Robert Suriano, PhD

Dr. Suriano aims to identify and characterize the cellular and molecular targets of alcohol in promoting breast cancer. Alcohol consumption, in addition to numerous other factors, has been shown to increase the risk of breast cancer incidence. Various clinical studies have concluded that alcohol consumption was positively correlated with breast cancer incidence in post-menopausal women taking estrogen supplements. Although this observation is provocative, the mechanism addressing this synergistic interaction between alcohol and estrogen with respect to increased breast cancer incidence and progression remains unknown.

Dr. Suriano’s previous observation in that estrogen functions as chemotactic factor essential in mobilizing endothelial progenitor cells from the bone marrow thus contributing to increased neo- vascularization or new blood vessel formation of breast tumors in mice forms the basis of his current research project.

Dr. Suriano’s second area of interest pertains to estrogen signaling in thyroid cancer, specifically in papillary thyroid cancer. Transitioning of cancer cells from a less aggressive epithelial phenotype to a more aggressive and invasive mesenchymal phenotype is almost always correlated with a poor prognosis for patients. Dr. Suriano aims to characterize this epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in thyroid malignancies with respect to estrogen signaling. In addition, Dr. Suriano also seeks to determine the effect of dietary anti-estrogenic compounds, such as 3,3`-diindolylmethane (DIM), on EMT in thyroid papillary cancer.

Courses

• BIOL 111 General Biology Lecture
• BIOL 111 General Biology Laboratory
• BIOL 211 Microbiology and Human Disease Lecture (Nursing Microbiology)
• BIOL 211 Microbiology and Human Disease Lab (Nursing Microbiology)
• BIOL 225 Microbiology Lecture (Majors Microbiology)
• BIOL 255L Microbiology Lab (Majors Microbiology)
• BIOL 426 Immunology
• BIOL 404/CHEM 403/NSCI 403 Colloquium Coordinator

Collaborations
Raj K. Tiwari, New York Medical College
Jan Geliebter, New York Medical College

Professional Affiliations
American Association for Cancer Research
Beta Beta Beta
Epsilon Sigma Pi
New York Academy of Science
Phi Delta Epsilon
Sigma Xi

Publications
Suriano, R., Rajoria, S., Hanly, E., Nicolini, A., George, A. L., Geliebter, J., Shin, E. J., Carpi, A., and Tiwari, R. K., “Interlinking of hypoxia and estrogen in thyroid cancer progression,” Current Medical Chemistry Journal, 2013

Suriano, R., Rajoria, S., George, A. L., Geliebter, J., Wallack, M., and Tiwari, R. K., “Ex vivo derived primary melanoma cells: implications for immunotherapeutic vaccines,” Journal of Cancer, 4(5):371- 82, June 2013

Suriano, R., Rajoria, S., George, A. L., Geliebter, J., Tiwari, R. K., and Wallack, M., “Follow-up analysis of a randomized phase III immunotherapeutic clinical trial on melanoma,” Molecular and Clinical Oncology, 1; 466-472, 2013

Suriano, R., George, A. L., Rajoria, S., Mittleman, A., and Tiwari, R. K., “Hypoxia and estrogen are functionally equivalent in breast cancer-endothelial cell interdependence,” Molecular Cancer, 2012

Suriano, R., Rajoria, S., George, A. L., Kamat, A., Schantz, S. P., Geliebter, J., and Tiwari, R. K.. “Molecular target based combinational therapeutic approaches in thyroid cancer,” Journal of Translational Medicine, 1;10(1):81, May 2012

Suriano, R., Shanmugam, A., Rajoria, S., George, A. L., Mittelman, A., and Tiwari, R. K., “Synthetic Toll like receptor-4 (TLR-4) agonist peptides as a novel class of adjuvants,” PLOS One, 7(2):e30839, 2012

Suriano, R., Rajoria, S., George, A. L., Shanmugam, A., Jussim, C., Shin, E. J., Moscatello, A. L., Geliebter, J., Carpi, A., and Tiwari, R. K., “Estrogen activity as a preventive and therapeutic target in thyroid cancer,” Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, 66(2):151-8, March 2012

Suriano, R., Kamat, A., Rajoria, S., George, A. L., Shanmugam, A., Megwalu, U., Prakash, P. B., Tiwari, R. K., and Schantz, S., “Estrogen-mediated angiogenesis in thyroid tumor microenvironment is mediated through VEGF signaling pathways,” JAMA Otolaryngology, 1371146-53, 2011

Suriano, R., Rajoria, S., Wilson, Y. L., Schantz, S. P., Moscatello, A., Geliebter, J., and Tiwari, R.K., “3,3’- diindolylmethane inhibits migration and invasion of human cancer cells through combined suppression of ERK and AKT pathways,” Oncology Reports, 25(2):491-7, 2011

Suriano, R., Shanmugam, A., Chaudhuri, D., Rajoria, S., George, A. L., Mittelman, A., and Tiwari, R.K., “Identification of PSA peptide mimotopes using phage display peptide library,” Peptides, 32; 1097- 1102, 2011

Suriano, R., Rajoria, S., George, A., Shanmugam, A., Schantz, S. P., Geliebter, J., and Tiwari, R.K., “Estrogen induced metastatic modulators MMP-2 and MMP-9 are targets of 3,3′-diindolylmethane in thyroid cancer,” PLOS One, 6(1), January 2011

Suriano, R., Shanmugam, A., Goswami, N., Chaudhuri, D., Ashok, B. T., Rajoria, S., George, A. L., Mittelman, A., and Tiwari, R.K., “Identification of peptide mimotopes of gp96 using single chain antibody library,” Cell Stress and Chaperones, 16(2):225-23, March 2011

Suriano, R., Rajoria, S., Parmar, S. P., Wilson, L. W., Megwalu, U., Moscatello, A., Bradlow, H. L., Sepkovic, D. W., Geliebter, J., Schantz, S. P., and Tiwari, R. K., Pilot study: “3,3’-diindolylmethane (DIM) modulates estrogen metabolism in patients with thyroid proliferative disease,” THYROID, 21(3):299-304, March 2011

Suriano, R., George, A. L., Bangalore-Prakash, P., Rajoria, S., Shanmugam, A., Mittelman, A., and Tiwari, R. K., “Endothelial progenitor cell biology in disease and tissue regeneration,” Hematological Oncology, 24;4:24, May 2011

Suriano, R., Rajoria, S., Shanmugam, A., Wilson, Y. L., Schantz, S. P., Geliebter, J., and Tiwari, R. K., “Metastatic phenotype is regulated by estrogen in thyroid cells,” THYROID, 20:33-41, January 2010

Suriano, R.,Chaudhuri, D, Suriano R, Mittelman A, Tiwari, RK. “Targeting the immune system in cancer,” Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, 10; 166-184, 2009

Suriano, R., Chaudhuri, D., Johnson, R., Lambers, E., Kishore, R., and Tiwari, R. K., “17-β-Estradiol Mobilizes Bone Marrow Endothelial Progenitor Cells to Tumors,” Cancer Research, 68; 6038- 6042, 2008

Suriano, R., Lin, Y., Ashok, B. T., Schaefer, S. D., Schantz, S. P., Geliebter, J., and Tiwari, R. K., “A Pilot Study Using SELDI-TOF-MS based Proteomic Profile for the Identification of Diagnostic Biomarkers of Thyroid Proliferative Diseases,” Journal of Proteome Research, 5; 856-861, 2006

Suriano, R., Ghosh, S., Ashok, B. T., Mittelman, A., Chen, Y. G., Banerjee, A., and Tiwari, R. K., “Differences in glycosylation patterns of heat shock protein, gp96: Implications for prostate cancer prevention,” Cancer Research, 65; 6466-6475, 2005

Suriano, R., Chaudhuri, D., Ashok, B. T., Ghosh, S., Mittelman, A., Banerjee, A., and Tiwari, R. K., “Sialic acid content of gp96 and its potential role in modulating gp96-APC interactions,” Glycobiology, 19; 1427-1435