Dr. Ran is an assistant professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology at SIU School of Medicine and a member of the SIU Cancer Institute. Dr. Ran is a member of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR). She serves on the organizing committee for the annual SIU Molecular and Cellular Biology Symposium, as well as on various committees for the School of Medicine and the SIU Cancer Institute.

Training:
1991-1992 Postdoctoral training in Cellular Physiology, The Hospital for Sick Children,
Toronto, Canada
1989-1991 Postdoctoral training in Ion Transport, University of Alabama at Birmingham,
Alabama, USA
1984-1989 Ph.D. in Biochemistry, the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
1981-1983 M.S. in Immunology, Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel
1979-1981 B.S. in Biology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

Research Focus:
Metastasis is a major cause of cancer mortality. This process begins when malignant cells detach from primary lesions and escape the original tumor site via blood and/or lymph-transporting vessels. Inhibition of the newly-formed tumor vasculature could be an effective way of preventing tumors spreading to proximate lymph nodes and distant organs. The formation of neo-vasculature involves a variety of factors, including members of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family and inflammatory mediators secreted from malignant, stromal and tumor infiltrating immune cells. This laboratory seeks to understand the molecular, cellular and physiological events leading to the formation of the new malignant blood and lymphatic vessels. We expect that these studies will identify novel targets for inhibiting tumor vasculature, which will ultimately lead to improving clinical control of metastasis in cancer patients.
We are currently focusing on the following projects:
Regulation of tumor lymphangiogenesis (formation of new lymphatic vessels) by the angiogenic factor, VEGF-A, and inflammatory mediators
Characterization of pro-survival and growth promoting effects of inflammatory mediators on cultured lymphatic endothelial cells and lymphangiogenesis in vivo
Role of secondary angiogenesis induced by cytotoxic drugs in tumor resistance to chemotherapy
Identification of novel markers in breast cancer and head and neck malignancies

Selected Publications

Whitehurst, B., Eversgerd, C., Flister, M., Bivens, CM., Pickett, B., Zawieja, D., Ran,S.
Molecular profile and proliferative responses of rat lymphatic endothelial cells inculture.Lymphat Res Biol. 2006;4(3):119-42.
PMID: 17034293 PubMed

Ran, S., Mohamedali, K., Thorpe, P.E. and Rosenblum, M.G. (2005)
VEGF121/rGel fusion toxin, a novel tumor vasculo-ablative agent, inhibits
pulmonary metastases of MDA-MB-231 breast tumors in mice. Neoplasia, 7:486-
496.

Ran, S., He, J., Huang, X., Soares, M., Scothorn, D. and Thorpe, P.E. (2005)
Anti-Tumor Effects in Mice of a Monoclonal Antibody, 3G4, Directed Against
Anionic Phospholipids. Clin. Cancer Res., 11(4):1551-1562.

Castro-Rivera, E., Ran, S., Thorpe, P.E. and Minna, J.D. (2004) Semaphorin 3B
(SEMA3B) induces apoptosis in lung and breast cancer while VEGF165
antagonizes this effect. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 101(31):11432-11437.

Bandyopadhyay, S., Pai, S.K., Hirota, S., Hosobe, S., Takano, Y., Saito, K.,
Piquemal, D., Commes, T., Watabe, M., Gross, S. C., Wang, Y., Ran, S. and
Watabe, K. (2004) Role of the putative tumor metastasis suppressor gene Drg-1 in
breast cancer progression. Oncogene, 22;23(33):5675-5681.