NANDINI GHOSH-CHOUDHURY, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Phone (voice): 210 567 3108

Degrees

1987, Ph.D., McMaster University, Canada
1978, M.Sc., University of Calcutta, India
1976, B.Sc., University of Calcutta, India

Postdoctoral Training

1987-1991, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Description of Research

My primary goal is to understand the mechanism of uncontrolled growth of cancer cells. I am approaching this problem by studying the defect in programmed cell death (apoptosis) in cancer cells. My experimental models include breast cancer and prostate cancer cells. I am using lovastatin, a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, which arrests the cells at G1 phase of the cell cycle, to study this mechanism. Lovastatin causes apoptosis in a number of cell types. My preliminary work shows that it causes growth arrest in the breast cancer cells and also causes apoptosis, predominantly in the absence of estrogen. Thus, the mechanism by which lovastatin makes the otherwise immortalized breast cancer cells to undergo programmed cell death will be the main focus of my lab.

Another part of my research interest deals with the mechanism by which these cancer cells metastasize to bone. Both breast and prostate cancer cells are known to metastasize to bone very frequently. I am studying the involvement of a group of proteins intimately involved in bone remodeling, known as the bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), in this metastatic process. BMPs are stored in bone matrix and are mainly involved in bone formation. Metastasis of breast cancer cells to bone usually results in osteolysis whereas prostate cancer cells cause bone formation at the site of metastasis. Role of BMPs in bone resorption has yet to be elucidated. The expression pattern of BMPs and their receptors by these two types of cancer cells points to the importance of this group of growth factors to bone metastasis of breast and prostate cancer cells.

Selected References

Ghosh-Choudhury N, Butcher M, Ghosh HP. Expression from cloned DNA of biologically active glycoprotein C of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 in mammalian cells. J Gen Virol 71:689-699, 1990.

Harris SE, Bonewald LF, Harris MA, Sabatini M, Dallas S, Feng J,
Ghosh-Choudhury N, Wozney J, Mundy GR. Effects of TGF on bone nodule formation and expression of bone morphogenetic protein 2, osteocalcin, osteopontin, alkaline phosphatase and type I collagen mRNA in prolonged cultures of fetal rat calvarial osteoblasts. J Bone Miner Res 9:855-863, 1994.

Feng JQ, Harris MA, Ghosh-Choudhury N, Feng M, Mundy GR, Harris SE. Structure and sequence of mouse bone morphogenetic protein 2 gene. Biochim Biophys Acta 1218:221-224, 1994.

Ghosh-Choudhury N, Butcher N, Reid E, Ghosh HP. Effect of tunicamycin and monensin on the transport to the cell surface and secretion of a viral membrane glycoprotein containing both N- and O- linked sugars. Biochem Cell Biol 72:20-25, 1994.