Rakesh K. Singh, PhD

Department Affiliations
Cohen Professor
Vice Chair, Graduate Education
Director, Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology Graduate Program

Interests
Tumor Growth and Metastasis, Angiogenesis, Tumor Immunology, Cytokine Biology

Education
Postdoctoral Fellow, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 1994
PhD, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, 1991
MSc, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, 1987
BSc (Hons.), Banaras Hindu University, Varasani, India, 1985

National Activities
Editorial Board Member: American Journal of Cancer Research; The Open System Biology Journal; The Open Circulation & Vascular Journal; The Open Breast Cancer Journal; Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs; Frontiers in Biosciences   
National and International Grant Review Committee: Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program Grant review committee (Breast Cancer Peer Review Panel PBY1 and PBY-5); Cancer Research, UK, Project Grant Application Review Committee; Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Targeted Therapeutics-2 (TT-2) Grant Review Committee; European Research Council LS2 Review panel (Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics and Systems biology); Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program Grant review committee (Peer Review Panel PBY-2); Medical Research Council, UK, Project Grant Application Review Committee; Biomedical Research Council, Grant application Review, Singapore; National Institutes of Health.

Notable Publications
Roy S, Bag A, Dutta S, Polavaram NS, Islam R, Schellenburg S, Banwait J, Guda C, Ran S, Hollingsworth M, Singh RK, Talmadge JE, Muders MH, Batra SK, and Datta K. A novel tumor-promoting function of Neuropilin-2 in macrophages. Cancer Research. 78:5600-5617, 2018. PubMed PMID: 30111533; PMCID: PMC6168405

Saxena S, Purohit A, Varney ML, Hayashi Y, and Singh RK. Semaphorin-5A Maintains Epithelial Phenotype of Malignant Pancreatic Cancer Cells. BMC Cancer, 18:1283-1297, 2018, PMID: 30577767 PMCID: PMC6303891 DOI: 10.1186/s12885-018-5204-x

Awaji M and Singh RK. Cancer-associated fibroblasts functional heterogeneity in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Cancers, 11(3):290-304, 2019. DOI:10.3390/cancers11030290

Sharma B, Nannuru K, Saxena S, Varney ML, and Singh RK. CXCR2: A novel mediator of mammary tumor bone metastasis. International J. Molecular Sciences, 20:1237-1251, 2019. PMID: 30832219 DOI: 10.3390/cancers11030290

Wu L, Awaji M, Saxena S, Awaji M, and Singh RK. Tumor-associated neutrophils: Going Pro. Cancers, 11: 564-583, 2019. DOI:10.3390/cancers11040564

Awaji M and Singh RK. Cancer-associated fibroblasts functional heterogeneity in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Cancers, 11(3):290-304, 2019. DOI:10.3390/cancers11030290

Sharma B, Nannuru K, Saxena S, Varney ML, and Singh RK. CXCR2: A novel mediator of mammary tumor bone metastasis. International J. Molecular Sciences, 20:1237-1251, 2019. PubMed PMID: 30832219 DOI: 10.3390/cancers11030290

Wu L, Awaji M, Saxena S, Awaji M, and Singh RK. Tumor-associated neutrophils: Going Pro. Cancers, 11: 564-583, 2019. DOI:10.3390/cancers11040564

Awaji M, Futakuchi, M, Heavican T, Iqbal J, and Singh RK. Cancer-associated fibroblasts enhance the survival and progression of the aggressive pancreatic tumor via FGF-2 and CXCL8. Cancer Microenvironment, 12(1):37-46. 2019 DOI: 10.1007/s12307-019-00223-3, PubMed PMID: 31025289

Liu T, Romanova S, Wang S, Hyun MA, Zhang C, Cohen SM, Singh RK, and Bronich TK. Alendronate-modified polymeric micelles for the treatment of breast cancer bone metastasis. Molecular Pharmaceutics, 16:2872-2883, 2019; DOI: 10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.8b01343; PMID:31150251; PMCID: PMC6632075

Wu L, Awaji M, Saxena S, Varney ML, Sharma B, and Singh RK. IL17-CXCR2 axis facilitates breast cancer progression by upregulating neutrophil recruitment. American J. Pathology, 2019; DOI: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2019.09.016. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 31654638

Wu L, Saxena S, and Singh RK.  Neutrophils in the tumor microenvironment.  In: The Tumor Microenvironment-Novel concepts: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology; 1224:1-20. 2020; DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-35723-8_1; PubMed PMID: 32036601.

Xie Y, Hang Y, Wang Y, Sleightholm R., Prajapati DR, Bader J, Yu A, Tang W, Jaramillo L, Li J, Singh RK, Oupicky D. Stromal Modulation and Treatment of Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer with Local Intraperitoneal Triple miRNA/siRNA Nanotherapy. ACS Nano, 14(1):255-271.2020. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.9b03978. PubMed PMID:31927946

Awaji M, Saxena S, Wu L, Prajapati DR, Purohit A, Varney ML, Rachagani S, Ly QP, Jain M, Batra SK, and Singh RK. CXCR2 signaling promotes secretory cancer-associated fibroblasts in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. FASEB J, 2020, PMID: 32453916 DOI: 10.1096/fj.201902990R

Wu L, Saxena S, Goel P, Prajapati DR, Wang C, and Singh RK. Breast cancer cells-neutrophil interactions enhance neutrophil survival and pro-tumorigenic activities. Cancers. 12, 2884, 2020. PMID: 33049964; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7599756 doi:10.3390/cancers12102884.

Bhatia R, Muniyan S, Thompson C, Kaur S, Jain M, Singh RK, Dhaliwal A, Cox JL, Akira S, Singh S, Batra SK and Kumar S. Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) protects acinar cells from cerulean-induced damage during acute pancreatitis. Pancreas, 49(10):1297-1306, 2020. PMID: 33122517 DOI: 10.1097/MPA.0000000000001690

Saxena S, Prajapati DR, Goel P, Tomar B, Hayashi Y, Atri P, Rachagani S, Grandgenett PM, Hollingsworth MA, Batra SK, and Singh RK. Plexin-B3 regulates cellular motility, invasiveness, and metastasis in pancreatic cancer. Cancers, 13:818-837, 2021. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13040818

Ye Z, Abdelmoaty MM, Ambardekar VV, Curran SM, Dyavar SR, Arnold LA, Cohen SA, Kumar D, Alnouti Y, Coulter DW, Singh RK, Vetro JA. Preliminary Preclinical Study of Chol-DsiRNA Polyplexes Formed with PLL[30]-PEG[5K] for the RNAi-Based Therapy of Breast Cancer. Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine, 33: 102362-102377, 2021. PMID: 33545405; DOI: 10.1016/j.nano.2021.102363

Purohit A, Saxena S. Varney ML, Prajapati DR, Kozel JA, Lazenby A, and Singh RK. Host Cxcr2-dependent regulation of pancreatic cancer growth, angiogenesis, and metastasis. American J. Pathology 191(4):759-771, 2021. PMID: 33453178; DOI: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2021.01.002

Hang Y, Tang S, Tang W, Vetvicka D, Zhang C, Xie Y, Yu F, Yu A, Sil D, Li J, Singh RK, and Oupicky D. Polycation Fluorination Improves Intraperitoneal siRNA Delivery in Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer. J. Controlled Rel., 333:139-150, 2021. PMID: 33774121; DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2021.03.028

Saxena S and Singh RK. Chemokines orchestrate tumor cells and the microenvironment to achieve metastatic heterogeneity. Cancer Metastasis Reviews, 40:447-476, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10555-021-09970-6

For a detailed list of publications, click here.