Chandrika Behura, MD - Penn State Cancer Institute
Researcher Profile
Chandrika Behura, MD
John Wawrynovic Leukemia Research Scholar Endowment, Penn State College of Medicine
Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Division of Hematology and Oncology
Penn State Neuroscience Institute
Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Division of Hematology and Oncology
Penn State Neuroscience Institute
Scientific Program:Next-Generation Therapies
Disease Teams:
Cancer Institute, Pediatric Cancer Team
Research Interests
Dr. Chandrika Gowda is a board-certified hematologist/oncologist who has strong commitment to research in childhood cancer, including leukemia and neuroblastoma. Her major research project is to study Role of Ikaros tumor suppressor and pro-oncogenic casein Kinase II(CK2) in leukemogenesis and drug resistance. Dr.Gowda's current work is focused on targeting CK2 for treatment of hematological malignancies.
Her most notable work, published in Blood in 2015, established the novel approach of using specific CK2 inhibitors for treatment of high-risk B cell lineage leukemia using PDX models. She has presented her work at various national and international scientific forums and gained national recognition as an outstanding young investigator.
Dr. Gowda's research is currently supported by several extramural grants. She has also authored several chapters and review articles related to leukemia, CK2 and Ikaros. Her other projects are focused on designing novel therapeutic strategies for treatment of high risk neuroblastoma, which is the most common abdominal solid tumor in young children, with poor prognosis.
- Leukemia
- Casein Kinase II
- Therapeutics
- Neoplasms
- Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma
- B-Lymphocytes
- Genes
- Cell Proliferation
- Phosphorylation
- Gene Expression Regulation
- Epigenomics
- Gene Expression
Clinical Trials
A Phase 3 Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Open vs Thoracoscopic Management of Pulmonary Metastases in Patients With Osteosarcoma
A Dose Escalation Study Using Difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) and AMXT-1501 followed by a Randomized Controlled Trial of DFMO with or without AMXT-1501 for Neuroblastoma, CNS Tumors, and Sarcomas
BCC021 Phase I/II study of Silmitasertib (CX-4945) in combination with chemotherapy in children and young adults with relapsed refractory solid tumors
AHOD2131 A Randomized Phase 3 Interim Response Adapted Trial Comparing Standard Therapy with Immuno-oncology Therapy for Children and Adults with Newly Diagnosed Stage I and II Classic Hodgkin Lymphoma
Recent Publications
2023
Bogush, D, Schramm, J, Ding, Y, He, B, Singh, C, Sharma, A, Tukaramrao, DB, Iyer, S, Desai, D, Nalesnik, G, Hengst, J, Bhalodia, R, Gowda, C & Dovat, S 2023, 'Signaling pathways and regulation of gene expression in hematopoietic cells', Advances in Biological Regulation, vol. 88, 100942. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbior.2022.100942
2022
Wills, C, Mercer, K, Malysz, J, Galvis, LR & Gowda, C 2022, 'Chronic Generalized Lymphadenopathy in a Child—Progressive Transformation of Germinal Centers (PTGC)', Children, vol. 9, no. 2, 214. https://doi.org/10.3390/children9020214
Dovat, S, Gowda, C, Mailman, RB, Parent, LJ & Huang, X 2022, 'Clinician-Scientist Faculty Mentoring Program (FAME) – A New Inclusive Training Model at Penn State Increases Scholarly Productivity and Extramural Grant Funding', Advances in Medical Education and Practice, vol. 13, pp. 1039-1050. https://doi.org/10.2147/AMEP.S365953
Gowda, C, Purandare, A, Mercer, K, Duke, K & Dovat, S 2022, 'Novel Casein Kinase II (CK2) inhibitor BMS-135 shows significant in vivo anti-leukemia effect', European Journal of Cancer, vol. 174, pp. S29. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0959-8049(22)00879-6
2021
Ge, Z, Song, C, Ding, Y, Tan, BH, Desai, D, Sharma, A, Gowda, R, Yue, F, Huang, S, Spiegelman, V, Payne, JL, Reeves, ME, Iyer, S, Dhanyamraju, PK, Imamura, Y, Bogush, D, Bamme, Y, Yang, Y, Soliman, M, Kane, S, Dovat, E, Schramm, J, Hu, T, McGrath, M, Chroneos, ZC, Payne, KJ, Gowda, C & Dovat, S 2021, 'Dual targeting of MTOR as a novel therapeutic approach for high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia', Leukemia, vol. 35, no. 5, pp. 1267-1278. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-021-01132-5
Raca, G, Abdel-Azim, H, Yue, F, Broach, J, Payne, JL, Reeves, ME, Gowda, C, Schramm, J, Desai, D, Dovat, E, Hu, T, Berg, AS, Bhojwani, D, Payne, KJ & Dovat, S 2021, 'Increased Incidence of IKZF1 deletions and IGH-CRLF2 translocations in B-ALL of Hispanic/Latino children—a novel health disparity', Leukemia, vol. 35, no. 8, pp. 2399-2402. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-021-01133-4
Klink, M, Rahman, MA, Song, C, Dhanyamraju, PK, Ehudin, M, Ding, Y, Steffens, S, Bhadauria, P, Iyer, S, Aliaga, C, Desai, D, Huang, S, Claxton, D, Sharma, A & Gowda, C 2021, 'Mechanistic basis for in vivo therapeutic efficacy of ck2 inhibitor cx-4945 in acute myeloid leukemia', Cancers, vol. 13, no. 5, 1127, pp. 1-21. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13051127
Dovat, E, Song, C, Hu, T, Rahman, MA, Dhanyamraju, PK, Klink, M, Bogush, D, Soliman, M, Kane, S, McGrath, M, Ding, Y, Desai, D, Sharma, A & Gowda, C 2021, 'Transcriptional regulation of PIK3CD and PIKFYVE in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia by IKAROS and protein kinase CK2', International journal of molecular sciences, vol. 22, no. 2, 819, pp. 1-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22020819
2020
Song, C, Ge, Z, Ding, Y, Tan, BH, Desai, D, Gowda, K, Amin, S, Gowda, R, Robertson, GP, Yue, F, Huang, S, Spiegelman, V, Payne, JL, Reeves, ME, Gurel, Z, Iyer, S, Dhanyamraju, PK, Xiang, M, Kawasawa, YI, Cury, NM, Yunes, JA, McGrath, M, Schramm, J, Su, R, Yang, Y, Zhao, Z, Lyu, X, Muschen, M, Payne, KJ, Gowda, C & Dovat, S 2020, 'IKAROS and CK2 regulate expression of BCL-XL and chemosensitivity in high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia', Blood, vol. 136, no. 13, pp. 1520-1534. https://doi.org/10.1182/blood.2019002655
Payne, JL, Song, C, Ding, Y, Dhanyamraju, PK, Bamme, Y, Schramm, JW, Desai, D, Sharma, A, Gowda, C & Dovat, S 2020, 'Regulation of small GTPase Rab20 by ikaros in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia', International journal of molecular sciences, vol. 21, no. 5, 1718. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21051718