# Mentored Career Development Award: Isothiocyanates to Improve Response to Proton Radiotherapy

> **NIH NIH K01** · UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI · 2024 · $100,048

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
This application is for a Mentored Career Development Award to Promote Diversity in the Dental, Oral and
Craniofacial Research Workforce (K01). I am testing the hypothesis that combining a dietary antioxidant with
proton radiation will improve outcome in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC). This award will provide
me with the resources I need to achieve the following goals: (1) To become a leading expert in proton radiation
as well as novel therapeutic strategies to improve outcome in patients with HNC. (2) To complete the research
and career development activities proposed in this application. (3) To increase the visibility of, to mentor and to
promote inclusion of researchers who are underrepresented or who are from a disadvantaged background in
the field of HNC. To achieve these goals, I have assembled a multidisciplinary mentorship team with
complementary expertise. These include: (1) Dr. Vinita Takiar (primary mentor, radiation oncology and HNC),
(2) Dr. Susan Waltz (co-primary mentor, tumor growth, senior researcher, microenvironment and metastasis),
(3) Dr. Trisha Wise-Draper (committee member, hematology oncology, immunology and HNC), (4) Dr.
Susanne Wells (committee member, senior researcher, organoids, proton and photon radiation, and HNC).
Resistance to therapeutic treatment in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), a form of HNC,
significantly contributes to increased morbidity and mortality. As salvage options remain limited, there is a
critical need to develop novel therapeutic approaches to extend survival in patients with HNSCC. Previous
research by the PI and others has demonstrated that the dietary antioxidant isothiocyanate compounds can
sensitize cancer cells to radiation and cytokine. Isothiocyanates also protect normal cells from the effects of
radiation. The long-term goal of this project is to improve patient outcomes by improving treatment response.
The overall objective of this proposal is to test whether isothiocyanate, phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC), in
combination with proton radiation, generates increased DNA damage and lethality in HNSCC cells. The central
hypothesis is that the combination of proton radiation with PEITC is superior to the current standard of care
combination, which is cisplatin with photon beam therapy (XRT). To examine the central hypothesis, we
propose the following specific aims: 1) Examine how PEITC enhances proton radiation mediated cell death
and 2) investigate the effects of PEITC in protecting normal head and neck cells from radiation. Developing
alternative treatment strategies to improve radiation response is significant since failed response to radiation
results in decreased patient survival. This research proposal is innovative in that it focuses on utilizing well-
tolerated, dietary antioxidants as an alternative strategy to overcoming radiation resistance in HNSCC and
employs the use of cutting edge proton radiation. This proposal will ultimatel...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10873763
- **Project number:** 5K01DE030467-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
- **Principal Investigator:** Christina A Wicker
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $100,048
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-09-16 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10873763

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10873763, Mentored Career Development Award: Isothiocyanates to Improve Response to Proton Radiotherapy (5K01DE030467-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10873763. Licensed CC0.

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