From the Barry and Judy Silverman College of Pharmacy…
April 2024 Research Highlights reported by the Barry and Judy Silverman College of Pharmacy.
Richard Deth, PhD, Professor in the Pharmaceutical Sciences department, was recently awarded a grant for $174,000 from the BRAIN foundation. The grant, titled ‘NLRP3 inflammasome activity in autism spectrum disorder: Relationship to oxidative stress status and inhibition by Cobinamide’. Recent studies indicate that inhibition of a cytokine-producing inflammation pathway gives significant clinical benefits in autism, but the relationship of this pathway to the well-documented deficit in antioxidant in autism remains unclear. Using postmortem brain samples, we will establish whether activation of a crucial inflammation pathway, known as the NLRP3 inflammasome, is greater in ASD subjects vs. neurotypical control subjects. NLRP3 activity is known to be increased by oxidative stress, which is common in ASD, so we will also compare the level of inflammasome activation with the status of antioxidant metabolites levels. We will also evaluate the NLRP3 inhibitory activity of a novel form of vitamin B12, called cobinamide, that we found to be present in certain
formulations of injectable methylB12 that exhibit superior clinical benefit for ASD. Taken together these studies will not only help to illuminate the role of neuroinflammation in causing autism but will also provide preliminary evaluation of a potential new treatment.
Tricia Gangoo-Doohkan, PharmD, CPh, Clinical Assistant Professor, received a $25,000 grant award from Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) titled ‘Evaluating the impact of a training-based program on SDoH as a quality improvement strategy’. The grant will support the increase in awareness of the importance of social determinants of health (SDoH) quality improvement strategies in pharmacists and other healthcare providers, reduce medication-related healthcare disparities in the patient populations served and provide insights regarding other social factors that might affect patient-level health outcomes.
Dmitriy Minond, PhD, Associate Professor, has received a $100,000 Florida Department of Health grant, under the Bankhead-Coley Cancer Research Program titled ‘In vivo and SAR studies of novel anti-prostate cancer compounds’. The objective of this proposal is to characterize recently discovered (by Dr. Minond) small molecule modulators of expression of RBM3 in metastatic PCa models for biological effect(s) of increased expression of RBM3. Based on our preliminary data, we hypothesize that RBM3 expression modulators in prostate
cancer cells will be valuable therapeutic tools. The lack of such modulators represents a major roadblock in this field. Overall, these proof-of-principle studies will provide evidence that RBM3 expression can be targeted for PCa therapy.