Shevde's Research Featured by Department of Defense

The research of Lalita Shevde-Samant, Ph.D., Professor, Molecular & Cellular Pathology, was featured by the Department of Defense’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research

Programs in an article on their website, titled,

“Reprogramming the Pro-Tumorigenic Immune Microenvironment to Anti- Tumorigenic in Breast Cancer.” The piece features breast cancer research, for which Shevde received follow-on funding through the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) BCRP with a Breakthrough Funding Level 2 Award.

Shevde-Samant is Associate Director for Education and Training for the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB. In February, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama presented $1 million — its largest donation to date — to the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. This annual donation provides pilot money for clinical research projects, including Samant’s investigation of the hyperglycemic state of triple negative breast cancers. Triple negative cancer cells have been shown to be more aggressive and capable of suppressing the immune system, preventing it from recognizing and killing the cancer cells. With BCRFA funding, Samant and her team will now examine whether combining a diabetes drug with a treatment

that targets triple negative breast cancer cells will improve outcomes. This study will likely lead to a clinical trial for diabetic triple negative breast cancer patients.

In the article, Dr. Shevde stated, “We established a new concept that breast cancer cells mediate a ‘conversation’ or a crosstalk with tumor-infiltrating macrophages via Hedgehog ligands that act as ‘conversational’ molecules; this results in immense molecular changes in macrophages that functionally recalibrates them to an immune-suppressive, tumor-promoting state. I am very grateful to the DoD BCRP for funding my research program over the past several years on Hedgehog signaling; cumulatively, these investments have enabled me to take on new challenges to modify the breast tumor microenvironment towards eliminating breast cancer.”

Her work has led to the discovery of this novel signaling paradigm. From the article,“Many of the macrophage-targeting treatments currently in clinical trials abrogate not just the recruitment of M2 macrophages but M1 as well. Thus, more targeted approaches, such as the one Dr. Shevde is taking, are needed so as to specifically target the tumor-promoting macrophages while preserving the function and integrity of the tumor-killing M1 macrophages.”

Shevde’s Research Featured by Department of Defense