Aimin Peng, PhD, associate professor in the department of oral biology at the UNMC College of Dentistry, received grant funding from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research for the project "Greatwall in replication stress/DNA damage responses and oral cancer resistance."
Gregory G. Oakley, PhD, associate professor in the department of oral biology at the UNMC College of Dentistry, is the project's co-investigator.
Oral cancer, including cancer of the mouth and the back of the throat, is the sixth most common cancer worldwide. In the United States, approximately 50,000 new oral cancer cases are diagnosed each year.
"First-line treatments for oral cancer typically include surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Unfortunately, the prognosis of oral cancer remains relatively poor, calling for a better understanding of how these treatments work and why some tumors are resistant, and accordingly, developing more effective treatment options and combinations to overcome drug resistance," Peng said.
Peng and Oakley characterize a protein kinase named Greatwall as a potential drug target to improve the treatment outcome of cancer, including oral cancer.
"This project will characterize new mechanisms of how the oral cancer cell responds to radiation and therapeutic drugs, and thereby significantly impact our understanding of oral cancer progression and drug resistance," Peng said.
This project will be a collaboration among many researchers at the UNMC College of Dentistry, lead by Peng and Oakley.