Training

B.S. California State College, 1980
Ph.D. Purdue University, 1987

Research Interests
Research in Dr. Agrawal's laboratory is focused on the mechanisms that regulate cell proliferation in response to adhesion-related signals in cultured keratinocytes. The investigators areinterested primarily in the regulation exerted by cyclin G2 on cell cycle exit in cells that have been detached from substratum. Their studies include identifying catalytic partners for cyclin G2, its potential interaction with the canonical Rb pathway, and downstream target genes that exhibit altered transcription in response to cyclin G2 expression. Their approaches to identifying catalytic partners for cyclin G2 include screening cDNA libraries with a yeast two-hybrid system and identifying protein components in cyclin G2 immune complexes. To conduct microarray experiments directed at identifying targets downstream of cyclin G2, they are constructing mammalian cell lines that can express cyclin G2 under the control of an inducible promoter.

A secondary line of investigation involves the role of adhesion receptors integrin beta4 and beta1 complexes in determining proliferative potential and commitment to differentiation. The researchers have found that expression of these adhesion receptor complexes is lost in cultured primary mouse keratinocytes in a manner that parallels loss of growth potential. To address whether the loss of receptor expression may play a causal role in loss of proliferative capacity, they are investigating the effects of ectopic integrin beta4 expression on the life span of primary mouse keratinocyte cultures. An extension of these studies is the identification of proteins associated with the cytoplasmic tail of the integrin receptors in keratinocytes that have retained growth potential as compared to those that have undergone commitment to differentiation.

Search for publications by:
This search will be conducted at the US National Library of Medicine (NLM) and PubMed.

Selected Publications:

Landowski TH, Olashaw NE, Agrawal D, Dalton WS. Cell adhesion-mediated drug resistance (CAM-DR) is associated with activation of NF-kappa B (RelB/p50) in myeloma cells. Oncogene 2003;22(16):2417-2421.

Agrawal D, Chen T, Irby R, Quackenbush J, Chambers AF, Szabo M, Cantor A,Coppola D, Yeatman TJ. Osteopontin identified as lead marker of colon cancer progression, using pooled sample expression profiling. J Natl Cancer Inst 2002;94(7):513-521.

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Cancer Biology Ph.D. Program
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