Shantu Amin, PhD - Penn State Cancer Institute
Researcher Profile
Shantu Amin, PhD
Professor, Department of Pharmacology
Scientific Program:Mechanisms of Carcinogenesis
Research Interests
Dr. Shantu Amin is director of the Organic Synthesis Core of Penn State Cancer Institute. His laboratory is nationally recognized for developing synthetic strategies for novel small drug-like molecules for cancer prevention and therapy.
The major focus of Dr. Amin’s research is the synthesis of anti-cancer agents, elucidating their efficacy and investigating their drug metabolism. He has also been involved in structure-activity studies with mutagenic and carcinogenic compounds and using this knowledge to develop appropriate chemopreventive agents.
These studies have resulted in the development of several chemopreventive/ chemotherapeutic agents and an understanding of their mechanisms of action.
- Neoplasms
- Epoxy Compounds
- DNA
- Lung
- Carcinogens
- DNA Adducts
- Benzo(a)pyrene
- Tobacco
- Carcinogenesis
- 4-(N-methyl-N-nitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone
- Liver
- Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
Recent Publications
2024
Rimal, B, Collins, SL, Tanes, CE, Rocha, ER, Granda, MA, Solanki, S, Hoque, NJ, Gentry, EC, Koo, I, Reilly, ER, Hao, F, Paudel, D, Singh, V, Yan, T, Kim, MS, Bittinger, K, Zackular, JP, Krausz, KW, Desai, D, Amin, S, Coleman, JP, Shah, YM, Bisanz, JE, Gonzalez, FJ, Vanden Heuvel, JP, Wu, GD, Zemel, BS, Dorrestein, PC, Weinert, EE & Patterson, AD 2024, 'Bile salt hydrolase catalyses formation of amine-conjugated bile acids', Nature, vol. 626, no. 8000, pp. 859-863. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06990-w
2023
Zhu, X, Liu, Q, Patterson, AD, Sharma, AK, Amin, SG, Cohen, SM, Gonzalez, FJ & Peters, JM 2023, 'Accumulation of Linoleic Acid by Altered Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor-α Signaling Is Associated with Age-Dependent Hepatocarcinogenesis in Ppara Transgenic Mice', Metabolites, vol. 13, no. 8, 936. https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo13080936
Zhou, X, Chakraborty, D, Murray, IA, Coslo, D, Kehs, Z, Vijay, A, Ton, C, Desai, D, Amin, SG, Patterson, AD & Perdew, GH 2023, 'Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Activation Coordinates Mouse Small Intestinal Epithelial Cell Programming', Laboratory Investigation, vol. 103, no. 2, 100012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labinv.2022.100012
Kale, VP, Hengst, JA, Sharma, AK, Golla, U, Dovat, S, Amin, SG, Yun, JK & Desai, DH 2023, 'Characterization of Anticancer Effects of the Analogs of DJ4, a Novel Selective Inhibitor of ROCK and MRCK Kinases', Pharmaceuticals, vol. 16, no. 8, 1060. https://doi.org/10.3390/ph16081060
Dong, F, Murray, IA, Annalora, A, Coslo, DM, Desai, D, Gowda, K, Yang, J, Wang, D, Koo, I, Hao, F, Amin, SG, Patterson, AD, Marcus, C & Perdew, GH 2023, 'Complex chemical signals dictate Ah receptor activation through the gut-lung axis', FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, vol. 37, no. 7, pp. e23010. https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.202300703R
Morgan, EW, Dong, F, Annalora, AJ, Murray, IA, Wolfe, T, Erickson, R, Gowda, K, Amin, SG, Petersen, KS, Kris-Etherton, PM, Marcus, CB, Walk, ST, Patterson, AD & Perdew, GH 2023, 'Contribution of Circulating Host and Microbial Tryptophan Metabolites Toward Ah Receptor Activation', International Journal of Tryptophan Research, vol. 16. https://doi.org/10.1177/11786469231182510
Chen, K-M, Sun, Y-W, Hu, J, Balogh, K, Gowda, K, Aliaga, C, Sun, D, Christensen, N, Amin, S & El-Bayoumy, K 2023, 'Gender Difference in DNA Damage Induced by the Environmental Carcinogen Dibenzo[def,p]chrysene Individually and in Combination with Mouse Papillomavirus Infection in the Mouse Oral Cavity', ACS Omega. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.3c09611
Patel, D, Murray, IA, Dong, F, Annalora, AJ, Gowda, K, Coslo, DM, Krzeminski, J, Koo, I, Hao, F, Amin, SG, Marcus, CB, Patterson, AD & Perdew, GH 2023, 'Induction of AHR Signaling in Response to the Indolimine Class of Microbial Stress Metabolites', Metabolites, vol. 13, no. 9, 985. https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo13090985
Rikken, G, Smith, KJ, van den Brink, NJM, Smits, JPH, Gowda, K, Alnemri, A, Kuzu, GE, Murray, IA, Lin, JM, Smits, JGA, van Vlijmen-Willems, IM, Amin, SG, Perdew, GH & van den Bogaard, EH 2023, 'Lead optimization of aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligands for treatment of inflammatory skin disorders', Biochemical Pharmacology, vol. 208, 115400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcp.2022.115400
2022
Chen, KM, Sun, YW, Sun, D, Gowda, K, Amin, S & El-Bayoumy, K 2022, 'Black Raspberry Extract Enhances Glutathione Conjugation of the Fjord-Region Diol Epoxide Derived from the Tobacco Carcinogen Dibenzo[ def, p]chrysene in Human Oral Cells', Chemical research in toxicology, vol. 35, no. 11, pp. 2152-2159. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrestox.2c00246
Alden, NA, Arrizabalaga, JH, Liu, Y, Amin, S, Gowda, K, Yao, S, Archetti, M, Glick, AB & Hayes, DJ 2022, 'Delivery of Therapeutic miR-148b Mimic via Poly(β Amino Ester) Polyplexes for Post-transcriptional Gene Regulation and Apoptosis of A549 Cells', Langmuir, vol. 38, no. 32, pp. 9833-9843. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.2c00913
Chen, KM, Sun, YW, Krebs, NM, Sun, D, Krzeminski, J, Reinhart, L, Gowda, K, Amin, S, Mallery, S, Richie, JP & El-Bayoumy, K 2022, 'Detection of DNA adducts derived from the tobacco carcinogens, benzo[a]pyrene and dibenzo[def,p]chrysene in human oral buccal cells', Carcinogenesis, vol. 43, no. 8, pp. 746-753. https://doi.org/10.1093/carcin/bgac058
Elbezanti, WO, Al-Odat, OS, Chitren, R, Singh, JK, Srivastava, SK, Gowda, K, Amin, S, Robertson, GP, Nemmara, VV, Jonnalagadda, SC, Budak-Alpdogan, T & Pandey, MK 2022, 'Development of a novel Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor that exerts anti-cancer activities potentiates response of chemotherapeutic agents in multiple myeloma stem cell-like cells', Frontiers in Pharmacology, vol. 13, 894535. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.894535
Dhanyamraju, PK, Schell, TD, Amin, S & Robertson, GP 2022, 'Drug-Tolerant Persister Cells in Cancer Therapy Resistance', Cancer Research, vol. 82, no. 14, pp. 2503-2514. https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-21-3844
Raup-Konsavage, WM, Sepulveda, DE, Morris, DP, Amin, S, Vrana, KE, Graziane, NM & Desai, D 2022, 'Efficient Synthesis for Altering Side Chain Length on Cannabinoid Molecules and Their Effects in Chemotherapy and Chemotherapeutic Induced Neuropathic Pain', Biomolecules, vol. 12, no. 12, 1869. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom12121869
Jiang, J, Ma, Y, Liu, Y, Lu, D, Gao, X, Krausz, KW, Desai, D, Amin, SG, Patterson, AD, Gonzalez, FJ & Xie, C 2022, 'Glycine-β-muricholic acid antagonizes the intestinal farnesoid X receptor–ceramide axis and ameliorates NASH in mice', Hepatology Communications, vol. 6, no. 12, pp. 3363-3378. https://doi.org/10.1002/hep4.2099
Raza, A, Singh, A, Amin, S, Spallholz, JE & Sharma, AK 2022, 'Identification and biotin receptor-mediated activity of a novel seleno-biotin compound that inhibits viability of and induces apoptosis in ovarian cancer cells', Chemico-Biological Interactions, vol. 365, 110071. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbi.2022.110071
DiPasquale, M, Deering, TG, Desai, D, Sharma, AK, Amin, S, Fox, TE, Kester, M, Katsaras, J, Marquardt, D & Heberle, FA 2022, 'Influence of ceramide on lipid domain stability studied with small-angle neutron scattering: The role of acyl chain length and unsaturation', Chemistry and Physics of Lipids, vol. 245, 105205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemphyslip.2022.105205
Singh, A, Raza, A, Amin, S, Damodaran, C & Sharma, AK 2022, 'Recent Advances in the Chemistry and Therapeutic Evaluation of Naturally Occurring and Synthetic Withanolides', Molecules, vol. 27, no. 3, 886. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27030886
Kaur, R, Desai, D, Amin, S, Raza, K, Bhalla, A, Yadav, P & Kaushal, N 2023, 'Selenocoxib-3, a novel anti-inflammatory therapeutic effectively resolves colitis', Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, vol. 478, no. 3, pp. 621-636. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-022-04532-y
Dinavahi, SS, Chen, YC, Gowda, R, Dhanyamraju, PK, Punnath, K, Desai, D, Berg, A, Kimball, SR, Amin, S, Yang, JM & Robertson, GP 2022, 'Targeting Protein Translation in Melanoma by Inhibiting EEF-2 Kinase Regulates Cholesterol Metabolism though SREBP2 to Inhibit Tumour Development', International journal of molecular sciences, vol. 23, no. 7, 3481. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23073481
2021
Chen, YC, Dinavahi, SS, Feng, Q, Gowda, R, Ramisetti, S, Xia, X, LaPenna, KB, Chirasani, VR, Cho, SH, Hafenstein, SL, Battu, MB, Berg, A, Sharma, AK, Kirchhausen, T, Dokholyan, NV, Amin, S, He, P & Robertson, GP 2021, 'Activating Sphingosine-1-phospahte signaling in endothelial cells increases myosin light chain phosphorylation to decrease endothelial permeability thereby inhibiting cancer metastasis', Cancer Letters, vol. 506, pp. 107-119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.canlet.2021.01.004
Tellez, CS, Picchi, MA, Juri, D, Do, K, Desai, DH, Amin, SG, Hutt, JA, Filipczak, PT & Belinsky, SA 2021, 'Chromatin remodeling by the histone methyltransferase EZH2 drives lung pre-malignancy and is a target for cancer prevention', Clinical Epigenetics, vol. 13, no. 1, 44. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13148-021-01034-4
Foreman, JE, Koga, T, Kosyk, O, Kang, BH, Zhu, X, Cohen, SM, Billy, LJ, Sharma, AK, Amin, S, Gonzalez, FJ, Rusyn, I & Peters, JM 2021, 'Diminished Hepatocarcinogenesis by a Potent, High-Affinity Human PPARα Agonist in PPARA-Humanized Mice', Toxicological Sciences, vol. 183, no. 1, pp. 70-80. https://doi.org/10.1093/toxsci/kfab067
Golla, U, Ehudin, MA, Annageldiyev, C, Zeng, Z, Bastihalli Tukaramrao, D, Tarren, A, Date, AA, Elcheva, I, Berg, A, Amin, S, Loughran, TP, Kester, M, Desai, D, Dovat, S, Claxton, D & Sharma, A 2021, 'Dj4 targets the rho-associated protein kinase pathway and attenuates disease progression in preclinical murine models of acute myeloid leukemia', Cancers, vol. 13, no. 19, 4889. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13194889
Chen, KM, Thompson, H, Vanden-Heuvel, JP, Sun, YW, Trushin, N, Aliaga, C, Gowda, K, Amin, S, Stanley, B, Manni, A & El-Bayoumy, K 2021, 'Lipoxygenase catalyzed metabolites derived from docosahexaenoic acid are promising antitumor agents against breast cancer', Scientific reports, vol. 11, no. 1, 410. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79716-x
Karelia, DN, Kim, S, Pandey, MK, Plano, D, Amin, S, Lu, J & Sharma, AK 2021, 'Novel seleno-aspirinyl compound as-10 induces apoptosis, g1 arrest of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells, inhibits their nf-κb signaling, and synergizes with gemcitabine cytotoxicity', International journal of molecular sciences, vol. 22, no. 9, 4966. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22094966
Ghanghas, P, Sharma, M, Desai, D, Raza, K, Bhalla, A, Kumar, P, Narula, D, Amin, S, Sanyal, SN & Kaushal, N 2022, 'Selenium-Based Novel Epigenetic Regulators Offer Effective Chemotherapeutic Alternative with Wider Safety Margins in Experimental Colorectal Cancer', Biological Trace Element Research, vol. 200, no. 2, pp. 635-646. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-021-02659-5
Foreman, JE, Koga, T, Kosyk, O, Kang, BH, Zhu, X, Cohen, SM, Billy, LJ, Sharma, AK, Amin, S, Gonzalez, FJ, Rusyn, I & Peters, JM 2021, 'Species Differences between Mouse and Human PPARα in Modulating the Hepatocarcinogenic Effects of Perinatal Exposure to a High-Affinity Human PPARα Agonist in Mice', Toxicological Sciences, vol. 183, no. 1, pp. 81-92. https://doi.org/10.1093/toxsci/kfab068
2020
Chen, KM, Sun, YW, Kawasawa, YI, Salzberg, AC, Zhu, J, Gowda, K, Aliaga, C, Amin, S, Atkins, H & El-Bayoumy, K 2020, 'Black raspberry inhibits oral tumors in mice treated with the tobacco smoke constituent dibenzo(def,p)chrysene via genetic and epigenetic alterations', Cancer Prevention Research, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 357-365. https://doi.org/10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-19-0496
Pearson, JM, Tan, SF, Sharma, A, Annageldiyev, C, Fox, TE, Abad, JL, Fabrias, G, Desai, D, Amin, S, Wang, HG, Cabot, MC, Claxton, DF, Kester, M, Feith, DJ & Loughran, TP 2020, 'Ceramide analogue SACLAC modulates sphingolipid levels and MCL-1 splicing to induce apoptosis in acute myeloid leukemia', Molecular Cancer Research, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 352-363. https://doi.org/10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-19-0619
Dinavahi, SS, Gowda, R, Bazewicz, CG, Battu, MB, Lin, JM, Chitren, RJ, Pandey, MK, Amin, S, Robertson, GP & Gowda, K 2020, 'Design, synthesis characterization and biological evaluation of novel multi-isoform ALDH inhibitors as potential anticancer agents', European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 187, 111962. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmech.2019.111962
Dinavahi, SS, Gowda, R, Gowda, K, Bazewicz, CG, Chirasani, VR, Battu, MB, Berg, A, Dokholyan, NV, Amin, S & Robertson, GP 2020, 'Development of a Novel Multi-Isoform ALDH Inhibitor Effective as an Antimelanoma Agent', Molecular cancer therapeutics, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 447-459. https://doi.org/10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-19-0360
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
Dong, F, Hao, F, Murray, IA, Smith, PB, Koo, I, Tindall, AM, Kris-Etherton, PM, Gowda, K, Amin, SG, Patterson, AD & Perdew, GH 2020, 'Intestinal microbiota-derived tryptophan metabolites are predictive of Ah receptor activity', Gut microbes, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1080/19490976.2020.1788899
Nettleford, SK, Zhao, L, Qian, F, Herold, M, Arner, B, Desai, D, Amin, S, Xiong, N, Singh, V, Carlson, BA & Prabhu, KS 2020, 'The Essential Role of Selenoproteins in the Resolution of Citrobacter rodentium-Induced Intestinal Inflammation', Frontiers in Nutrition, vol. 7, 96. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2020.00096
Annageldiyev, C, Tan, SF, Thakur, S, Dhanyamraju, PK, Ramisetti, SR, Bhadauria, P, Schick, J, Zeng, Z, Sharma, V, Dunton, W, Dovat, S, Desai, D, Zheng, H, Feith, DJ, Loughran, TP, Amin, S, Sharma, AK, Claxton, D & Sharma, A 2020, 'The PI3K/AKT Pathway Inhibitor ISC-4 Induces Apoptosis and Inhibits Growth of Leukemia in Preclinical Models of Acute Myeloid Leukemia', Frontiers in Oncology, vol. 10, 393. https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2020.00393
Christensen, ND, Chen, KM, Hu, J, Stairs, DB, Sun, YW, Aliaga, C, Balogh, KK, Atkins, H, Shearer, D, Li, J, Brendle, SA, Gowda, K, Amin, S, Walter, V, Viscidi, R & El-Bayoumy, K 2021, 'The environmental pollutant and tobacco smoke constituent dibenzo[def,p]chrysene is a co-factor for malignant progression of mouse oral papillomavirus infections', Chemico-Biological Interactions, vol. 333, 109321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbi.2020.109321
Annageldiyev, C, Gowda, K, Patel, T, Bhattacharya, P, Tan, SF, Iyer, S, Desai, D, Dovat, S, Feith, DJ, Loughran, TP, Amin, S, Claxton, D & Sharma, A 2020, 'The novel Isatin analog KS99 targets stemness markers in acute myeloid leukemia', Haematologica, vol. 105, no. 3, pp. 687-696. https://doi.org/10.3324/haematol.2018.212886