My primary research interest is cancer pharmacology. We study the antitumor activity and mechanism of action of the monoterpene perillyl alcohol in preclinical pancreatic cancer model systems. We have found that perillyl alcohol severely impairs hamster pancreatic tumor growth without toxicity to the host animal, and it selectively induces cell death in tumor cells but not normal cells. By investigating the molecular basis for these selective effects, we hope to uncover mechanisms that could be used in the design of other nontoxic anticancer drugs. In addition, we investigate the function of prenylated proteins in both normal and cancerous cells. Prenylated proteins are covalently modified with a farnesyl or geranylgeranyl lipid group. Many of them play important roles in regulating cell growth, and prenylation inhibitors are known to have antitumor activity, in collaboration with Drs. D. Crowell and S. Randall, we discovered that the oncogenic protein tyrosine phosphatase PTPCAAX is prenylated. We are currently studying the PTPCAAX signal transduction pathway as well as the role of PTPCAAX prenylation in its oncogenic function.
Department of Biology