Faculty

Avinash Kumar

Research Scientist, Cancer Research laboratories/Dr. Levenson Lab Director, Small Animal Imaging Core

Ph.D., National Chemical Laboratory, University of Pune, Pune, INDIADBT-Postdoctoral Fellow, National Center for Cell Science, Pune, INDIAPostdoc Research Fellow, Cancer Institute, University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), Jackson, MS

Avinash.Kumar@liu.edu

Description

Dr. Kumar received his Ph.D. in protein biochemistry and biophysics in 2012, after which he was awarded the postdoctoral fellowship from Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India to carry out his research on cancer biology and epigenetics. After completion of this fellowship Dr. Kumar worked as a postdoc research fellow at the Cancer Institute, UMMC from 2013-16. Only recently, he joined Long Island University, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences as a Research Scientist for Cancer Research Laboratories and Director of the Small Animal Imaging core. For the past three years Dr. Kumar’s research has focused on understanding the role and regulation of metastasis-associated protein 1 (MTA1), a chromatin modifier, in prostate cancer biology and on utilization of dietary stilbenes, such as resveratrol and pterostilbene among others as MTA1 inhibitors for prostate cancer chemoprevention and treatment. Dr. Kumar is an ad-hoc as well as an active reviewer for some journals. He is the author of 11 peer-reviewed publications, two book chapters and 17 abstracts. Dr. Kumar is an associate member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

Publications

• Campanelli G, Al Deabel R, Puaar A, Devarakonda LS, Parupathi P, Zhang J, Waxner N, Yang C, Kumar A and Levenson, AS, (2023) Molecular Efficacy of Gnetin C as Dual-Targeted Therapy for Castrate-Resistant Prostate Cancer. Mol Nutr Food Res 2023 Oct 20: e2300479.
• Elsanhoury R, Alasmari A, Parupathi P, Jumaa M, Al-Fayoumi S, Kumar A et al., (2023) AI & experimental-based discovery and preclinical IND-enabling studies of selective BMX inhibitors for development of cancer therapeutics. Int J Pharm 645: 123384.
• Parupathi P, Campanelli G, Al Deabel R, Puaar A, Devarakonda LS, Kumar A and Levenson, AS, (2022) Gnetin C Intercepts MTA1-associated Neoplastic Progression in Prostate Cancer. Cancers (Basel) 14(24): 6038.
• Dave A, Park EJ, Kumar A et al., (2022) Consumption of Grapes Modulates Gene Expression, Reduces Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, and Extends Longevity in Female C57BL/6J Mice Provided with a High-Fat Western-Pattern Diet. Foods 11(13): 1984.
• Yang J, Das BC, Aljitawi O, Kumar A et al., (2022) Magmas Inhibition in Prostate Cancer: A Novel Target for Treatment-Resistant Disease. Cancers (Basel) 14(11): 2732.
• Hemani R, Patel I, Inamdar N, Campanelli G, Donovan V, Kumar A* and Levenson AS, (2022) Dietary pterostilbene for MTA1-targeted interception in high-risk premalignant prostate cancer. Cancer Prev Res (Phila) 15(2): 87-100. *Co-corresponding author
• Manne R, Agrawal Y, Malonia SK, Banday S, Edachery S, Patel A, Kumar A et al., (2021) FBXL20 promotes breast cancer malignancy by inhibiting apoptosis through degradation of PUMA and BAX. J Biol Chem 297(4): 101253.
• Gadkari K, Kolhatkar U, Hemani R, Campanelli G, Cai Q, Kumar A et al., (2020). Therapeutic potential of Gnetin C in prostate cancer: a pre-clinical study. Nutrients 12(12): 3631-3645.
• Joshi T, Patel I, Kumar A et al., (2020). Grape powder supplementation attenuates prostate neoplasia associated with Pten haploinsufficiency in mice fed high-fat diet. Mol Nutr Food Res 64(16): e2000326.
• Kumar A*, Dholakia K et al., (2019) MTA1-dependent antitumor activity of Gnetin C in prostate cancer. Nutrients 11(9): 2096-2111. *Co-corresponding author
• Dutta P, Islam S, Choppara S, Sengupta P, Kumar A, Kumar A et al., (2019) Tumor Suppressor FBXO31 preserves genomic integrity by regulating DNA replication and segregation through precise control of cyclin A expression. J Biol Chem 294(41): 14879- 14895.
• Sakiyama MJ, Espinoza I, Reddy A, de Carlo F, Kumar A et al., (2019) Race- associated expression of MHC class I polypeptide-related sequence A (MICA) in prostate cancer. Exp Mol Pathol 108(2019): 173-182.
• Kumar A, D’Silva M et al., (2018) In vitro anticancer properties of table grape powderextract (GPE) in prostate cancer. Nutrients 10(11): 1804-1815.
• Kumar A*, Dhar S et al., (2018) MTA1 drives malignant progression and bone metastasis in prostate cancer. Mol Oncol 12(9): 1596-1607. *Co-corresponding author
• Butt NA, Kumar A et al., (2017) Targeting MTA1/HIF-1α signaling by pterostilbene in combination with histone deacetylase inhibitor attenuates prostate cancer progression.Cancer Med 6(11):2673-2685.
• Kumar A, Rimando AM et al., (2017) Resveratrol and pterostilbene as a microRNA- mediated chemopreventive and therapeutic strategy in prostate cancer. Ann N Y AcadSci 1403:15-26.
• Dhar S, Kumar A et al., (2017) MTA1-activated Epi-microRNA-22 regulates E- cadherin and prostate cancer invasiveness. FEBS Lett 591(6):924-933.
• Chakraborty S, Kumar A et al., (2016) Molecular insight into the differential anti- androgenic activity of resveratrol and its natural analogs: In silico approach to understand biological actions. Mol Biosyst 12:1702-1709.
• Dhar S, Kumar A* et al., (2016) Dietary Pterostilbene is a Novel MTA1-targeted Chemopreventive and Therapeutic Agent in Prostate Cancer. Oncotarget 7:18469- 18484. *Equal first author
• Dhar S, Kumar A et al., (2015) Resveratrol and pterostilbene epigenetically restore PTEN expression by targeting oncomiRs of the miR-17 family in prostate cancer. Oncotarget 6:27214-27226.
• Kumar A, Dhar S et al., (2015) Epigenetic potential of resveratrol and analogs in preclinical models of prostate cancer. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1348:1-9.
• Dhar S, Kumar A et al., (2015) Resveratrol regulates PTEN/Akt pathway through inhibition of MTA1/HDAC unit of the NuRD complex in prostate cancer. BBA-Mol CellRes 1853(2015):265- 275.
• Kumar A, Lin SY et al., (2014) Stilbenes inhibit androgen receptor expression in castrate- resistant prostate cancer cell line. Journal of Medicinally Active Plants 3:1-8.
• Levenson AS, Kumar A et al., (2014) MTA family of proteins in prostate cancer: biology, significance and therapeutic opportunities. Cancer Metastat Rev 33:929-942.
• Paul D, Kumar A et al., (2013) Mass Spectrometry-Based Proteomics in Molecular Diagnostics: Discovery of Cancer Biomarkers Using Tissue Culture, BioMed Research International 2013:783131.
• Sreejith RK, Suresh CG, Bhosale SH, Bhavnani V, Kumar A et al., (2012) Conformational transitions of the catalytic domain of heme-regulated eukaryotic initiation factor 2α kinase, a key translational regulatory molecule. J Fluoresc 22(1):431-441.
• Kumar A and Gaikwad SM (2011) Jack bean α-mannosidase (Jbα-man): Tolerance toalkali, chelating and reducing agents and energetics of catalysis and inhibition. Int J Biol Macromol 49(5):1066-1071.
• Kumar A and Gaikwad SM (2010) Multistate unfolding of α-mannosidase from Canavalia ensiformis (Jack Bean): Evidence for the thermostable molten globule, Biochem Biophys Res Commun 403(3-4):391-397.

Book Chapters

• Levenson AS and Kumar A (2019) Chapter 3: Pterostilbene as a potent chemopreventive agent in cancer in Natural Products for Cancer Chemoprevention: Single Compounds and Combinations, edited by J.M. Pezzuto and O. Vang. Springer Nature, Germany.
• Kumar A, Park EJ and Pezzuto JM (2018) Chapter 3: Resveratrol as an inhibitor or activator of enzymes and proteins in Resveratrol: State of the Art Science and Health Applications, edited by J.M. Wu. World Scientific Publishing, Singapore.
• Kumar A and Levenson AS (2018) Chapter 8: Epigenetic effects of resveratrol in cancer in
• Epigenetics of Chemoprevention, edited by A. Bishayee and D. Bhatia. Elsevier, UK.
• Kumar A, Butt NA and Levenson AS (2016) Chapter 39: Natural epigenetic-modifying molecules in medical therapy in Medical Epigenetics, edited by T.O. Tollefsbol. Elsevier, UK.
• Paul D, Kumar A et al., (2014) Chapter 14: Mass Spectrometry-Based Proteomics in Molecular Diagnostics: Discovery of Cancer Biomarkers Using Tissue Culture in Omics in Clinical Practice: Genomics, Pharmacogenomics, Proteomics, and Transcriptomics in Clinical Research, edited by Yu Liu. Apple Academic Press, Canada.
  
  

Abstracts Published in Scientific meetings/Conferences/Symposiums

Lectures and Presentations

Presenting Author

Oral Presentations

• “Gnetin C: does dimer-resveratrol offer twice the benefits in prostate cancer” in the 10th ACMAP Annual Meeting held at Rutgers University, NJ, USA (Virtual) in June 2021.

Poster Presentations

“A novel MTA1 knock-in mouse model for the mechanistic and therapeutic studies of MTA1-driven prostate cancer” in the 109th AACR Annual Meeting held at Chicago, IL, USA in April 2018.
2“MTA1-activated Epi-microRNA-22 regulates E-cadherin and prostate cancer invasiveness” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in April 2017.
“MTA1 promotes tumor progression and bone metastasis in prostate cancer via positive regulation of MUC1 and CTSB” in the 108th AACR Annual Meeting held at Washington, D.C., USA in April 2017.
“The role and regulation of MTA1-ETS2 axis in prostate cancer” in the 107th AACR Annual Meeting held at New Orleans, LA, USA in April 2016.
“The role and regulation of MTA1-ETS2 axis in prostate cancer” in the 2nd Annual UM/UMMC Research Day held at University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA in April 2016.
“The role and regulation of MTA1-ETS2 axis in prostate cancer” in the School of Graduate Studies Research Day held at University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA in October 2015.
“Pterostilbene blocks prostate cancer progression in prostate specific Pten knockout mouse” in the School of Graduate Studies Research Day held at University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA in October 2014.
“Understanding the Cellular Roles and Regulation of F-box proteins” in the Retreat Meeting of the National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune, India in August 2012.
“Guanidine hydrochloride (GdnHCl) mediated conformational transitions of a class II α- mannosidase from Canavalia ensiformis (Jack Bean) (Jbα-man)” in the 79th Annual meeting of the Society of Biological Chemists, India held at IISc, Bangalore, India in December 2010.
“Folding-Unfolding studies of α-mannosidase from Aspergillus fischeri (NCIM 508)” in the Symposium on Recent Trends in Biophysics held at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, India in February 2010.
“Biochemical Characterization of Two α-mannosidases from Lentil (Lens esculentus) seeds” in the 78th Annual meeting of the Society of Biological Chemists, India held at NCCS, Pune, India in November 2009.
“α-mannosidase from Lens esculentus (Lentil) seeds” in the 77th Annual meeting of the Society of Biological Chemists, India held at IIT Chennai, India in December 2008.

Senior Author Presentations
Oral Presentations

• “Chemopreventive activity of Gnetin C in murine tumor models of prostate cancer” in the 11th ACMAP Annual Meeting held at Inter American University of Puerto Rico – Barranquitas, Puerto Rico, USA (Hybrid) in June/July 2022. Presenting author: Gisella Campanelli.
• “A potential role for Gnetin C in chemoprevention of prostate cancer” in the 66th Annual NYACS Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS) held at CUNY York College, Queens, NY, USA in May 2018. Presenting author: Gabriela Sikorska.

Poster Presentations

• “Molecular efficacy of novel combined therapy in castrate-resistant prostate cancer” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in April 2023. Presenting author: Lakshmi Sirisha Devarakonda.
• “SREBP-mediated anticancer activity of BF-175 in prostate cancer” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in April 2023. Presenting author: Prashanth Parupathi.
• “Gnetin C as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of prostate cancer” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in April 2022. Presenting author: Gisella Campanelli.
• “Efficacy of Gnetin C-supplemented diet as chemopreventive strategy against prostate cancer” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in April 2022. Presenting author: Prashanth Parupathi.
• “Chemoprevention of prostate cancer by dietary Gnetin C: A preclinical study” in the 10th ACMAP Annual Meeting held at Rutgers University, NJ, USA (Virtual) in June 2021. Presenting author: Anand Puaar.
• “MTA1-targeted chemopreventive potential of dietary pterostilbene against prostate cancer” in the 10th ACMAP Annual Meeting held at Rutgers University, NJ, USA (Virtual) in June 2021. Presenting author: Rutu Hemani.
• “Targeting SREBP-dependent lipogenesis to combat metastatic prostate cancer” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA (Virtual) in April 2021. Presenting author: Gisella Campanelli.
• “Understanding the role of FBX025-mediated proteolysis in metastatic prostate cancer” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA (Virtual) in April 2021. Presenting author: Prashanth Parupathi.
• “Targeting PP2A altered substrate specificity to abrogate prostate cancer metastasis” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA (Virtual) in April 2021. Presenting author: Amee Adhvaryu.
• “Gnetin C, a dietary stilbene, sensitizes castrate-resistant prostate cancer cells to androgen receptor antagonist” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA (Virtual) in April 2021. Presenting author: Anand Puaar.
• “Gnetin C inhibits reactivated AR signaling in advanced prostate cancer” in the 112th AACR Annual Meeting held at Washington, D.C., USA (Virtual) in April 2021. Presenting author: Rabab Al Deabel.
• “Novel prostate cancer mouse models for testing targeted chemopreventive potential of pterostilbene” in the 111th AACR Annual Meeting held at San Diego, CA, USA (Virtual) in June 2020. Presenting author: Rutu Hemani.
• “Can grape powder supplemented diet prevent prostate cancer progression” in the 111th AACR Annual Meeting held at San Diego, CA, USA (Virtual) in June 2020. Presenting author: Tanvi Joshi.
• “Does dimer-resveratrol offer twice the benefits in prostate cancer” in the 111th AACR Annual Meeting held at San Diego, CA, USA (Virtual) in June 2020. Presenting author: Ketaki Gadkari.
• “A grape-supplemented diet for prostate cancer chemoprevention” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in April 2019. Presenting author: Tanvi Joshi.
• “The role of MTA1 in neuroendocrine prostate cancer” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in April 2019. Presenting author: Ninad Inamdar.
• “MTA1-targeted effects of pterostilbene in prostate cancer” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in April 2019. Presenting author: Rutu Hemani.
• “miRNAs as prognostic and predictive biomarkers for prostate cancer chemoprevention” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in April 2019. Presenting author: Ishani Patel.
• “Anticancer effects of Gnetin C in prostate cancer” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in April 2019. Presenting authors: Ketaki Gadkari & Gabriela Sikorska.
• “Inhibitory effect of bioactive stilbenes on MTA1/ETS2 axis in prostate cancer” in the AACP Annual Meeting held at Boston, MA in July 2018. Presenting author: Kshiti Dholakia
• “MTA1-targeted anticancer activity of mitoxantrone in prostate cancer” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in April 2018. Presenting author: Pravin Phadatare.
• “Inhibitory effect of bioactive stilbenes on MTA1/ETS2 axis in prostate cancer” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in April 2018. Presenting author: Kshiti Dholakia.
• “Novel targeted combinatorial therapeutic strategy for metastatic prostate cancer” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in April 2018. Presenting author: Tanvi Joshi.
• “Anticancer activity of grape powder extract (GPE) in human prostate cancer cells” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in April 2018. Presenting author: Melinee D’Silva.
• “A potential role of Gnetin C in chemoprevention of prostate cancer” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in April 2018. Presenting author: Gabriela Sikorska.
• “Effect of Gnetin C in comparison to resveratrol and pterostilbene for prostate cancer prevention” in the LIU Pharmacy Poster Showcase held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in November 2017. Presenting author: Gabriela Sikorska.
• “Targeting MTA1-ETS2 network in prostate cancer” in the LIU Pharmacy Poster Showcase held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in November 2017. Presenting author: Kshiti Dholakia.
• “Gnetin C (dimer resveratrol) is a novel MTA1 targeted anti-cancer agent against prostate cancer” in the LIU Pharmacy Poster Showcase held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in November 2017. Presenting author: Urvi Kolhatkar.
• “The role of MTA1 in neuroendocrine prostate cancer” in the LIU Pharmacy Poster Showcase held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in November 2017. Presenting author: Pravin Phadatare.
• “MTA1 positively regulates CTSB to promote tumor progression and bone metastases in prostate cancer” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in April 2017. Presenting author: Gisella Campanelli.
• “The role of MTA1 in neuroendocrine prostate cancer” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in April 2017. Presenting author: Pravin Phadatare.
• “Comparison of analogs with resveratrol as anti-cancer agents in prostate cancer cells” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in April 2017. Presenting author: Urvi Kolhatkar.
• “MTA1 positively regulates ETS2 in prostate cancer” in the Discovery Day held at Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA in April 2017. Presenting author: Kshiti Dholakia.

Co-author Presentations
Oral Presentations

• “Epigenetic potential of dietary stilbenes in prostate cancer” in the ACMAP 6th Annual Conference held at Washington State University, Spokane, WA in June 2015. Presenting author: Anait S. Levenson.
• “Preclinical studies on the chemopreventive and therapeutic efficacy of pterostilbene in prostate cancer” in the ACMAP 5th Annual Conference held at North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA in June 2014. Presenting author: Anait S. Levenson.
• “Pterostilbene supresses prostate cancer progression in transgenic mice model” in the 105th AACR Annual Meeting held at San Diego, CA, USA in April 2014. Presenting author: Anait
• S. Levenson.

Poster Presentations

• “Combination Treatment with Natural Stilbene and Epigenetic Agent Shows Better Effect in Prostate Cancer in vivo” in the 19th Annual International Conference on the Science of Botanicals (ICSB) held at University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS in April 2019. Presenting authors: Christian Gomez & Nasir Butt.
• “Pterostilbene combined with histone deacetylase inhibitor attenuates prostate cancer progression” in the Department of Pathology Research Day held at University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS in May 2017. Presenting author: Nasir Butt.
• “Targeted combinatorial strategies for prostate cancer” in the School of Graduate Studies Research Day held at University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS in October 2016. Presenting author: Nasir A. Butt.
• “Pterostilbene combined with epigenetic agentpossesses synergy and attenuation effect in prostate cancer in vivo” in the ACMAP 7th Annual Conference held at Lima, Peru in June 2016. Presenting author: Anait S. Levenson & Nasir A. Butt.
•  “Novel targeted combination therapeutic strategy based on natural product drug synergy with conventional epigenetic agent” in the 2nd Annual UM/UMMC Research Day held at University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA in April 2016. Presenting author: Nasir A. Butt.
• “MTA1 drives prostate cancer progression and metastasis through regulation of onco- epimicroRNAs” in the 2nd Annual UM/UMMC Research Day held at University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA in April 2016. Presenting author: Swati Dhar.
•  “Targeted combination strategy for prostate cancer using prostate-specific knockout mice” in the 80th Annual Mississippi Academy of Sciences Meeting held at University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS in February 2016. Presenting author: Nasir A. Butt.
• “Novel targeted combination therapeutic strategy based on natural product drug synergy with conventional epigenetic agent” in the School of Graduate Studies Research Day held at University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA in October 2015. Presenting author: Nasir A. Butt.
• “MTA1 drives prostate cancer progression and metastasis through regulation of onco- epimicroRNAs” in the School of Graduate Studies Research Day held at University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA in October 2015. Presenting author: Swati Dha

Honors/Awards

• Best Poster award for “The role and regulation of MTA1-ETS2 axis in prostate cancer”in the School of Graduate Studies Research Day, UMMC, MS, USA (2015).
• Keerthi Sangoram Memorial Endowment Award for Best Research Scholar in Biological Sciences by NCL Research Foundation, INDIA (2012).
• Department of Biotechnology (DBT)-Postdoctoral Fellowship award by Government of INDIA (2011).
• Joint CSIR-UGC Senior Research Fellowship award for doctoral studies by Government of INDIA (2008).
• Joint CSIR-UGC Junior Research Fellowship award for doctoral studies by Government of INDIA (2006).

Research Synopsis

MTA1 has been shown to play a critical role in prostate cancer progression and metastasis by inhibiting apoptosis and promoting angiogenesis. There is also available evidence that MTA1 can serve as an independent prognostic marker for aggressive prostate cancer, particularly in African American men. We have shown that MTA1 is involved in post-translational deacetylation of PTEN leading to inactivation of its tumor suppressor functions and hyperactivation of pAkt survival pathway. Using prostate specific Pten-null and Pten-haploinsufficient model, we have shown that MTA1 is a key regulator of prostate cancer initiation and progression by inducing inflammation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Currently, we aim to further our understanding of MTA1-mediated genetic and epigenetic mechanisms in prostate cancer progression and metastasis. In addition, we have also showed the MTA1 and miRNA targeting capabilities of dietary stilbenes (e.g. resveratrol and pterostilbene). Currently, we aim to understand the MTA1-targeted efficacy of these agents in combination with already approved FDA chemotherapeutic drugs in the treatment of prostate cancer.