Aarif Y. Khakoo, M.D. 1999, Columbia University The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Department of Cardiology Contact Information

Research Interests:

• Cardiomyopathy
• Chemotherapy
• Receptor tyrosine kinases
• Platelet derived growth factor
• Cell signaling
• Cardiac development
• Cardiac physiology
  

The research in my laboratory is focused on understanding the mechanisms of cardiotoxicity related to chemotherapeutic agents. My laboratory is specifically interested in the role of the platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) receptor in cardiac development and in normal cardiac physiology. PDGF receptor is a target for a number of novel chemotherapeutic agents, and observations in patients treated with PDGF inhibitors suggest that PDGF signaling may play a critical role in normal cardiovascular physiology and in the cardiac myocyte response to stress. We are studying the role of PDGF receptor in development and in cardiac physiology using gene ablation and overexpression approaches in murine models, as well as by studying the effects of pharmacologic PDGF inhibitors on cardiac function in vivo and on isolated primary cardiomyocytes in vitro.

Students who train in my laboratory will be trained in a variety of aspects of animal models of cardiac disease, including construction and breeding of transgenic and tissue specific knockout mice, analysis of cardiac function in development, animal surgery, evaluation of cardiac function by echocardiographic and invasive hemodynamic assessments, animal models for hypertension including transverse aortic banding, isolation and culture of primary cardiac myocytes, confocal and light microscopy, signal transduction mechanisms, and standard molecular biology and biochemical techniques.

Selected Publications:

Khakoo AY, Pati S, Anderson SA, Reid, W, Elshal MF, Rovira I, Nguyen A, Malide D, Combs CC, Hall G, Zhang J, Raffeld M, Rogers TB, Stetler-Stevenson WS, Frank JA, Reitz M, Finkel T (2006) Human mesenchymal stem cells exert a potent anti-tumorigenic effect in a model of Kaposi's Sarcoma. J Exp Med. May 15;203(5):1235-47.

Khakoo AY, Haluschka M, Rame JE, Rodriguez ER, Kasper EK, Judge DP (2005) Reversible cardiomyopathy caused by administration of interferon-alpha. Nature Clinical Practice Cardiovascular Medicine; 2(1): 53-57.

Khakoo AY, Finkel T (2005) Endothelial Progenitor Cells. Annual Review of Medicine; 56: 79-101.

Bulte JW, Kraitchman DL, Mackay AM, Pittenger MF, Arbab AS, Yocum GT, Kalish H, Jordan EK, Anderson SA, Khakoo AY, Read EJ, Frank JA (2004) Chondrogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells is inhibited after magnetic labeling with ferumoxides. Blood. Nov 15;104(10):3410-3.

Additional Publications