Faculty Biography

Anil Shanker, PhD

Interim Vice President for Research and Innovation & Professor, School of Medicine
Biochemistry, Cancer Biology, Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Immunology
Meharry Medical College
(615) 327-6460 | VP-Research@mmc.edu | Biosketch

Center Affiliations

Center for Women’s Health Research, Health Disparities Research Center of Excellence, Center for Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience

Research Themes

Autoimmune Diseases, Biomedical Engineering, Cancer Biology, Infectious Diseases, Neurodegenerative Diseases, NeuroImmunotherapy, Precision Medicine, Systems Medicine

Active Research Projects

1. Molecular circuitry underlying T-NK cell crosstalk (NIH 2SC1 CA182843)

2. Role of Fus1-mediated antitumor CD8T-NK crosstalk in Alzheimer’s disease pathology (3SC1 CA182843-07S1)

3. Development of immunotherapeutic agents, bioengineered Notch ligand constructs and sustained-release immune checkpoint ligands for cancer immunotherapy (NIH 2SC1 CA182843, 5U54 CA163069, 1R01 CA175370)

4. Building a prognostic Notch-based immunoscore signature for cancer health disparities (5U54 CA163069, 1R01 CA175370)

5. Role of neuro-immune interaction in lymphocyte function (3SC1 CA182843-07S1) 6. Computational modeling of lymphocyte networks (SC1 CA182843)

Goals Schematic

Lab Research Schematic

Publications

Small-Molecule Natural Product Physachenolide C Potentiates Immunotherapy Efficacy by Targeting BET Proteins.
Tewary P, Brooks AD, Xu YM, Wijeratne EMK, Babyak AL, Back TC, Chari R, Evans CN, Henrich CJ, Meyer TJ, Edmondson EF, Prudente de Aquino MT, Kanagasabai T, Shanker A, Gunatilaka AAL, Sayers TJ

Phase II Study of Immunotherapy With Tecemotide and Bevacizumab After Chemoradiation in Patients With Unresectable Stage III Non-Squamous Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer (NS-NSCLC): A Trial of the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (E6508).
Patel JD, Lee JW, Carbone DP, Wagner H, Shanker A, de Aquino MTP, Horn L, Johnson ML, Gerber DE, Liu JJ, Das MS, Al-Nsour MA, Dakhil CSR, Ramalingam S, Schiller JH

Critical Neurotransmitters in the Neuroimmune Network.
Hodo TW, de Aquino MTP, Shimamoto A, Shanker A

Specific Targeting of Notch Ligand-Receptor Interactions to Modulate Immune Responses: A Review of Clinical and Preclinical Findings.
Goruganthu MUL, Shanker A, Dikov MM, Carbone DP

Editorial: Lymphocyte Functional Crosstalk and Regulation.
Srivastava RM, Marincola FM, Shanker A

CD8⁺ T Lymphocyte and NK Cell Network: Circuitry in the Cytotoxic Domain of Immunity.
Uzhachenko RV, Shanker A

Keywords

Lymphocyte effector crosstalk in inflamed tumor microenvironment, Bioengineered agents for cancer immunotherapy, Immunoscore signature for cancer health disparity, neuro-immune interaction, Neuroimmunotherapy

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