Daniela Salvemini, Ph.D., Receives $2.9 Million NIH/NCI Grant to Study Cancer Therapy-Induced Cognitive Impairment
Daniela Salvemini, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, has been awarded a five-year, $2.9 million R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute for the project “Discovery of a Novel Target to Mitigate Cancer Therapy-Induced Neurocognitive Impairments.”
Cancer therapy-induced cognitive impairment (CICI) is a serious and often long-lasting side effect of cancer treatment that can significantly affect survivors’ quality of life. Its underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood, and currently there are no FDA-approved treatments specifically for CICI.
Salvemini and her team discovered that taxane- and platinum-based cancer therapies alter sugar nucleotide metabolism in the central nervous system and activate the P2Y14 receptor (P2Y14R), identifying a previously unrecognized pathway involved in CICI. The newly funded research will investigate this pathway and evaluate P2Y14R antagonists as a potential therapeutic strategy to prevent or reduce cognitive impairment associated with cancer treatment.
Research Team
- Daniela Salvemini, Ph.D.
Principal investigator
William Beaumont Professor of Pharmacology and Physiology
Chair, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology
Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience
Professor, Department of Chemistry
Director, SLU SOM Institute for Translational Neuroscience - Timothy Doyle, Ph.D.
Co-investigator
Research professor, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology - Susan A. Farr, Ph.D.
Co-investigator
Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology
Professor, Department of Internal Medicine - Ying Li, Ph.D.
Co-investigator
Assistant research professor, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology - Silvia Squillace, Ph.D.
Co-investigator
Assistant research professor, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology