Current Areas of Research

The steroid hormone estrogen induces a wide variety of physiological responses in mammalian tissues. Estrogen exerts its biological action through specific receptors (ERs), which are ligand activated transcription factors belonging to the nuclear hormone receptor super family. Considerable data implicate steroid hormone, particularly estrogens in breast carcinogenesis and the estrogen receptor has become the most important therapeutic target in the prevention and treatment of estrogen sensitive cancers. Estrogen signalling is a balance between two opposing forces in the form of two distinct receptors (ER α and ER β) and their splice variants. The prospect that these two pathways can be selectively stimulated or inhibited with selective drugs, constitute new and promising therapeutic opportunities in clinical areas such as thyroid, and breast cancer. Molecular, biochemical and structural studies have generated information which is invaluable for the development of more selective and effective ER ligands .Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) are ER ligands exhibiting tissue specific agonistic/antagonistic bio-characters. Our study area aims to focus on SERMS, Estrogen Receptors and the molecular mechanisms of anti- estrogen signalling in hormone dependent cancer.

Differential gene expression in breast tumor tissue at different stages of menstrual cycle: Special emphasis to timing of breast cancer surgery and prognosis

Surgical intervention according to the phase of the menstrual cycle may influence the outcome of premenopausal women with breast cancer. Identification and characterization of differentially expressed genes in normal as well as malignant breast tissue from different phases of menstrual cycle will hopefully shed light on the mechanisms of tumor development and provide useful genetic markers for screening, diagnosis, prognosis, therapeutic monitoring and development of therapeutic vaccines.

Screening of dietary estrogens for its Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulatory (SERM) activity.

The estrogen receptor (ER) is a ligand-inducible transcription factor that controls expression of a number of genes in a wide variety of tissues. Binding of the natural hormone, estradiol, triggers dimerisation and nuclear location of the receptor and assembly of a functional transcription complex through recruitment of various coactivators. Dietary estrogens are a diverse group of plant-derived compounds that structurally or functionally mimic mammalian estrogens and show potential for human health. We mainly focus on the botanical sources for phytoestrgens, their mechanisms of action and their effects on hormone dependent cancers for developing new therapeutics.