A Bangladeshi researcher at the forefront of fight against liver cancer

Dr Devanand Sarkar's ground breaking research that uncovered the mechanism of development of liver cancer is now in the spotlight once again. His new research is close to bringing about new treatments for liver cancer.

Dr Sarkar and his colleagues had originally discovered and cloned AEG-1 gene which was overexpressed in liver cancer and made cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy. His team also discovered another gene called SND1 which also promotes liver cancer. After discovering the mechanism, he developed therapeutic approach including nanoparticle-based therapy and other drug that successfully blocked both of these genes in mouse model.

His research also uncovered the link between obesity and liver cancer. Obesity leads to the deposition of fat in the liver called fatty liver disease which causes chronic inflammation and eventually develops into liver cancer.

Dr Sarkar is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Human and Molecular Genetics and the Associate Director of Education and Training at Massey Cancer Centre, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA. He holds numerous prestigious awards including The Harrison Foundation Distinguished Professorship in Cancer Research. He graduated from Dhaka Medical College and has a doctorate degree from Japan. He moved to the USA thereafter and did his post doctoral fellow in Oncology/Virology, Departments of Pathology and Urology, Columbia University, New York.

Dr Sarkar's ultimate goal is to bring a combination of therapies that offer patients the best chance of beating liver cancer, a potentially aggressive cancer that costs the lives of millions in the world.