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Home / Research / Seed Grant Program / Seed Grant Recipients / Erina Vlashi

Erina Vlashi

Erina Vlashi
Erina Vlashi
Associate Professor

Department of Radiation Oncology

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Los Angeles, CA

Potentiating radiation therapy in pancreatic cancer

Overview

Aim: Basic Science / Cancer Biology

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC), commonly referred to as pancreatic cancer, are lethal, in part, due to a remarkable resistance to current therapies, including radiation therapy. For reasons that remain obscure, radiation fails to improve outcomes for pancreatic cancer patients even in the non-metastatic setting. In this proposal we hypothesize that the master regulator of cellular oxidative balance, NRF2, promotes tumor survival to oxidative stress during radiation by regulating the transcription of a metabolic genes that feed into antioxidant pathways. Our preliminary data suggest that inhibiting the NRF2 pathway can sensitize pancreatic cancer cells to radiation, strongly supporting our hypothesis and our long-term goal of developing novel ways to improve radiation therapy outcomes for pancreatic cancer patients.

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    • UCLA Center for Pancreatic Diseases
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    • Translational Research
    • Sahin-Toth Laboratory
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      • Insights into Cancer
  • American Pancreatic Association (APA)
  • NIH Funded Projects

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