# Rio Grande Valley Cancer Health Disparity Research Center

> **NIH NIH U54** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS RIO GRANDE VALLEY · 2024 · $409,011

## Abstract

Liver cancer is the fastest growing cause of cancer-related deaths in the US; its incidence has almost tripled
since 1980. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most prevalent form of liver cancer. Latino/Hispanic (LA)
populations are disproportionately affected by HCC compared to Caucasians (CA) with respect to prevalence,
progression, drug response, and mortality. In addition to infectious and metabolic diseases, socio-behavioral
factors (smoking, alcohol consumption, stress) are the major risk factors for HCC. Although ethnic differences in
HCC progression and treatment outcome are known, the responsible molecular mechanisms are not understood.
The interplay of these risk factors with oncogenic mechanisms in relation to this disparity are also unknown. Our
group has identified a novel oncogenic protein, MUC13 mucin, which is highly overexpressed and aberrantly
localized in some cancers. This protein is associated with tumorigenic/metastatic phenotypes and is correlated
with smoking, alcohol consumption, and biochemical stress factors. Preliminary data suggest a markedly higher
expression/aberrant localization of MUC13 in HCC LA samples than CA samples. However, the clinical functional
significance and regulatory mechanisms of MUC13 expression in HCC are unknown. The association of socio-
behavioral factors (smoking, alcohol consumption, stress) with MUC13 expression pattern in relation to this
disparity has not been investigated. Sorafenib is a clinically used chemotherapy for HCC; it blocks the
Raf/MEK/ERK pathway, whereas MUC13 overexpression induces this oncogenic signaling axis. Our group has
developed reagents related to MUC13, including unique monoclonal antibodies. Moreover, our group has access
to a liver cancer bio-specimen repository that has HCC samples from different groups including LA and CA
populations. We propose to investigate the role of MUC13 in HCC disparity and elucidate the etiological factors
that are responsible for aberrant MUC13 expression in HCC. We hypothesize that the differential/aberrant
expression of MUC13 is a critical molecular determinant associated with health disparities in HCC. Additionally,
we hypothesize that socio-behavioral factors influence MUC13 expression in HCC. Aim 1 will determine how the
MUC 13 expression patterns in HCC tissue samples retrospectively collected from LA and CA populations differ
among different stages of disease and between the populations, and will correlate MUC13 expression patterns
with disease progression, metastasis, and patient prognosis and survival. Aim 2 will determine the association
between socio-behavioral factors (smoking, alcohol consumption, biochemical measures of stress) and MUC13
expression/phosphorylation patterns in HCC samples from the two patient populations. Aim 3 will ascertain the
role of MUC13 in HCC progression, metastasis, and Sorafenib responsiveness, and its disparities between LA
and CA HCC, via the use of patient-derived cells, organoids, and patie...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11001858
- **Project number:** 1U54MD019970-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS RIO GRANDE VALLEY
- **Principal Investigator:** Subhash C. Chauhan
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $409,011
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-18 → 2029-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11001858

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11001858, Rio Grande Valley Cancer Health Disparity Research Center (1U54MD019970-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11001858. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*