Ashok Chakraborty, Ph.D

Research Scientist, Department of Dermatology

Research Interests

Biology of melanoma and melanogenesis.- Looking for glycosylation as an event of macrophage induced processes for melanocyte biology including melanoma metastasis, DNA analyses of primary and metastatic melanoma cells. Identification of novel regulatory factors in the melanogenesis pathways, understanding of mechanisms involved in UVB mediated POMC expression in epidermal cells.

Education:	1971 B .Sc. University of Calcutta, India 1973 M.Sc. University of Calcutta, India 1981 Ph.D. University of Calcutta, India
Training:	1988-1992 Fellowship, Yale University

Selected Publications

• Chakraborty AK and Pawelek J. GnT-V, Macrophage and Cancer Metastasis: A common link. Clin. Exp. Metastasis 20(4), 365-373, 2003.
• Pawelek JM, Sodi S, Chakraborty AK, Platt J, Miller S, Holden DW, Hensel M, and Brooks-Low K. Salmonella pathogenicty island-2 and anticancer activity in mice. Cancer Gene Therapy, 9, 813-818, 2002.
• Chakraborty AK, Pawelek J, Ikeda Y., Miyoshi E, Kolesnikova N, Funasaka Y, Ichihashi M and Taniguchi N. Fusion hybrids with macrophage and melanoma cells up-regulate N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase V, b1-6 branching, and metastasis. Cell Growth and Differ. 12, 623-630, 2001.
• Funasaka Y, Chakraborty AK, Yodoi J, and Ichihashi M. The effect of Thioredoxin on the progression of pro-opiomelanocortin-derived peptides, the melanocortin 1 receptor and cell survival of normal human keratinocytes. J Invest. Dermatol. Sympo. Proceed. 6, 32-37, 2001.
• Chakraborty AK, de Freitas Sousa J, Espreafico EM, Pawelek JM. Human monocyte x mouse melanoma fusion hybrids express human gene. GENE 275, 103-106, 2001.
• Chakraborty AK. Identification of microsatellite length polymorphism by a PCR-based assay at IL-1b gene locus in cancer cells. Cancer Lett. 157, 93-97, 2000.
• Araki K, Horikawa T, Chakraborty AK, Nakagawa K, Itoh H, Oka M, Funasaka Y, Pawelek J, and Ichihashi M. Small GTPase RAB3A is associated with melanosomes in melanoma cells. Pigment Cell Res. 13 (5), 332-336, 2000.
• Chakraborty AK, Sodi SA, Rachkovsky ML, Bolognia JL, and Pawelek JM. Spontaneously formed melanoma x host cell hybrids are metastatic. Cancer Res. 60, 2512-2519, 2000.
• Pawelek JM, Chakraborty AK, Rachkovsky ML, Orlow SJ, Bolognia JL, and Sodi SA. Altered N-glycosylation in Macrophage x Melanoma fusion hybrids. Cell. and Mol. Biol. 45(7), 1011-1027, 1999.
• Nishioka E, Funasaka Y, Kondoh H, Chakraborty AK, Mishima Y, and Ichihashi M. Expression of tyrosinase, TRP-1 and TRP-2 in UV-irradiated human melanomas and melanocytes: TRP-2 protects melanoma cells from UVB-induced apoptosis. Melanoma Res. 9 (5), 433-443, 1999.
• Funasaka Y, Sato H, Chakraborty AK, Nagahama M, Ohashi A, Chrousos GP, and Ichihashi M. Expression of proopiomelanocortin, corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH), and CRH receptor in melanoma cells, nevus cells, and normal human melanocytes. J. Invest. Dermatol. Symp. Proceed. 4(2), 105-109, 1999.
• Chakraborty AK, Funasaka Y, Ichihashi M, Sodi S, Bhattacharya M, and Pawelek J. Upregulation of mRNA for the melanocortin-1 receptor but not for melanogenic proteins in macrophage x melanoma fusion hybrids exhibiting increased melanogenic and metastatic potential. Pigment Cell Res. 12 (6), 355-66, 1999.
• Chakraborty AK, Funasaka Y, Slominski A, Bolognia J, Sodi A, Ichihashi M, and Pawelek J. UV light and MSH receptors. Annals. New York Acad. Sci. 885, 100-116, 1999.
• Funasaka Y, Chakraborty AK, Komoto M, Ohashi A, Inoue K, Wittern, CP, and Ichihashi M. The depigmenting effect of DL-a-tocopheryl ferulate on human melanocytes. Br. J. Dermatology 141(1), 20-29, 1999.
• Chakraborty AK, Funasaka Y, Pawelek J, Nagahama M, Ito A, and Ichihashi M. Enhanced expression of melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1-R) in normal human keratinocytes during differentiation: Evidence for increased expression of POMC peptides near the suprabasal layer of epidermis. J. Invest. Dermatol. 112 (6), 853-860, 1999.
• Brooks-Low K, Ittensohn M, Le T, Platt J, Sodi S, Amoss M, Ash O, Carmichael E, Chakraborty AK, Fischer J, Lin SL, Luo X, Miller S, Zheng L, King I, Pawelek JM, and Bermudes D. Lipid A mutant Salmonella with suppressed virulence and TNFa induction retain tumor-targeting in vivo. Nature (Biotechnology) 17, 37-41, 1999.
• Ichihashi M, Funasaka Y, Ohashi A, Chakraborty AK, Ahmed NU, Ueda M, Osawa T. The inhibitory effect of DL-alpha-tocopheryl ferulate in lecithin on melanogenesis. Anticancer Research 19(5), 3769-3774, 1999.
• Chakraborty AK, Funasaka Y, Komoto M, and Ichihashi M. Effect of arbutin on melanogenic proteins in human melanocytes. Pigment Cell Res. 11(4), 206-212,1998.
• Sodi SA, Chakraborty AK, Platt JT, Kolesnikova N, Rosemblat S, Keh-Yen A, Bolognia JL, Rachkovsky ML, Orlow SJ, Pawelek JM. Melanoma x macrophage fusion hybrids acquire increased melanogenesis and metastatic potential: Altered N-glycosylation as an underlying mechanism. Pigment Cell Res. 11, 299-309, 1998.
• Nagahama M, Funasaka Y, Lorna Fernandez-Frez M, Ohashi A, Chakraborty AK, Ueda M, and Ichihashi M. Immunoreactivity of a-melanocyte stimulating hormone, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and b-endorphin in cutaneous malignant melanoma and benign melanocyte naevi. Br. J. Dermatology 138, 981-985, 1998.
• Funasaka Y, Chakraborty AK, Hayashi S, Komoto N, Ohashi A, Nagahama M, Inoue T, Gantz I, Pawelek J, and Ichihashi M. Modulation of melanocyte stimulating hormone receptor expression on normal human melanocytes: Evidence for a regulatory role of UVB, IL-1a, IL-1b, ET-1, and TNFa. Br. J. Dermatol. 139(2), 216-224, 1998.
• Rachkovsky M, Sodi S, Chakraborty AK, Avissar Y, Bolognia J, Madison J, Bermudes D, and Pawelek J. Melanoma/macrophage fusion hybrids with enhanced metastatic potential. Clin. Exp. Metastasis 16, 299-312,1998.
• Chakraborty AK and Pawelek J. The enzymology of mammalian melanogenesis. In: The Pigmentary System, Physiology and Pathophysiology, eds. JJ Nordlund, R Boissy, R King, V Hearing and JP Ortonne, Oxford University Press, New York. pp391-400,1998.
• Slominski A, Botchkareva NV, Botchkarev VA, Chakraborty AK, Luger T, Uenalan M, Paus R. Hair cycle dependent production of ACTH in mouse skin. Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 1448, 147-152, 1998.

 

Contact

Campus Address
Yale School of Medicine
333 Cedar Street
New Haven, CT 06520-8059

Email
ashok.chakraborty@yale.edu

Office Phone
(203) 785-6221