Valentina K Todorova, PhD

Research Program: Cancer Therapeutics Faculty Rank: Assistant Professor Campus: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College: College of Medicine Department: Internal Med Hem-Onc

Cancer Research Interest

• Disease Site Focus: Breast, GI
• Research Focus Area: Treatment
• Type of Research: Basic
• Research Interest Statement: Biomarkers for early prediction of doxorubicin (DOX)-induced cardiotoxicity in breast cancer. The overall goal of this project is to identify biomarkers for prediction of early pre-symptomatic cardiotoxicity of cancer chemotherapy with doxorubicin. Exosomes as biomarkers and therapeutic targets in early breast cancer. This study aims to examine exosomes as non-invasive surrogate markers for prediction of therapeutic response after the early doses of neodjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients. Exosomal miRNA profiling of plasma of patients with early breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant DOX-based chemotherapy is currently under analysis using miRNA-Seq. Role of exosomes in the establishment, development and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma. This project aims to characterize exosomal microRNA and protein profiling in hepatocellular carcinoma, and their role in angiogenesis. Exosomal miRNA sequencing is currently ongoing.

Contact Information

• Email Address: VTODOROVA@UAMS.EDU
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Recent Publications

• Todorova VK, Azhar G, Stone A, [et al.]. Neutrophil Biomarkers Can Predict Cardiotoxicity of Anthracyclines in Breast Cancer. International journal of molecular sciences. 2024 25(17). PMID: 39273682. PMCID: PMC11395913.
• Todorova VK, Bauer MA, Azhar G, Wei JY. RNA sequencing of formalin fixed paraffin-embedded heart tissue provides transcriptomic information about chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity. Pathology, research and practice. 2024 257:155309. PMID: 38678848.
• Todorova VK, Byrum SD, Mackintosh SG, [et al.]. Exosomal MicroRNA and Protein Profiles of Hepatitis B Virus-Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells. International journal of molecular sciences. 2023 24(17). PMID: 37685904. PMCID: PMC10487651.
• Todorova VK, Byrum SD, Gies AJ, [et al.]. Circulating Exosomal microRNAs as Predictive Biomarkers of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Response in Breast Cancer. Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.). 2022 29(2):613-630. PMID: 35200555. PMCID: PMC8870357.
• Bauer MA, Todorova VK, Stone A, [et al.]. Genome-Wide DNA Methylation Signatures Predict the Early Asymptomatic Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity in Breast Cancer. Cancers. 2021 13(24). PMID: 34944912. PMCID: PMC8699582.
• Todorova VK, Wei JY, Makhoul I. Subclinical doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity update: role of neutrophils and endothelium. American journal of cancer research. 2021 11(9):4070-4091. PMID: 34659877. PMCID: PMC8493405.
• Todorova VK, Siegel ER, Kaufmann Y, [et al.]. Dantrolene Attenuates Cardiotoxicity of Doxorubicin Without Reducing its Antitumor Efficacy in a Breast Cancer Model. Translational oncology. 2020 13(2):471-480. PMID: 31918212. PMCID: PMC7031101.
• Hsu PC, Kadlubar SA, Siegel ER, [et al., including Todorova VK]. Genome-wide DNA methylation signatures to predict pathologic complete response from combined neoadjuvant chemotherapy with bevacizumab in breast cancer. PloS one. 2020 15(4):e0230248. PMID: 32298288. PMCID: PMC7162481.
• Todorova VK, Hsu PC, Wei JY, [et al.]. Biomarkers of inflammation, hypercoagulability and endothelial injury predict early asymptomatic doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity in breast cancer patients. American journal of cancer research. 2020 10(9):2933-2945. PMID: 33042627. PMCID: PMC7539772.