Prognostic and Therapeutic Applications of RKIP in Cancer

Dr. Bonavida is internationally renowned by his expertise and various publications in the field of tumor cell sensitization to chemotherapy and in particular the novel role of Nitric Oxide (NO) donors in chemo-sensitization and reversal of drug resistance. He was the first individual to co-organize the first international workshop on NO and Cancer with Dr. Jean-François Jeannin in Paris. Subsequently, they co-organized three additional conferences on the same topic. The last fourth workshop was held in March in Sevilla, Spain with Dr. Muntane, and the proceedings were published in Redox Biology recently. These conferences focus on NO and derivatives in cancer and their therapeutic applications in resistant cancer.

Stavroula Baritaki’s, PhD, areas of expertise mainly include the understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in tumor cell therapeutic resistance and acquisition of a metastatic phenotype. Her studies have revealed novel gene products, including Raf-1 Kinase inhibitory protein (RKIP), as members of molecular ‘circuitries and networks’ that critically affect tumor immunosurveillance, resistance to chemo/immune-therapy and early metastasis-related cell transformations, such as EMT. Followed by further studies on the epigenetic and post-translational regulation of RKIP in many cancer types, her overall findings have firstly suggested the RKIP downregulation in cancer cells as a putative gene signature of tumor chemo/immune-resistance and EMT with prognostic and therapeutic significance in an individualized basis. On this context, Dr. Baritaki has extended her research interests in identifying novel agents that through RKIP induction are able to inhibit EMT or improve either the host immunosurveillance and/or the efficacy of anti-tumor therapies, especially if they are combined with conventional immuno-stimulatory or chemotherapeutic regimens. Most of these agents are currently under clinical trials.