Thursday, March 12, 2026 3/12/2026

Protein-nanoparticle interaction to study multicellular crosstalk within ovarian tumor microenviroment

Award Number: R01CA297076
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 01/16/2025
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2029

Group Awards By:

View Award Description

Protein-nanoparticle interaction to study multicellular crosstalk within ovarian tumor microenviroment - The tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a critical role in poor prognosis in many cancers including ovarian and pancreatic cancer. However, key perpetrators executing the multicellular crosstalk within the TME still remains elusive. Exploiting protein-nanoparticle interaction to investigate multicellular crosstalk within the TME will provide new avenues for biological characterization of the disease. More than a decade ago we serendipitously discovered that gold nanoparticles (GNPs) possess anti- angiogenic property. In our initial efforts we deciphered the molecular mechanisms of this property, showing that of various sized GNPs, those of 20 nm diameter most effectively inhibited activity of several pro-angiogenic heparin-binding growth factors (HB-GFs) by altering protein conformation. Later we coined the term “self- therapeutic nanoparticle” to define the intrinsic activity of GNPs and showed that, by reversing epithelial- mesenchymal transition and abrogating MAPK-signaling through downregulation of HB-GFs, GNPs inhibited tumor growth, metastasis, and drug resistance in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), without any toxicity. Using ovarian patient-derived xenograft (PDX) and multicellular human xenograft models (MCX, generated by co-implanting equal numbers of CC, CAF and EC) we showed that GNPs disrupted CC-CAF-EC crosstalk to inhibit tumor growth. However, key molecular machineries executing the multicellular crosstalk still remain elusive. Importantly, we further showed that GNP treatment reduced Insulin Growth Factor Binding Protein 2 (IGFBP2) expression in tumor tissues and serum from MCX and PDX animals, indicating IGFBP2 may be a key player driving the crosstalk. We will test our hypotheses in the following aims: Aim 1: Deciphering domains of IGFBP2 responsible for multicellular crosstalk by nanoparticles. Aim 2: Silencing IGFBP2 to study multicellular crosstalk in vitro and vivo. The current proposal represents a unique example of how nanotechnology could be exploited as a tool to unravel molecular intricacies operating within the TME and an effective way to confirm the role of the key perpetrator contributing to tumor growth by siRNA delivery-based gene silencing approach.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $293,492 )
2026	2026	UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA	865 RESEARCH PKWY	OKLAHOMA CITY	OK	73104	OKLAHOMA	USA	Cancer Treatment Research	000	2	1/19/2026	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$293,492
														Subtotal = $293,492

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $326,103 )
2025	2025	UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA	865 RESEARCH PKWY	OKLAHOMA CITY	OK	73104	OKLAHOMA	USA	Cancer Treatment Research	000	1	1/16/2025	NEW	$326,103
														Subtotal = $326,103

Grand Total All Awards = $619,595

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

Protein-nanoparticle interaction to study multicellular crosstalk within ovarian tumor microenviroment

Award Number: R01CA297076

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 01/16/2025

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2029

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer