RANGAIAH SHASHIDHARAMURTHY, PHD
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Associate Professor

Courses

At PCOM-SOP, Dr. Shashidharamurthy involved in teaching the following courses to PharmD students.

PHAR 224G Immunology and Microbiology (coordinator)
PHAR 150G Biochemistry
PHAR 351G Toxicology
PHAR 312G Integrated Therapeutics

Research

One of the major focuses of Dr. Shashidharamurthy's research is to delineate the molecular mechanism(s) lipocalin-2 (Lcn2) during various autoimmune/inflammatory disorders such as arthritis and lupus. This may eventually lead to development of novel therapeutic approaches. More recently his research has shown that Lcn2 plays a protective role during the pathogenesis of immune-complex mediated arthritis (Arthritis Rheum. 2013;65:1064-73). The preliminary data suggests that Lcn2 knockout mice are defective in the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines and T reg expansion during arthritis condition. These results demonstrate that Lcn2 is a host-protective factor against systemic autoimmune disease. Apart from this project, our laboratory is also focused on: The individual role of FcGamma receptor and complement proteins during the pathogenesis of immune-complex (IC) mediated vasculitis (funded by American Heart Association), Attenuation of IC-mediated inflammation by prostaglandin E2 receptor antagonists and Synergistic effect of IC’s and TLR ligands during IC-mediated inflammatory disorders.

Grants

Role: Principal Investigator
Award type: Scientist Development Grant Program
Funding source: American Heart Association
Title: Blocking of immune-complex mediated vasculitis using recombinant Fc receptors.
Duration: 1/1/2011-12/31/2015

Role: Principal Investigator
Award type: Internal funding
Funding Agency: (Chief Scientific officer) CSO-funding
Title: Synergistic effect of immune-complex and TLR ligand during immune-complex mediated disorders.
Duration: 12/1/2012-12/31/2013

Role: Principal Investigator
Award type: Internal funding
Funding Agency: CSO-funding for MS-Thesis
Title: Attenuation of antibody- mediated inflammation by prostaglandin E2 receptor atagonists during autoimmune arthritis.
Duration: 08/1/2012-08/31/2014

Role: Co Principle investigator
Award type: Internal funding
Funding Agency: CSO-funding
Title: Attenuation of immune-complex mediated inflammation through inhibition of NFkb activation by caffeic acid phenetchyl ester (CAPE).
Duration: 12/17/2013-11/30/2015

Awards

Early career Faculty Award from American Association of Immunologist (2013 - 2015)

American Association of Immunologist Trainee Awards. 2011 (two awards for two different presentations)

Scientist Development grant program Award from America Heart Association. 2011

Publications

1. Wieland A, Shashidharamurthy R, Kamphorst AO, Han JH, Aubert RA, Choudhury BP, Stowell SR, Lee JH, Punkosdy GA, Shlomchik MJ, Selvaraj P, Ahmed R. Antibody effector functions mediated by Fc𝛾Rs are compromised during chronic LCMV infection. Immunity, 2015;42,367-78.

2. Russell A, Mula VR, Siddiqui S, Shashidharamurthy R*. Pathological overview of rheumatoid arthritis. JSNMA. 2014; 11(Nov): 10-11.

3. Mula VR, Russell A, Siddiqui S, Shashidharamurthy R*. An overview on pathogenic mechanisms of autoimmune arthritis. (Under Review BMC Immunology)

4. Mula VR, Machiah D, Dalta R, Wang X, Sharma AC, Selvaraj P, Shashidharamurthy R*. Immune-complex induced, nitric-oxide mediated vascular damage is prevented by decoys Fcgamma receptors. (Under Review Scientific Reports)

5. Mula RV and Shashidharamurthy R*. Multifaceted role of TNF- during Rheumatoid arthritis. Adv Biosci Biotech. 2013;4:937-940. invited article

6. Shashidharamurthy R*, Machiah D, Aitken JD, Putty K, Srinivasan G, Chassaing B, Parkos CA, Selvaraj P, Matam VK. Differential role of lipocalin-2 during immune-complex mediated acute and chronic inflammation. Arthritis Rheum. 2013;65:1064-73. (*corresponding author)

7. Ganesh T, Jiang J, Shashidharamurthy R, Dingledine R. Discovery and characterization of carbamothioylacrylamides as EP2 selective antagonists. ACS Med Chem Lett. 2013;4:616-621.

8. Bozeman EN, Cimino-Mathews A, Machiah DK, Patel JM, Krishnamoorthy A, Tien L, Shashidharamurthy R, Selvaraj P. Expression of membrane anchored cytokines and B7-1 alters tumor microenvironment and induces protective antitumor immunity in a murine breast cancer model. Vaccine. 2013;31:2449-56.

9. Srinivasan G, Aitken JD, Zhang B, Carvalho FA, Chassaing B, Shashidharamurthy R, Borregaard N, Jones DP, Gewirtz AT, Vijay-Kumar M. Lipocalin 2 deficiency dysregulates iron homeostasis and exacerbates endotoxin-induced sepsis. J Immunol. 2012;15:189:1911-9.

10. Bozeman EN, Srivatsan S, Mohammadi H, Shashidharamurthy R, Daniels D, Selvaraj P. Ukrain, a plant derived semi-synthetic compound, exerts antitumor effects against murine and human breast cancer and induces protective immunity in mice. Exp Oncol. 2012;34:340-7.

11. Shashidharamurthy R*, Bozeman E, Selvaraj P. Administration of plasmid DNA encoding human FcRs blocks the immune-complex mediated inflammation in vivo in reverse passive Arthus reaction model. Gene Ther. 2012;19:877-85.

12. D'Souza B, Bhowmik T, Shashidharamurthy R, Oettinger C, Selvaraj P, D'Souza M.Oral microparticulate vaccine for melanoma using M-cell targeting. J Drug Target. 2012 Feb;20(2):166-73

13. Shashidharamurthy R*, Bozeman E, Patel J, Selvaraj P. Immunotherapeutic strategies for cancer treatment: A novel protein transfer approach as an alternative for cancer vaccine development. Med Res Rev. 2012 Nov;32:1197-219.

14. Bhowmik T, D’Souza B, Shashidharamurthy R, Oettinger C, Selvaraj P and D’Souza MJ. A novel microparticulate vaccine for melanoma cancer using transdermal delivery. J. Microencap, 2011;28:294-300.

15. Goins C.L, Chappell C.P, Shashidaramurthy R, Selvaraj P and Jacob J. Immune complex mediated enhancement of secondary antibody responses. J Immunol. 2010;184:6293-6298.

16. Bozeman E, Shashidharamurthy R, Paulos S.A, Palaniappan R, D’Souza M, Selvaraj P. Cancer vaccine development: Designing tumor cells for greater immunogenicity. Frontiers In Bioscience, 2010; 15: 309-320.

17. Shashidharamurthy R, Ravichandran P, Amono A, Zhang F, Ezekwudo D, Amano A, Zhu C, Selvaraj P. Dynamics of the interaction of human IgG subtype immune-complexes with cells expressing R and H allelic forms of a low affinity Fc gamma receptor CD32A. J Immunol. 2009; 183: 8216-8224.

18. Bozeman E, Jennifer H, Shashidharamurthy R, Selvaraj P. Commentaries on role of PD1 molecules in bacterial and viral infections. Immunotherapy. 2009; 1: 525-527. (all authors contributed equally)

19. Bumgarner GW, Shashidharamurthy R, Nagarajan S, D’Souza MJ, and Selvaraj P. Surface engineering of microparticles using a novel protein transfer technique: Potential applications in vaccine adjuvant development and targeted drug delivery. J. Control release. 2009;137:90-97.

20. Ezekwudo D, Shashidharamurthy R, Devineni D, Palaniappan R, Selvaraj P. Down regulation of anti-apoptotic protein and induction of cell death in radioresistant human prostate adenocarcinoma cell line (PC-3) by methyl jasmonate. Cancer Lett. 2008: 270:277-285.

21. Selvaraj P, Yerra A, Tien L and Shashidharamurthy R. Custom designing therapeutic cancer vaccines: Delivery of immunostimulatory molecule adjuvants by protein transfer. Hum Vaccin. 2008; 4: 384 – 388.

22. Shashidharamurthy R, Hennigar RA, Fuchs S, Palaniswami P, Sherman M, Selvaraj P. Extravasations and emigration of neutrophils to the inflammatory site depend on the interaction of immune-complex with Fc receptors and can be effectively blocked by decoy Fc receptors. Blood. 2008; 111:894-904.

23. Shashidharamurthy R, Amano A, Ezekwudo D, Selvaraj P. Analysis of competitive interaction of H and R allelic forms of CD32A with rabbit IgG immune-complex. Proc. Intl. Cong. Immunol. 2007, p513-522.

24. Wang YC, Sashidharamurthy R, Nagarajan S, Selvaraj P. B7-1-HSA (CD80-CD24), a recombinant hybrid costimulatory molecule retains ligand binding and costimulatory functions. Immunol Lett. 2006; 105. 185-92.

25. Shashidharamurthy R, Koteiche HA, Dong J, McHaourab HS. Mechanism of chaperone function in small heat shock proteins: dissociation of the HSP27 oligomer is required for recognition and binding of destabilized T4 lysozyme. J Biol Chem. 2005; 280. 5281-9.

26. Stanic AK, Shashidharamurthy R, Bezbradica JS, Matsuki N, Yoshimura Y, Miyake S, Choi EY, Schell TD, Van Kaer L, Tevethia SS, Roopenian DC, Yamamura T, Joyce S. Another view of T cell antigen recognition: cooperative engagement of glycolipid antigens by Va14Ja18 natural T(iNKT) cell receptor. J Immunol. 2003; 17. 4539-51.

27. Yadav R, Yoshimura Y, Boesteanu A, Christianson GJ, Ajayi WU, Shashidharamurthy R, Stanic AK, Roopenian DC, Joyce S. The H4b minor histocompatibility antigen is caused by a combination of genetically determined and posttranslational modifications. J Immunol. 2003; 170. 5133-42.

28. Shashidharamurthy R, Mahadeshwaraswamy Y.H, Ragupathi L, Vishwanath B.S, Kemparaju K. Systemic pathological effects induced by cobra (Naja naja) venom from geographically distinct origins of Indian peninsula. Exp Toxicol Pathol. 2010; 62. 587–592.

29. Shashidharamurthy R, Kemparaju K. Region-specific neutralization of Indian cobra (Naja naja) venom by polyclonal antibody raised against the eastern regional venom: A comparative study of the venoms from three different geographical distributions. Int Immunopharmacol. 2007; 7. 61-69.

30. Shashidharamurthy R, Kemparaju K. A neurotoxic phospholipase A2 variant: isolation and characterization from eastern regional Indian cobra (Naja naja) venom. Toxicon. 2006; 47. 727-33.

31. Girish KS, Shashidharamurthy R, Nagaraju S, Gowda TV, Kemparaju K. Isolation and characterization of hyaluronidase a "spreading factor" from Indian cobra (Naja naja) venom. Biochimie. 2004; 86. 193-202.

32. Shashidharamurthy R, Jagadeesha DK, Girish KS, Kemparaju K. Variations in biochemical and pharmacological properties of Indian cobra (Naja naja naja) venom due to geographical distribution. Mol Cell Biochem. 2002; 229. 93-101.

33. Jagadeesha DK, Shashidharamurthy R, Girish KS, Kemparaju K. A non-toxic anticoagulant metalloprotease: purification and characterization from Indian cobra (Naja naja) venom. Toxicon. 2002; 40. 667-75.

Memberships

American Association of Immunologist. 2005- present
American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP). 2012- present
American Association for the Advancement of Science. 2005-2010

Editorial Service

a. Biochimie 2004- Present
b. Comparative Biochemistry and physiology, 2004- present
c. Planta Medica, 2006- present
d. Nutrition Journal, 2007- present
e. Current Medicinal Chemistry, 2008-present
f. Immunopharmacology And Immunotoxicology, 2008-present
g. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 2009-present
h. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 2010-present
i. European Journal of Cancer 2013-Present
j. Clinical and Applied Thrombosis/Hemostasis 2013-present
k. Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry, 2014-present
l. Plose One, 2015-present

Grant Review Study Section Member

Serving as active committee member on American Heart Association Grant review committee under Vascular Endothelial Biology and Function - Basic Science and Immunology and Virology - Basic Science study sections

Invited Speaker at National/International Conferences

Renowned speaker and Chairing the session (Track:5 Allergy) at 4th international conference on Clinical and Experimental Dermatology too be held at San Antonio, Texas, USA. April 14-16, 2014.