Memorial Hospital Research Laboratories

The Naga Vara Kishore Pillarsetty Lab

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Research

Nagavara-Kishore Pillarsetty
Naga Vara Kishore Pillarsetty, PhD

Targeted Theranostics Laboratory

Molecularly targeted therapy modulates a dysregulated target(s) and/or biologic pathway(s) that provides survival advantage for cancer cells. This targeting enables achieve selective destruction of cancer cells while minimizing harm to normal cells. We work on the development and clinical translation of molecular imaging and therapeutic agents that can 1) identify dysregulated pathways noninvasively; 2) serve as prognostic indicators of response and/or monitor response to therapy; 3) aid in understanding drug pharmacokinetics; and 4) take advantage of target overexpression to develop companion radiotherapeutics. The molecular imaging agent can be a small molecule, peptide, antibody, or a nanoparticle and conjugated to a radioactive or optically active or therapeutic payload depending on the intended application. We have leveraged targets such as PSMA, epichaperome, PARP, NaV1.7, and GLP1R to develop targeted theranostics. By collaborating with other laboratories and clinicians at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, we have been able to translate several molecular imaging agents for first-in-human studies;  These include epichaperome-specific PET probes [124I]-PU-H71 (Pillarsetty et al. 2019, NCT01269593, NCT01393509) and [124I]-PU-AD (Bolaender et al. 2021, NCT03371420), PARP-specific fluorescent intraoperative probe PARPi-FL (Kossatz et al 2020, NCT03085147), and several other PET probes that have entered clinical trials at MSKCC. In addition, we are actively exploring new targets that include mucins, ATM, ATR, DLL3 etc. to develop novel targeted theranostics.

The Pillarsetty Lab Group

Publications Highlights

Imberti C, De Gregorio R, Korsen JA, Hoang TT, Khitrov S, Kalidindi T, Nandakumar S, Park J, Zaidi S, Pillarsetty NVK, Lewis JS. CEACAM5-Targeted Immuno-PET in Androgen Receptor-Negative Prostate Cancer. J Nucl Med. 2024. Epub 20240523. doi: 10.2967/jnumed.123.267107. PubMed

Gonzales J, Adilbay D, de Souza Franca PD, Artschwager R, Chow CY, Viray T, Johnson DS, Jiang Y, Patel SG, Ganly I, Schroeder CI, Lewis JS, King GF, Reiner T, Pillarsetty N. Na(V)1.7 targeted fluorescence imaging agents for nerve identification during intraoperative procedures. bioRxiv. 2024. Epub 20240406. doi: 10.1101/2024.04.06.588368. PubMed PMCID: PMC11014580;

Korsen JA, Gutierrez JA, Tully KM, Carter LM, Samuels ZV, Khitrov S, Poirier JT, Rudin CM, Chen Y, Morris MJ, Bodei L, Pillarsetty N, Lewis JS. Delta-like ligand 3-targeted radioimmunotherapy for neuroendocrine prostate cancer. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022;119(27):e2203820119. Epub 20220627. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2203820119. PubMed PMCID: PMC9271187;

Kalidindi TM, Lee SG, Jou K, Chakraborty G, Skafida M, Tagawa ST, Bander NH, Schoder H, Bodei L, Pandit-Taskar N, Lewis JS, Larson SM, Osborne JR, Pillarsetty NVK. A simple strategy to reduce the salivary gland and kidney uptake of PSMA-targeting small molecule radiopharmaceuticals. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2021;48(8):2642-51. Epub 20210125. doi: 10.1007/s00259-020-05150-w. PubMed PMCID: PMC10134681;

Pillarsetty N, Jhaveri K, Taldone T, Caldas-Lopes E, Punzalan B, Joshi S, Bolaender A, Uddin MM, Rodina A, Yan P, Ku A, Ku T, Shah SK, Lyashchenko S, Burnazi E, Wang T, Lecomte N, Janjigian Y, Younes A, Batlevi CW, Guzman ML, Roboz GJ, Koziorowski J, Zanzonico P, Alpaugh ML, Corben A, Modi S, Norton L, Larson SM, Lewis JS, Chiosis G, Gerecitano JF, Dunphy MPS. Paradigms for Precision Medicine in Epichaperome Cancer Therapy. Cancer Cell. 2019;36(5):559-73 e7. Epub 20191024. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2019.09.007. PubMed PMCID: PMC6996250;

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People

Nagavara-Kishore Pillarsetty

Naga Vara Kishore Pillarsetty, PhD

  • The Pillarsetty Laboratory develops bioactive radiopharmaceuticals and fluorophores for molecular characterization and targeted treatment of cancer.

Members

Raik Artschwager
Raik Artschwager

Research Scholar

Giovanna Caxeiro

Surgeon, Research Fellow

Asia Currey

Project Assistant

Tulio Esposito

Postdoctoral fellow

Ruediger Exner

Research Fellow

Vilma Jallinoja
Vilma Jallinoja

Postdoctoral Fellow

Kali Jones

Research Technician

Teja Kalidindi
Teja Kalidindi

Research Assistant

Joo Sun Mun

Research Technician

Daniel Okpattah

Graduate Student

Rachel Payne

Graduate Student

Tara Viray
Tara Viray

Research Technician

Lab Alumni
Dauren Adilbay
Dauren Adilbay

Visiting Investigator

Christopher Brennan

Research Technician

Paula Demetrio De Souza Franca
Paula Demetrio De Souza Franca

Senior Research Scientist

Arvind Dev
Arvind Dev
Zelie Faudemer

Graduate Student

Kevin Fisher
Kevin Fisher

Senior Administrative Assistant

Junior Gonzales
Junior Gonzales

Research Associate

Julia Gutierrez
Julia Gutierrez

Research Intern

Delissa S. Johnson
Delissa S. Johnson

Research Technician

Momena Khatoon

Research Technician

Mayuresh M. Mane

Research Technician

Alexa L. Michel
Alexa L. Michel

Research Technician

Kaitlin Rhee
Kaitlin Rhee

MISP Summer Fellow

Sheryl Roberts
Sheryl Roberts

Research Associate

Evan Stater

Postdoctoral Scholar

Lab Affiliations

Open Positions

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