Veena N. Rao, Ph.D.
Professor
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Co-Director
Cancer Biology Program
Phone: (404) 489-9993
E-mail: vrao@msm.edu
Education
POSTGRADUATE:Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven CT
Fellowship: Human Genetics
University of California, Berkley, CA
Fellowship: Molecular Biology
National Cancer Institute, Fredrick MD
Fellowship: Fogarty International Visiting Fellow: Molecular Oncology
GRADUATE:
Osmania University, India
(Thesis work completed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston; Max Planck Institute, Gottingen, West Germany; University of Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.)
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry, Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology
Osmania University
Degree: Master of Science in Biochemistry
UNDERGRADUATE:
Osmania University College for Women, India
Degree: Bachelor of Science in Biology, Zoology and Chemistry, Honors
Research Interests
Molecular and Functional Dissection of ELK-1 and BRCA1 Tumor Suppressor Genes in Breast,
Ovarian and Prostate Cancers
One of the ongoing projects in my lab is centered on ELK-1 which is a member of the
ETS super family of genes (ETS-1, ETS-2, ERG, TEL, PEA3, Fli-1, Elk-1, SAP1, etc.)
which we have identified, cloned, characterized their functions and studied their
role in leukemia's, lymphomas, and sarcomas. Deregulation and mutations of ETS proteins
are predominantly found in human cancers. The defective functioning of this signaling
network is the root cause of widespread diseases such as cancer. ELK-1 thus forms
a central integration point for both growth as well as stress signals and plays a
major role in cell proliferation, apoptosis, tumorigenesis, as well as differentiation.
We have found the Elk-1 gene product to bind BRCA1 suppress growth and induce apoptosis
of human breast and prostate cancer cells. We plan to study the molecular mechanism
of growth inhibition and cell death induced by ELK-1 in cancer cells.
The second project in my lab has been on the Breast and Ovarian cancer susceptibility
gene BRCA1. I have been working in the BRCA1 field since the discovery of the gene
in 1994 and have spearheaded numerous breakthroughs in breast and ovarian cancer research
including the identification of two short forms of BRCA1 proteins, BRCA1a/1b which
are expressed at reduced levels in breast and ovarian cancers. BRCA1, BRCA1a and BRCA1b
are the most evolutionary conserved of all the isoforms. Our pioneering work involves
showing mere down regulation of BRCA1 protein in normal cells causes transformation
of mouse fibroblasts, high levels of BRCA1a protein induces apoptosis in breast and
ovarian cancer cells, BRCA1 nuclear import and export is a regulated process in breast
and ovarian cancer cells. BRCA1a/1b which lack nuclear localization signals can enter
the nucleus and mitochondria. This is very well cited in a review article, BRCA1:
16 years later (FEBS J. 2010 Aug; 277(15):3071). We have filed patents on this work.
The focus of my research is on training Minorities in Cancer Health Disparities Research.
This is to bridge the gap in Cancer health disparities seen among AA/Hispanics and
White women with Cancer which is the Mission of Morehouse School of Medicine. It
is here that we demonstrated for the first time that introducing BRCA1a into triple
negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells, ovarian and prostate cancer cells by gene therapy
blocks tumor development in mice. This discovery has extraordinary therapeutic ramification.
Majority of the patients with BRCA1 mutations develop TNBC and ovarian cancers. TNBC
are aggressive and more common among young African American women and currently there
are no targeted treatments against these cancers. Similarly BRCA1 dysfunction results
in hereditary and sporadic epithelial ovarian cancer and the mechanism is not known.
There have been several press releases on this work. Recently we have identified a
new binding partner for BRCA1 protein called Ubc9. Our latest work suggests for the
first time that BRCA1 proteins need to associate with this target to localize to the
nucleus and function as a tumor suppressor of TNBC and ovarian cancers. Loss of binding
results in cytoplasmic localization of disease associated mutant BRCA1 proteins which
is tumorigenic and inhibits apoptosis. This ground breaking study reveals why young
AA women with TNBC who have cytoplasmic mislocalization of BRCA1 proteins often develop
BRCA1-associated Hereditary and Sporadic Breast cancers. My group has identified a
new trafficking pathway for BRCA1 and malfunction of this by BRCA1 dysfunction can
result in TNBC and epithelial ovarian cancer. We have recently obtained a patent for
BRCA1 function based assays patent number 8,372,580 with an issue date of Feb 12,
2013. This will lead to the discovery of Ubc9 as an early biomarker that can predict
disease progression and drug resistance. We are currently testing whether Ubc9 expression
correlates with poor clinical outcome and survival in AA women with TNBC. The BRCA1
function based assays can be used to predict the risk for developing TNBC and to develop
BRCA1 mimetic drugs for targeted therapy for TNBC.
-Biology of Triple negative Breast, Ovarian and Prostate Cancers
-Role of Epigenetic, Nucleo-Cytoplasmic shuttling, posttranslational modifications,
mitochondrial dysfunction in Cancers, Cancer and endothelial dysfunction, Cancer and
metabolic syndrome.
-Gene therapy, EMT, Cell-based assays, Function-based drug design, drug resistance
and recurrence in Cancers
Publications
Arpita Desai, Jingyao Xu, Kartik Aysola, Olufunke Akinbobuyi, Michelle White, Vaishali
E. Reddy, Joel Okoli, Clarence Clark, Edward E Partridge, Ed Childs, Derrick J. Beech,Valerie
Montgomery Rice, E Shyam P Reddy and Veena N Rao. Molecular Mechanism linking BRCA1 Dysfunction to HGSEOC with peritoneal permeability
and ascites. 2015. J Gynecol Res 1(1):1-7
Xu, J.; Agyemang, S.; Qin, Y.; Aysola, K.; Giles, M.; Oprea, G.; O’ Regan, R.M.; Partridge,
E.E.; Harris, Hooker, S.; Rice, V.M.; Reddy, E.S.P.; Rao, V.N. A novel pathway that links caveolin-1 down regulation to BRCA1 dysfunction in SEOC
cells. Enliven: Challenges Cancer Detect Ther 1(1): 2014. NIHMS639537. PMCID: PMC4292936
Desai,A.; Xu, J.; Aysola, K.; Qin, Y.; Okoli, C.; Hariprasad, R.; Chinemeren, U.;
Gates, C.; Reddy, A.; Danner, O.; Franklin, G.; Ngozi, A.; Cantuaria, G.; Singh, K.;
Grizzle, W.; Landen, C.; Partridge, E.E.; Rice, V.M ; Reddy, E.S.P.; Rao, V.N. Epithelial ovarian cancer-An overview. World J Translat Med. 2014; 3:1-8. PMCID:PMC4267287
Qin, Y.; Xu, J; Aysola, K; Oprea, G; Reddy, A; Matthews, R; Okoli, J; Cantor, A; Grizzle,
W.; Partridge, E.; Reddy, E.S.P; Landen, C.; Rao, V. BRCA1 proteins regulate growth of ovarian cancer cells by tethering Ubc9. Am J Cancer
Res, 2 (5): 540-548. 2012. PMCID:PMC3433105
Aysola, K.; Desai,A.; Welch, C.; Xu, J.; Qin, Y.; Reddy, V.; Matthews, R.; Owens,
C.; Okoli,J.; Beech,D.J.; Piyathilake, C.; Reddy, E.S.P.; Rao, V.N. Triple-negative breast cancer-an overview. Heredit Genetics 2013;S2.001. PMCID: PMC4181680.
Qin, Y.; Xu, J.; Aysola, K.; Begum, N.; Reddy, V.; Yuli, C.; Grizzle, W.; Partridge
E.; Reddy, E.S.P.; Rao, V. Ubc9 mediates nuclear localization and growth suppression of BRCA1 and BRCA1a proteins.
J Cell Physiol, 2011; 226(12):3355-3367. NIHMS366652. PMCID:PMC3329759
Click here to view additional publications.
Honors and Awards
2014: Journal of Surgery and Medicine and Enliven: Challenges in Cancer. She was invited to be one of the NCI CRCHD Spot -lighted investigator on the “Grantee Spotlight” page of the CRCHD website for the month of October http://www.cancer.gov/aboutnci/organization/crchd/crchd-blog/2014/rao-spotlight2013: Keynote speaker at the International conference on Emerging trends in Biomarker research-Prospects and challenges, India.
2013: Patent on BRCA1 function based cellular assays for TNBC and Ovarian cancer was designated a patent number 8,372,580 with an issue date of Feb 12
2011: ASIOA Mario Toppo Distinguished Scientist award for her work on BRCA1 dysfunction and cancer health disparities in African American women with TNBC
Georgia Cancer Coalition (GCC) Distinguished Cancer Scholar