Silpa Gampala, PhD

About Dr. Silpa Gampala, PhD

Silpa Gampala, PhD is an assistant research professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine. She is focused on understanding the key signaling mechanisms involving major transcription factors for cancer survival and metastasis.

Dr. Gampala’s research interests include metabolic regulation and therapeutic development in the field of cancer, particularly in pancreatic and pediatric cancers. Her work has made valuable contributions in terms of testing rational combination treatments against pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST).

About Dr. Gampala’s Research

Patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 disease are at a higher risk of developing malignant pediatric nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs) than the general population, with 10-20% of MPNSTs being diagnosed in children. Complete surgical removal of the tumor with wide marginal excision is the current standard treatment. However, for tumors located in deeper parts of the nervous system, surgery is not possible.

Although chemotherapy is often used in MPNST cases where surgery isn’t an option, MPNSTs respond poorly to existing standard of care therapies like ifosfamide and doxorubicin. As a result, there is a need for new therapies and approaches. In 2024, the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation awarded Dr. Gampala an Emerging Investigator Fellowship Grant to fund her research into the role metabolism plays in driving MPNST progression.

Dr. Gampala has observed that the NF1 gene, which suppresses a protein called RAS, is lost in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1. As a result, overactive RAS reprograms growth-promoting pathways (including metabolism), leading to the development of MPNSTs. RAS-dependent cancers like MPNSTs are highly aggressive and metastatic due to the tumors and surrounding cells constantly metabolizing energy sources like glucose and glutamine for their growth and spread.

Dr. Gampala hypothesizes that obstructing nutrients required for the growth and spread of these tumors will slow or suppress this disease. In the study being funded by the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, Dr. Gampala proposes to decode the dependencies of tumor cells and cells surrounding the tumor on different energy sources like glucose, glutamine and others. With this information, Dr. Gampala believes it will be possible to intercept the pathways that generate energy prior to disease progression to prohibit tumor growth and spread.