Vijay Avin Balaji Ragunathrao

University of Illinois at Chicago

Vijay Avin Balaji Ragunathrao, Ph.D., is currently an assistant professor (research) in the Department of Pharmacology and Regenerative Medicine, University of Illinois Chicago, USA. He received his Ph.D. in Biotechnology from the Department of Biotechnology, Kuvempu University, India. His Ph.D. thesis emphasized the chemo-preventive effects of herbal-based drugs and small molecule inhibitors in the inhibition of angiogenesis. Dr. Ragunathrao began his postdoctoral career studying the vascular pathobiology of the lungs at the University of Illinois Chicago. Currently, his research focuses on the Signaling of GPCRs and tyrosine kinase receptors to induce tumor angiogenesis. He has published several articles in high-impact journals. He is also a reviewer and editor of various scientific journals. As an independent researcher, his interests include tumor angiogenesis and lung vascular homeostasis.

1chapters authored

Chapters authored

p53 Tumor Suppressor: Functional Regulation and Role in Gene Therapy

By Zeenat Farooq, Shahnawaz Wani, Vijay Avin Balaji Ragunathrao, Rakesh Kochhar and Mumtaz Anwar

p53, a homo-tetrameric protein found in mammalian cells, derives its name from the fact that it settles at around 53KDa position in SDS-PAGE, due to a “kink” in its structure. In its functional state, p53 forms a homo-tetramer and binds to the promoters of a wide array of genes. Binding of p53 downregulates the transcription of target genes. Most of the gene targets of p53 are involved in cell cycle progression, and therefore, any malfunctions associated with p53 have catastrophic consequences for the cell. The gene encoding for p53 known as TP53 is the most well-studied gene in the entire genome because of being the most highly mutated gene in all cancer types. It is due to this widely accepted and documented “cell protective feature” that p53 is generally referred to as “the guardian of the genome.” In this chapter, we will discuss the involvement of p53 in relation to carcinogenesis. We will also cover the major functions of p53 under normal conditions, major mutations of the TP53 gene, and their association with different forms of cancer.

Part of the book: p53

Vijay Avin Balaji Ragunathrao

Chapters authored

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