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Biologists

Dinesh Thotala, Ph.D., MBA
Radiation Oncology

Dinesh Thotala, Ph.D., MBA

Associate Professor and Director of Cancer Biology
Department of Radiation Oncology


Office
Stephenson Cancer Center - Suite #L100
800 N.E 10th Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73104. USA.
Voice: (405) 271-3016

405/271-3016

Dinesh-Thotala@ouhsc.edu


Education:

Ph.D., University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore India, 1998

Postdoctoral Training, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA 2001-2004

Postdoctoral Training, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA 2004-2008

MBA, Washington University in St. Louis, Olin Business School, USA, 2016


Clinical/Research Interests:

The focus of my lab is to discover and develop new molecular targets to enhance radiotherapy. We are focused on studying prolonged immune suppression after radiation therapy often referred to as systemic lymphopenia. Systemic lymphopenia is seen in 30-40% of patients with cancer after chemoradiotherapy and is observed for up to six months to a year. The biological mechanism of systemic lymphopenia is not clearly understood.

Recently we found that the patients who developed systemic lymphopenia had elevated levels of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) when compared to patients who did not develop lymphopenia. We also found that radiation enhances myelopoiesis.

Presently we are elucidating how radiation enhances myelopoiesis and evaluating pharmacological inhibition of MDSC during radiation therapy in the clinic to abrogate systemic lymphopenia and improved survival.


Select Publications:

  • Campian JL, Ghosh S, Kapoor V, Yan R, Thotala S, Jash A, Hu T, Mahadevan A, Rifai K, Page L, Lee BH, Ferrando-Martinez S, Wolfarth AA, Yang SH, Hallahan D, Chheda MG, Thotala D. Long-Acting Recombinant Human Interleukin-7, NT-I7, Increases Cytotoxic CD8 T Cells and Enhances Survival in Mouse Glioma Models. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 Mar 15;28(6):1229-1239. PMID: 35031547
  • Kapoor V, Collins A, Griffith K, Ghosh S, Wong N, Wang X, Challen GA, Krambs J, Link D, Hallahan DE, Thotala D. Radiation induces iatrogenic immunosuppression by indirectly affecting hematopoiesis in bone marrow. Oncotarget. 2020 May 12;11(19):1681-1690. PMID: 32477458
  • Lin AJ, Rao YJ, Chin RI, Campian J, Mullen D, Thotala D, Daly M, Gay H, Oppelt P, Hallahan D, Adkins D, Thorstad W. Post-operative radiation effects on lymphopenia, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, and clinical outcomes in palatine tonsil cancers. Oral Oncol. 2018 Nov;86: 1-7. Epub 2018 Sep 7. PMID: 30409288
  • Kapoor V, Khudanyan A, de la Puente P, Campian J, Hallahan DE, Azab AK, Thotala D. Stem Cell Transfusion Restores Immune Function in Radiation-Induced Lymphopenic C57BL/6 Mice. Cancer Res. 2015 Sep 1; 75(17):3442-5. PMID: 26130648.

Complete List of Publications: Thotala Publications