Danny N. Dhanasekaran, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Cell Biology
Director, Center for Basic Cancer Research
Deputy Director for Basic Research
University of Oklahoma, Cancer Institute

Ovarian cancer mortality is primarily due to late diagnosis of the disease and therapy resistance that lead to cancer recurrence. Our research is focused on identifying genetic and epigenetic mechanisms underlying ovarian cancer progression and recurrence. Recently, we identified the upregulation of UCA1, an oncogenic long non-coding RNA in ovarian cancer cells and issues. In addition to identifying the possible oncogenic mechanism mediated by UCA1, we observed that the inhibition of UCA1 could attenuate ovarian cancer growth. Our studies also point to UCA1 as a lncRNA signature that can 
indicate therapy resistance. A global analysis of differentially expressed genes in ovarian cancer cells indicate the increased expression of several lncRNAs in ovarian cancer cells compared to normal ovarian surface epithelial or fallopian tube-derived epithelial cells. Co-expression network analysis of lncRNAs and mRNA identify several regulatory loops targeted by lncRNAs in controlling gene expression. Further characterization of these ovarian cancer specific lncRNAs should lead to the development of novel diagnostic, prognostic, and/or therapeutic agents for ovarian cancer.