Gautam Sethi
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Title: Targeted inhibition of transcription factor STAT3 for the prevention and treatment of cancer
Biography
Biography: Gautam Sethi
Abstract
STATs comprise a family of cytoplasmic transcription factors that transmit signals, mediate intracellular signaling usually generated at cell surface receptors and transmitted to the nucleus. Numerous studies have demonstrated constitutive activation of STAT3 in a wide variety of human tumors, including blood malignancies (leukemias, lymphomas and multiple myeloma) as well as solid tissues (such as head and neck, breast, lung, gastric, hepatocellular and prostate cancers). There is a strong evidence to suggest that aberrant STAT3 signaling promotes development and progression of human cancers by either inhibiting apoptosis or inducing cell proliferation, angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis. However, the development of novel drugs for the targeting STAT3 that is both safe and efficacious remains an important scientific and clinical challenge. We will present the data that shows that novel small molecule inhibitors of STAT3/JAK2 pathway can suppress the expression of genes involved in cancer initiation and promotion both in vitro and in vivo.