Ruhi Gulati
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Siva Kumar Natarajan
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Department of Pathology / Medicine
Program:
Authors:
Session: Session 7: 4:40 pm – 5:30 pm
Poster: 66
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to understand how the protein, ACOD1, and the metabolite it produces known as itaconate drives ZFTA-RELA fusion-driven pediatric brain tumors as well as characterize their role in driving other oncogenic fusion protein-driven cancers, like prostate cancers which are driven by ERG-TMPRSS2 gene fusion. A western blot, including a BCA assay, was conducted to determine ZFTA-RELA and ERG-TMPRSS2 fusion protein expression upon the addition of an ACOD1 inhibitor called dimethyl citraconate. Our findings displayed that tumor cells treated with dimethyl citraconate showed a reduction in protein levels of both ZFTA-RELA and ERG-TMPRSS2 fusion levels. This study therefore has implications for future drug development for targeting ACOD1 in diverse cancers that are driven by oncogenic fusion proteins.
