2016.01.002


83.
Avdoshina V, Taraballi F, Dedoni S, Corbo C, Paige M, Saygideğer Kont Y, Üren A, Tasciotti E, Mocchetti I. Identification of a binding site of the human immunodeficiency virus envelope protein gp120 to neuronal-specific tubulin. J Neurochem. 2016 Apr; 137(2):287-98. doi: 10.1111/jnc.13557


82.
Kovar H, Amatruda J, Brunet E, Burdach S, Cidre-Aranaz F, de Alava E, Dirksen U, van der Ent W, Grohar P, Grünewald TG, Helman L, Houghton P, Iljin K, Korsching E, Ladanyi M, Lawlor E, Lessnick S, Ludwig J, Meltzer P, Metzler M, Mora J, Moriggl R, Nakamura T, Papamarkou T, Radic Sarikas B, Rédini F, Richter GH, Rossig C, Schadler K, Schäfer BW, Scotlandi K, Sheffield NC, Shelat A, Snaar-Jagalska E, Sorensen P, Stegmaier K, Stewart E, Sweet-Cordero A, Szuhai K, Tirado OM, Tirode F, Toretsky J, Tsafou K, Üren A, Zinovyev A, Delattre O. The second European interdisciplinary Ewing sarcoma research summit--A joint effort to deconstructing the multiple layers of a complex disease. Oncotarget. 2016 Feb 23; 7(8):8613-24. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.6937
81.
Lu P, Hontecillas R, Abedi V, Kale S, Leber A, Heltzel C, Langowski M, Godfrey V, Philipson C, Tubau-Juni N, Carbo A, Girardin S, Uren A, Bassaganya-Riera J. Modeling-Enabled Characterization of Novel NLRX1 Ligands. PLoS One. 2015; 10(12):e0145420. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0145420


80.
Tiwari PB, Üren A, He J, Darici Y, Wang X. Note: Model identification and analysis of bivalent analyte surface plasmon resonance data. Rev Sci Instrum. 2015 Oct; 86(10):106107. doi: 10.1063/1.4933318


79.
Minas TZ, Han J, Javaheri T, Hong SH, Schlederer M, Saygideğer-Kont Y, Çelik H, Mueller KM, Temel I, Özdemirli M, Kovar H, Erkizan HV, Toretsky J, Kenner L, Moriggl R, Üren A. YK-4-279 effectively antagonizes EWS-FLI1 induced leukemia in a transgenic mouse model. Oncotarget. 2015 Nov 10; 6(35):37678-94. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.5520


78.
Çelik H, Hong SH, Colón-López DD, Han J, Kont YS, Minas TZ, Swift M, Paige M, Glasgow E, Toretsky JA, Bosch J, Üren A. Identification of Novel Ezrin Inhibitors Targeting Metastatic Osteosarcoma by Screening Open Access Malaria Box. Mol Cancer Ther. 2015 Nov; 14(11):2497-507. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-15-0511


77.
Tyagi M, Iordanskiy S, Ammosova T, Kumari N, Smith K, Breuer D, Ilatovskiy AV, Kont YS, Ivanov A, Üren A, Kovalskyy D, Petukhov M, Kashanchi F, Nekhai S. Reactivation of latent HIV-1 provirus via targeting protein phosphatase-1. Retrovirology. 2015 Jul 16; 12():63. doi: 10.1186/s12977-015-0190-4


76.
Gutiérrez J, García-Villa E, Ocadiz-Delgado R, Cortés-Malagón EM, Vázquez J, Roman-Rosales A, Alvarez-Rios E, Celik H, Romano MC, Üren A, Lambert PF, Gariglio P. Human papillomavirus type 16 E7 oncoprotein upregulates the retinoic acid receptor-beta expression in cervical cancer cell lines and K14E7 transgenic mice. Mol Cell Biochem. 2015 Oct; 408(1-2):261-72. doi: 10.1007/s11010-015-2504-1


75.
Çelik H, Sajwan KP, Selvanathan SP, Marsh BJ, Pai AV, Kont YS, Han J, Minas TZ, Rahim S, Erkizan HV, Toretsky JA, Üren A. Ezrin Binds to DEAD-Box RNA Helicase DDX3 and Regulates Its Function and Protein Level. Mol Cell Biol. 2015 Sep; 35(18):3145-62. doi: 10.1128/MCB.00332-15


74.
Simbulan-Rosenthal CM, Gaur A, Sanabria VA, Dussan LJ, Saxena R, Schmidt J, Kitani T, Chen YS, Rahim S, Uren A, Crooke E, Rosenthal DS. Inorganic polyphosphates are important for cell survival and motility of human skin keratinocytes. Exp Dermatol. 2015 Aug; 24(8):636-9. doi: 10.1111/exd.12729


73.
Selvanathan SP, Graham GT, Erkizan HV, Dirksen U, Natarajan TG, Dakic A, Yu S, Liu X, Paulsen MT, Ljungman ME, Wu CH, Lawlor ER, Üren A, Toretsky JA. Oncogenic fusion protein EWS-FLI1 is a network hub that regulates alternative splicing. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Mar 17; 112(11):E1307-16. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1500536112


72.
Erkizan HV, Schneider JA, Sajwan K, Graham GT, Griffin B, Chasovskikh S, Youbi SE, Kallarakal A, Chruszcz M, Padmanabhan R, Casey JL, Üren A, Toretsky JA. RNA helicase A activity is inhibited by oncogenic transcription factor EWS-FLI1. Nucleic Acids Res. 2015 Jan; 43(2):1069-80. doi: 10.1093/nar/gku1328


71.
Adhikari S, Chetram MA, Woodrick J, Mitra PS, Manthena PV, Khatkar P, Dakshanamurthy S, Dixon M, Karmahapatra SK, Nuthalapati NK, Gupta S, Narasimhan G, Mazumder R, Loffredo CA, Üren A, Roy R. Germ line variants of human N-methylpurine DNA glycosylase show impaired DNA repair activity and facilitate 1,N6-ethenoadenine-induced mutations. J Biol Chem. 2015 Feb 20; 290(8):4966-80. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M114.627000


70.
Bulut G, Üren A. Generation of K14-E7/∆N87βcat double transgenic mice as a model of cervical cancer. Methods Mol Biol. 2015; 1249():393-406. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-2013-6_29
69.
Rahim S, Minas T, Hong SH, Justvig S, Çelik H, Kont YS, Han J, Kallarakal AT, Kong Y, Rudek MA, Brown ML, Kallakury B, Toretsky JA, Üren A. A small molecule inhibitor of ETV1, YK-4-279, prevents prostate cancer growth and metastasis in a mouse xenograft model. PLoS One. 2014; 9(12):e114260. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0114260


68.
Tosso PN, Kong Y, Scher L, Cummins R, Schneider J, Rahim S, Holman KT, Toretsky J, Wang K, Üren A, Brown ML. Synthesis and structure-activity relationship studies of small molecule disruptors of EWS-FLI1 interactions in Ewing's sarcoma. J Med Chem. 2014 Dec 26; 57(24):10290-303. doi: 10.1021/jm501372p


67.
Ammosova T, Platonov M, Ivanov A, Kont YS, Kumari N, Kehn-Hall K, Jerebtsova M, Kulkarni AA, Uren A, Kovalskyy D, Nekhai S. 1E7-03, a low MW compound targeting host protein phosphatase-1, inhibits HIV-1 transcription. Br J Pharmacol. 2014 Nov; 171(22):5059-75. doi: 10.1111/bph.12863


66.
Khanna C, Fan TM, Gorlick R, Helman LJ, Kleinerman ES, Adamson PC, Houghton PJ, Tap WD, Welch DR, Steeg PS, Merlino G, Sorensen PH, Meltzer P, Kirsch DG, Janeway KA, Weigel B, Randall L, Withrow SJ, Paoloni M, Kaplan R, Teicher BA, Seibel NL, Smith M, Uren A, Patel SR, Trent J, Savage SA, Mirabello L, Reinke D, Barkaukas DA, Krailo M, Bernstein M. Toward a drug development path that targets metastatic progression in osteosarcoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2014 Aug 15; 20(16):4200-9. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-13-2574


65.
Assefnia S, Dakshanamurthy S, Guidry Auvil JM, Hampel C, Anastasiadis PZ, Kallakury B, Uren A, Foley DW, Brown ML, Shapiro L, Brenner M, Haigh D, Byers SW. Cadherin-11 in poor prognosis malignancies and rheumatoid arthritis: common target, common therapies. Oncotarget. 2014 Mar 30; 5(6):1458-74. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.1538


64.
Hong SH, Youbi SE, Hong SP, Kallakury B, Monroe P, Erkizan HV, Barber-Rotenberg JS, Houghton P, Üren A, Toretsky JA. Pharmacokinetic modeling optimizes inhibition of the 'undruggable' EWS-FLI1 transcription factor in Ewing Sarcoma. Oncotarget. 2014 Jan 30; 5(2):338-50. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.1495


63.
Paige M, Kosturko G, Bulut G, Miessau M, Rahim S, Toretsky JA, Brown ML, Üren A. Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of ezrin inhibitors targeting metastatic osteosarcoma. Bioorg Med Chem. 2014 Jan 1; 22(1):478-87. doi: 10.1016/j.bmc.2013.11.003


62.
Xavier CP, Melikova M, Chuman Y, Üren A, Baljinnyam B, Rubin JS. Secreted Frizzled-related protein potentiation versus inhibition of Wnt3a/β-catenin signaling. Cell Signal. 2014 Jan; 26(1):94-101. doi: 10.1016/j.cellsig.2013.09.016


61.
Carmody Soni EE, Schlottman S, Erkizan HV, Uren A, Toretsky JA. Loss of SS18-SSX1 inhibits viability and induces apoptosis in synovial sarcoma. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2014 Mar; 472(3):874-82. doi: 10.1007/s11999-013-3065-9
56.
Sirajuddin P, Das S, Ringer L, Rodriguez OC, Sivakumar A, Lee YC, Üren A, Fricke ST, Rood B, Ozcan A, Wang SS, Karam S, Yenugonda V, Salinas P, Petricoin E 3rd, Pishvaian M, Lisanti MP, Wang Y, Schlegel R, Moasser B, Albanese C. Quantifying the CDK inhibitor VMY-1-103's activity and tissue levels in an in vivo tumor model by LC-MS/MS and by MRI. Cell Cycle. 2012 Oct 15; 11(20):3801-9. doi: 10.4161/cc.21988


55.
Schlottmann S, Erkizan HV, Barber-Rotenberg JS, Knights C, Cheema A, Uren A, Avantaggiati ML, Toretsky JA. Acetylation Increases EWS-FLI1 DNA Binding and Transcriptional Activity. Front Oncol. 2012; 2():107. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2012.00107


54.
Ozen E, Gozukizil A, Erdal E, Uren A, Bottaro DP, Atabey N. Heparin inhibits Hepatocyte Growth Factor induced motility and invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma cells through early growth response protein 1. PLoS One. 2012; 7(8):e42717. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0042717


53.
Cecchi F, Pajalunga D, Fowler CA, Uren A, Rabe DC, Peruzzi B, Macdonald NJ, Blackman DK, Stahl SJ, Byrd RA, Bottaro DP. Targeted disruption of heparan sulfate interaction with hepatocyte and vascular endothelial growth factors blocks normal and oncogenic signaling. Cancer Cell. 2012 Aug 14; 22(2):250-62. doi: 10.1016/j.ccr.2012.06.029


52.
Dakshanamurthy S, Issa NT, Assefnia S, Seshasayee A, Peters OJ, Madhavan S, Uren A, Brown ML, Byers SW. Predicting new indications for approved drugs using a proteochemometric method. J Med Chem. 2012 Aug 9; 55(15):6832-48. doi: 10.1021/jm300576q


51.
Briggs JW, Ren L, Nguyen R, Chakrabarti K, Cassavaugh J, Rahim S, Bulut G, Zhou M, Veenstra TD, Chen Q, Wei JS, Khan J, Uren A, Khanna C. The ezrin metastatic phenotype is associated with the initiation of protein translation. Neoplasia. 2012 Apr; 14(4):297-310.


50.
Adhikari S, Karmahapatra SK, Karve TM, Bandyopadhyay S, Woodrick J, Manthena PV, Glasgow E, Byers S, Saha T, Uren A. Characterization of magnesium requirement of human 5'-tyrosyl DNA phosphodiesterase mediated reaction. BMC Res Notes. 2012 Mar 9; 5():134. doi: 10.1186/1756-0500-5-134


49.
Beauchamp EM, Uren A. A new era for an ancient drug: arsenic trioxide and Hedgehog signaling. Vitam Horm. 2012; 88():333-54. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-394622-5.00015-8


48.
Barber-Rotenberg JS, Selvanathan SP, Kong Y, Erkizan HV, Snyder TM, Hong SP, Kobs CL, South NL, Summer S, Monroe PJ, Chruszcz M, Dobrev V, Tosso PN, Scher LJ, Minor W, Brown ML, Metallo SJ, Üren A, Toretsky JA. Single enantiomer of YK-4-279 demonstrates specificity in targeting the oncogene EWS-FLI1. Oncotarget. 2012 Feb; 3(2):172-82. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.454


47.
Bonilla-Delgado J, Bulut G, Liu X, Cortés-Malagón EM, Schlegel R, Flores-Maldonado C, Contreras RG, Chung SH, Lambert PF, Uren A, Gariglio P. The E6 oncoprotein from HPV16 enhances the canonical Wnt/β-catenin pathway in skin epidermis in vivo. Mol Cancer Res. 2012 Feb; 10(2):250-8. doi: 10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-11-0287


46.
Adhikari S, Manthena PV, Kota KK, Karmahapatra SK, Roy G, Saxena R, Uren A, Roy R. A comparative study of recombinant mouse and human apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease. Mol Cell Biochem. 2012 Mar; 362(1-2):195-201. doi: 10.1007/s11010-011-1142-5


45.
Bulut G, Hong SH, Chen K, Beauchamp EM, Rahim S, Kosturko GW, Glasgow E, Dakshanamurthy S, Lee HS, Daar I, Toretsky JA, Khanna C, Uren A. Small molecule inhibitors of ezrin inhibit the invasive phenotype of osteosarcoma cells. Oncogene. 2012 Jan 19; 31(3):269-81. doi: 10.1038/onc.2011.245
44.
Bulut G, Fallen S, Beauchamp EM, Drebing LE, Sun J, Berry DL, Kallakury B, Crum CP, Toretsky JA, Schlegel R, Üren A. Beta-catenin accelerates human papilloma virus type-16 mediated cervical carcinogenesis in transgenic mice. PLoS One. 2011; 6(11):e27243. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0027243


43.
Erkizan HV, Scher LJ, Gamble SE, Barber-Rotenberg JS, Sajwan KP, Üren A, Toretsky JA. Novel peptide binds EWS-FLI1 and reduces the oncogenic potential in Ewing tumors. Cell Cycle. 2011 Oct 1; 10(19):3397-408. doi: 10.4161/cc.10.19.17734


42.
Ringer L, Sirajuddin P, Heckler M, Ghosh A, Suprynowicz F, Yenugonda VM, Brown ML, Toretsky JA, Uren A, Lee Y, MacDonald TJ, Rodriguez O, Glazer RI, Schlegel R, Albanese C. VMY-1-103 is a novel CDK inhibitor that disrupts chromosome organization and delays metaphase progression in medulloblastoma cells. Cancer Biol Ther. 2011 Nov 1; 12(9):818-26. doi: 10.4161/cbt.12.9.17682


41.
Adhikari S, Karmahapatra SK, Elias H, Dhopeshwarkar P, Williams RS, Byers S, Uren A, Roy R. Development of a novel assay for human tyrosyl DNA phosphodiesterase 2. Anal Biochem. 2011 Sep 1; 416(1):112-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ab.2011.05.008


40.
Rahim S, Beauchamp EM, Kong Y, Brown ML, Toretsky JA, Üren A. YK-4-279 inhibits ERG and ETV1 mediated prostate cancer cell invasion. PLoS One. 2011 Apr 29; 6(4):e19343. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0019343


39.
Rahim S, Üren A. A real-time electrical impedance based technique to measure invasion of endothelial cell monolayer by cancer cells. J Vis Exp. 2011 Apr 1; (50):. doi: 10.3791/2792


38.
Beauchamp EM, Ringer L, Bulut G, Sajwan KP, Hall MD, Lee YC, Peaceman D, Ozdemirli M, Rodriguez O, Macdonald TJ, Albanese C, Toretsky JA, Uren A. Arsenic trioxide inhibits human cancer cell growth and tumor development in mice by blocking Hedgehog/GLI pathway. J Clin Invest. 2011 Jan; 121(1):148-60. doi: 10.1172/JCI42874
37.
Adhikari S, Uren A, Roy R. Excised damaged base determines the turnover of human N-methylpurine-DNA glycosylase. DNA Repair (Amst). 2009 Oct 2; 8(10):1201-6. doi: 10.1016/j.dnarep.2009.06.005


36.
Jorgensen TJ, Chen K, Chasovskikh S, Roy R, Dritschilo A, Uren A. Binding kinetics and activity of human poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 on oligo-deoxyribonucleotide substrates. J Mol Recognit. 2009 Nov-Dec; 22(6):446-52. doi: 10.1002/jmr.962


35.
Erkizan HV, Kong Y, Merchant M, Schlottmann S, Barber-Rotenberg JS, Yuan L, Abaan OD, Chou TH, Dakshanamurthy S, Brown ML, Uren A, Toretsky JA. A small molecule blocking oncogenic protein EWS-FLI1 interaction with RNA helicase A inhibits growth of Ewing's sarcoma. Nat Med. 2009 Jul; 15(7):750-6. doi: 10.1038/nm.1983


34.
Golestaneh N, Beauchamp E, Fallen S, Kokkinaki M, Uren A, Dym M. Wnt signaling promotes proliferation and stemness regulation of spermatogonial stem/progenitor cells. Reproduction. 2009 Jul; 138(1):151-62. doi: 10.1530/REP-08-0510


33.
Beauchamp E, Bulut G, Abaan O, Chen K, Merchant A, Matsui W, Endo Y, Rubin JS, Toretsky J, Uren A. GLI1 is a direct transcriptional target of EWS-FLI1 oncoprotein. J Biol Chem. 2009 Apr 3; 284(14):9074-82. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M806233200


32.
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Funding

Our work is currently supported by the following organizations and grants:
We would also like to thank those who have supported us in the past:
Department of Defense (DOD) 
National Institutes of Health (NIH) 
National Cancer Institute (NCI) 
Translational Science Awards Program (CTSA) 
Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science 
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) 
Dani’s Foundation 
Wendy Will Case Cancer Fund 
Sarcoma Foundation of America 
The Brandon Carrington Lee Foundation 
Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation 
St. Baldrick’s Foundation 

Photos

Contact

Email: 
au26@georgetown.edu 

Lab Address: 
Georgetown University Medical Center
Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center
3970 Reservoir Rd NW
New Research Building E316
Washington, DC 20007
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Directions to New Research Building
Üren Lab