Postdoctoral Research Associate
Research Interests:
K609-Acetylation in Androgen Receptor
Androgen receptor (AR), plays a crucial role in prostate cancer progression to a highly metastatic Castration Resistant Prostate cancer (CRPC). We identified previously unknown acetylation site, K609 in AR DNA binding domain. Her research focuses on unraveling this occurrence as well as exploring its implications in resistance.
Exploring (R)-9b, a small molecular inhibitor of ACK1, in drug-resistant Breast Cancer
We have designed a small molecular inhibitor of ACK1, (R)-9b, which has shown to be potent against prostate cancer and breast cancers. Current studies are aimed to validate whether abolishing the ACK1 addiction of breast cancers using ACK1 inhibitors could serve as prospective therapeutic intervention, as well as to certify the candidature of (R)-9b as a potential anti-cancer agent.
Selected Publications:
- Sawant M, Mahajan K, Weimholt C, Luo J, Kukshal V, Jez JM, Jeon MS, Zhang B, Li T, Fang B, Lawrence NJ, Luo Y, Feng FY, and Mahajan NP*. Chronologically modified androgen receptor in recurrent castration resistant prostate cancer and its therapeutic targeting. Science Translational Medicine, 14(649):eabg4132. 2022.
- Ghildiyal R, Sawant M, Kim E, Luo J, Mahajan K, Feng F and Mahajan NP*. Loss of long non-coding RNA NXTAR in prostate cancer augments androgen receptor expression and enzalutamide resistance. Cancer Research, 82(1):155-168, 2022.
- Sawant M, Wilson A, Sridaran D, Mahajan K, Christopher O’Conor, Ian Hagemann, Jingqin Luo, Tiandao Li, Juan Carlos Roa, Xinyan Wu, Akhilesh Pandey, Mahajan NP*. Epigenetic Reprogramming of Cell Cycle Genes by ACK1 Promotes Breast Cancer Resistance to CDK4/6 Inhibitor. Oncogene, 2023. (In revision).
Mithila Sawant
M.Sc., Mumbai University
Ph.D., Pune University
Contact:
Email:mithila.s@wustl.edu
Phone: 314-273-7759