Laura Ruth Osborn, MA

Research Program: Cancer Therapeutics Faculty Rank: Graduate Student Campus: Arkansas Children's Hospital Department: Pharmacology & Toxicology in the UAMS College of Medicine

Cancer Research Interest

• Disease Site Focus: Breast, Thoracic/ Lung
• Research Focus Area: Treatment
• Type of Research: Basic, Translational
• Research Keywords: Paclitaxel, Chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy
• Research Interest Statement: I am interested in epigenetic processes that modulate gene expression in the peripheral nervous system following treatment of paclitaxel, a common chemotherapeutic agent for breast, lung, and ovarian cancer. Paclitaxel-induced peripheral neuropathy (PIPN) is a is a frequent and dose-dependent adverse effect that decreases patients’ quality of life during and after treatment. As there are no effective preventative treatments for PIPN, patients may need to delay or shorten chemotherapy treatment, making it imperative to develop innovative strategies for pain management for cancer patients. Pain states due to stress, inflammation, and nerve injury have been associated with altered gene expression and epigenetic regulation of genes that modulate peripheral nerve function. Models of PIPN have shown associations between genetic regulation by histone modification and neuropathy development following PTX exposure, but the extent of epigenetic alterations in regulatory regions due to PTX treatment and their role in PIPN development and resolution are unknown. We utilize DNA methylation analysis, Assay of Transposase Accessible Chromatin sequencing (ATAC-Seq), and RNA-Seq to detect alterations in gene regulation as Paclitaxel-induced peripheral neuropathy develops and resolves to identify epigenetic alterations in regulatory regions and dysregulated gene expression.

Contact Information

• Email Address: LROSBORN@UAMS.EDU

Publications

• Crosby SV, Ahmed IY, Osborn LR, [et al.]. Similar 5F-APINACA Metabolism between CD-1 Mouse and Human Liver Microsomes Involves Different P450 Cytochromes. Metabolites. 2022 12(8). PMID: 36005645. PMCID: PMC9413144.
• Barnette DA, Schleiff MA, Osborn LR, [et al.]. Dual mechanisms suppress meloxicam bioactivation relative to sudoxicam. Toxicology. 2020 440:152478. PMID: 32437779. PMCID: PMC8716319.
• Muller Ii JE, Osborn LR, Traver JR, [et al.]. 2-(Octa-decyl-sulfan-yl)-1,3-thia-zole. IUCrData. 2020 5(Pt 2):x200170. PMID: 36340840. PMCID: PMC9462184.