Sincejoining Xavier University in 1995, I have continued my work on the design,synthesis, and biological studies of new families of potentially selectivemechanism-based inactivators (suicide inhibitors) for certain P450 enzymesinvolved in carcinogenesis. Due to the special properties of suicideinhibitors, these compounds are useful tools in the studies of cancerdevelopment and treatment. Additionally, the mechanism of action of theseinhibitors makes it possible to use them as probes into the active sites ofP450 enzymes leading to better understanding of the structure-activityrelationships involved in the P450-dependent reactions; and to use the newlysynthesized compounds as experimental tools in investigating the role of theseP450 enzymes in the carcinogenesis process. Our research group continues tohave extensive collaborations with nationally and internationally knowninvestigators on and off campus performing in vitro, in vivo,and modeling studies of our novel compounds.
In2008, we initiated a collaborative study with investigators at TulaneUniversity (Drs. Barbara Beckman and Matthew Burow) involving the design,synthesis, and carcinogenesis studies of ceramide mimicking agents onchemo-resistant breast cancers. Our role in the project was originally just to design,synthesize, purify, and provide the new ceramides to our collaborators atTulane for various in vitro and in vivo biological assays. We have nowexpanded our lab capabilities and are performing many of the assays at Xavier.This work has led to one patent and multiple publications. We have expandedthis collaboration to include other research groups at other institutions. Weare hopeful that our findings will lead to novel chemotherapeutic agents forchemo- and endocrine-resistant cancers.
1. Goyal, N., Liu, J., Lovings, L., Dupart, P., Taylor, S., Bellow, S., Mensah, L., McClain, E., Dotson, B., Sridhar, J., Zhang, X., Zhao, M., & Foroozesh, M. (2014), Ethynylflavones, Highly Potent and Selective Inhibitors of Cytochrome P450 1A1, Chemical Research in Toxicology, 27(8), 1431–1439.
2. Liu, J., Pham, P., Skripnikova, E., Zheng, S., Lovings, L., Wang, Y., Goyal, N., Bellow, S., Mensah, L., Chatters, A., Bratton, M., Wiese, T., Zhao, M., Wang, G., & Foroozesh, M. (2015), A Ligand-Based Drug Design, Discovery of 4-Trifluoromethyl-7,8-Pyranocoumarin as a Selective Inhibitor of Human Cytochrome P450 1A2, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 58(16), 6481-6493.
3. Sridhar, J., Liu, J., Schroeder, R., Jiang, Q., Tram, P., Riley, K., & Foroozesh, M. (2017), Ortho Methylarylamines as Time-Dependent Inhibitors of Cytochrome P4501A1 Enzyme, Drug Metabolism Letters, 10(4), 270-277.
4. Goyal, N., Jackson, T., Do, C., Booker, S., Hill, T., Liu, J., & Foroozesh, M. (2017), Optimization of Scale-Up Synthesis of Anti-Cancer Ceramide Analog 315, Journal of Undergraduate Chemistry Research, 16(3), 89-90.
5. Goyal, N., Bongay-Williams, K., Do, C., Perry, T., Kantrow, E., Hill-Odom, M., Sridhar, J., and Foroozesh, M. (2018) Design, Synthesis and Evaluation of Dibenzylfuran Based Ether and Ester Derivatives as Potential P450 Inhibitors, Journal of Undergraduate Chemistry Research, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 102-104.
6. Ponnapakkam, T., Saulsberry, T., Hill, T., Odom-Hill, M., Goyal, N., Anbalagan, M., Liu, J., & Foroozesh, M. (2018), Inhibition of Breast Tumor Growth in Mice After Treatment with Ceramide Analog 315, Anti-Cancer Drugs, 29(9), 898-903.
7. Ponnapakkam, T., Bongay-Williams, K., Beamon, T., Hooks, R., Cheatham, D., Goyal, N., Anbalagan, M., and Foroozesh, M. (2021) Acute Toxicity Evaluation of a Novel Ceramide Analog for the Treatment of Breast Cancer, Toxicology Reports, 8, 1521-1526.
ORCID identifier (0000-0001-9928-1815)
MyNCBI Link (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/maryam.foroozesh.1/bibliography/public/)
Keywords/Tags Breast Cancer, Ceramides, Chemo-resistance, P450 enzymes, enzyme inhibitors
