# Gopal Kundu

Gopal Chandra Kundu (born 2 November 1959) is an Indian cell and cancer biologist who worked as a scientist at the Indian National Centre for Cell Science. He is known for his contributions towards the understanding the mechanism of cancer progression in breast, melanoma and other cancers and development of novel therapeutic targets and target-based therapy in cancers.
An elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, India, he received the National Bioscience Award for Career Development of the Department of Biotechnology in 2003. He was awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, the highest Indian science awards, in 2004.

## Education and career

Kundu studied chemistry and biology at the Scottish Church College in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India. He obtained a B.Sc. with major in chemistry from the University of Calcutta (affiliating university of SCC) in 1980. He completed M.Sc. in chemistry at the University of Calcutta in 1982. He entered the Bose Institute, Kolkata, for a doctoral course and earned his Ph.D. in 1989 in protein biochemistry In 1989, he went to Cleveland Clinic Foundation, USA, as a post-doctoral fellow. For the next eight years, he worked as a research associate at the University of Colorado (1990-1992), and then as a senior research associate at the University of Wyoming (1992-1993) and the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda (1993-1998). He became specialised in cardiovascular biology, inflammation and immunomodulation during that period. In 1998, he joined the National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune, as Scientist-D. At NCCS, he published his most important research papers covering tumor biology, regulation of gene expression, cell signaling, angiogenesis, cancer therapeutics, biomarker studies for cancer detection, and nanomedicine.
In 2019, Kundu retired from the government service at superannuation age. He was immediately appointed as director of research and development at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), a private university in Bhubaneswar, Odissa. He also holds professor positions in biotechnology at KIIT and in medicine and molecular research at Kalinga Institute of Medical Science.
He serves as Editorial Board Member of Current Molecular Medicine, Current Chemical Biology, Frontiers in Medicine, International Journal of Oncology, Molecular Medicine Reports, The Open Cancer Journal and American Journal of Cancer Research. He is an associate editor of Molecular Cancer and Journal of Cancer Metastasis and Treatment.

## Awards and honours

Kundu is elected Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India (2003), the Indian Academy of Sciences (2006) and Indian National Science Academy (2023). He is member of American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and New York Academy of Sciences. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2023.

### Awards

In 1997, Kundu received Fellows Award for Research Excellence (FARE) from the US National Institute of Health of Health. In 2003, Kundu received the National Bioscience Award for Career Development from the Department of Biotechnology, government of India. In 2004, he was awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology in the field of biology, the award of which is considered as the most prestigious in science under the government of India. In 2007, the International Journal of Molecular Medicine from Greece gave him an "International award for an outstanding achievement in oncology". In 2013, he received the 7th National Grassroots Innovation Awards from the National Innovation Foundation for his works in cancer biology.

## Controversy

A controversy erupted in the NCCS in 2006 when an anonymous mail alleged that Kundu and others might have misrepresented data in a paper published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. The allegation was that they had rehashed the same set of data which they had published earlier. An internal committee of the NCCS advised the authors to take back their paper, however an independent committee led by G. Padmanabhan, a former director of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, concluded that there was no manipulation in the data. On 23 February 2007, the Journal of Biological Chemistry withdrew the paper amid allegations of data manipulation, although the authors maintained that the two papers used different set of data though similar experiments.

## Selected publications

* Philip, S; Bulbule, A; Kundu, GC (2001). "Osteopontin stimulates tumor growth and activation of pro-matrix metalloproteinase-2 through NF-kappa B mediated induction of membrane type 1-matrix metalloproteinase in murine melanoma cells". J. Biol. Chem. 276 (48): 44926–44935. doi:10.1074/jbc.m103334200. PMID 11564733.
* Mahabeleshwar, GH; Kundu, GC (2003). "Syk, a protein tyrosine kinase, suppresses the cell motility and NF-kappa B mediated secretion of urokinase type plasminogen activator by inhibiting the phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase activity in breast cancer cells". J. Biol. Chem. 278 (8): 6209–6221. doi:10.1074/jbc.m208905200. PMID 12477728.
* Philip, S; Kundu, GC (2003). "Osteopontin induces NF-kappa B mediated promatrix metalloproteinase-2 activation through IKK/IκBα signaling pathways and curcumin (diferulolylmethane) down regulates these pathways". J. Biol. Chem. 278 (16): 14487–14497. doi:10.1074/jbc.m207309200. PMID 12473670.
* Das, R; Mahabeleshwar, GH; Kundu, GC (2003). "Osteopontin stimulates cell motility and NF-kB mediated secretion of urokinase type plasminogen activator through phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt signaling pathways in breast cancer cells". J. Biol. Chem. 278 (31): 28593–28606. doi:10.1074/jbc.m303445200. PMID 12771144.
* Mahabeleshwar, GH; Kundu, GC (2003). "Tyrosine kinase, p56lck regulates cell motility and NF-kB-mediated secretion of urokinase type plasminogen activator through tyrosine phosphorylation of IkBa following hypoxia/reoxygenation". J. Biol. Chem. 278 (52): 52598–52612. doi:10.1074/jbc.m308941200. PMID 14534291.
* Mahabeleshwar, GH; Das, R; Kundu, GC (2004). "Tyrosine kinase, p56lck-induced cell motility and urokinase type plasminogen activator secretion involves activation of epidermal growth factor receptor/extracellular signal regulated kinase pathways". J. Biol. Chem. 279 (11): 9733–9742. doi:10.1074/jbc.m311400200. PMID 14699120.
* Das, R; Mahabeleshwar, GH; Kundu, GC (2004). "Osteopontin induces AP-1-mediated secretion of urokinase type plasminogen activator through c-Src dependent EGF receptor transactivation in breast cancer cells". J. Biol. Chem. 279 (12): 11051–11064. doi:10.1074/jbc.m310256200. PMID 14704150.
* Rangaswami, H; Bulbule, A; Kundu, GC (2004). "Nuclear factor inducing kinase plays crucial role in osteopontin induced MAPK/IKK dependent nuclear factor kB-mediated promatrix metalloproteinase-9 activation". J. Biol. Chem. 279 (37): 38921–38935. doi:10.1074/jbc.m404674200. PMID 15247285.
* Rangaswami, H; Bulbule, A; Kundu, GC (2006). "Osteopontin: role in cell signaling and cancer progression". Trends Cell Biol. 16 (2): 79–87. doi:10.1016/j.tcb.2005.12.005. PMID 16406521.
* Chakraborty, G; Rangaswami, R; Jain, S; Kundu, GC (2006). "Hypoxia regulates crosstalk between Syk and Lck leading to breast cancer progression and angiogenesis". J. Biol. Chem. 281 (16): 11322–11331. doi:10.1074/jbc.m512546200. PMID 16474166.
* Jain, S; Chakraborty, G; Kundu, GC (2006). "The Crucial Role of cyclooxygenase-2 in osteopontin-induced PKCα/c-Src/IKKα/β dependent prostate tumor progression and angiogenesis". Cancer Research. 66 (13): 6638–6648. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.can-06-0661. PMID 16818637.
* Chakraborty, G; Jain, S; Kundu, GC (2008). "Osteopontin promotes VEGF dependent breast tumor growth and angiogenesis via autocrine and paracrine mechanisms". Cancer Research. 68 (1): 152–161. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.can-07-2126. PMID 18172307.
* Jain, S; Chakraborty, G; Raja, R; Kale, S; Kundu, GC (2008). "Prostaglandin E2 regulates tumor angiogenesis in prostate cancer". Cancer Research. 68 (19): 7750–7759. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.can-07-6689. PMID 18829529.
* Behera, R; Kumar, V; Lohite, K; Karnik, S; Kundu, GC (2010). "Activation of JAK2/STAT3 signaling by osteopontin promotes tumor growth in human breast cancer cells". Carcinogenesis. 31 (2): 192–200. doi:10.1093/carcin/bgp289. PMID 19926637.
* Ahmed, M; Kundu, GC (2010). "Osteopontin selectively regulates p70S6K/mTOR phosphorylation leading to NF-kappa B dependent AP-1-mediated ICAM-1 expression in breast cancer cells". Molecular Cancer. 9 (1): 101. doi:10.1186/1476-4598-9-101. PMC 2881115. PMID 20459645.
* Sharma, P; Kumar, S; Kundu, GC (2010). "Transcriptional regulation of human osteopontin promoter by histone deacetylase inhibitor, trichostatin A in cervical cancer cells". Molecular Cancer. 9 (1): 178. doi:10.1186/1476-4598-9-178. PMC 2911447. PMID 20609221.
* Kumar, V; Behera, R; Lohite, K; Karnik, S; Kundu, GC (2010). "p38 Kinase is Crucial for Osteopontin-induced Furin Expression that Supports Cervical Cancer Progression". Cancer Research. 70 (24): 10381–10391. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.can-10-1470. PMID 20980434.
* Panda, JJ; Kaul, A; Kumar, S; Alam, S; Mishra, AK; Kundu, GC; Chauhan, VS (2013). "Modified dipeptide-based nanoparticles: vehicles for targeted tumor drug delivery". Nanomedicine (Lond.). 8 (12): 1927–42. doi:10.2217/nnm.12.201. PMID 23398497.
* Raja, R; Kale, S; Thorat, D; Gowrishankar, S; Lohite, K; Mane, A; Karnik, S; Kundu, GC (2013). "Hypoxia driven osteopontin contributes to breast tumor growth through modulation of HIF1α-mediated VEGF dependent angiogenesis". Oncogene. 33 (16): 2053–2064. doi:10.1038/onc.2013.171. PMID 23728336.
* Kale, S; Raja, R; Thorat, D; Gowrishankar, S; Patil, TV; Kundu, GC (2013). "Osteopontin signaling upregulates cyclooxygenase-2 expression in tumor-associated macrophages leading to enhanced angiogenesis and melanoma growth via α9β1 integrin". Oncogene. 33 (18): 2295–2306. doi:10.1038/onc.2013.184. PMID 23728342.
* Mishra, R; Thorat, D; Soundararajan, G; Pradhan, SJ; Chakraborty, G; Lohite, K; Karnik, S; Kundu, GC (March 2015). "Semaphorin 3A upregulates FOXO 3a-dependent MelCAM expression leading to attenuation of breast tumor growth and angiogenesis". Oncogene. 34 (12): 1584–95. doi:10.1038/onc.2014.79. PMID 24727891.
* Ghosh, S; Adhikary, A; Chakraborty, S; Bhattacharjee, P; Mazumder, M; Putatunda, S; Gorain, M; Chakraborty, A; Kundu, GC; Das, T; Sen, PC (February 2015). "Cross-talk between endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and the MEK/ERK pathway potentiates apoptosis in human triple negative breast carcinoma cells: role of a dihydropyrimidone, nifetepimine". J Biol Chem. 290 (7): 3936–49. doi:10.1074/jbc.M114.594028. PMC 4326803. PMID 25527500.
* Mishra, R; Kumar, D; Tomar, D; Chakraborty, G; Kumar, S; Kundu, GC (March 2015). "The potential of class 3 semaphorins as both targets and therapeutics in cancer". Expert Opin Ther Targets. 19 (3): 427–42. doi:10.1517/14728222.2014.986095. PMID 25434284. S2CID 25000012.
* Nanjappa, V; Renuse, S; Sathe, GJ; Raja, R; Syed, N; Radhakrishnan, A; Subbannayya, T; Patil, A; Marimuthu, A; Sahasrabuddhe, NA; Guerrero-Preston, R; Somani, BL; Nair, B; Kundu, GC; Prasad, TK; Califano, JA; Gowda, H; Sidransky, D; Pandey, A; Chatterjee, A (October 2015). "Chronic exposure to chewing tobacco selects for overexpression of stearoyl-CoA desaturase in normal oral keratinocytes". Cancer Biol Ther. 16 (11): 1593–603. doi:10.1080/15384047.2015.1078022. PMC 4846103. PMID 26391970.
* Ghosh, S; More, P; Derle, A; Kitture, R; Kale, T; Gorain, M; Avasthi, A; Markad, P; Kundu, GC; Kale, S; Dhavale, DD; Bellare, J; Chopade, BA (December 2015). "Diosgenin Functionalized Iron Oxide Nanoparticles as Novel Nanomaterial Against Breast Cancer". J Nanosci Nanotechnol. 15 (12): 9464–72. doi:10.1166/jnn.2015.11704. PMID 26682367.
* Rustagi, Y; Jaiswal, HK; Rawal, K; Kundu, GC; Rani, V (October 2015). "Comparative Characterization of Cardiac Development Specific microRNAs: Fetal Regulators for Future". PLOS ONE. 10 (10): e0139359. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1039359R. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0139359. PMC 4605649. PMID 26465880.
* Mukherjee, Shravanti; Manna, Argha; Bhattacharjee, Pushpak; Mazumdar, Minakshi; Saha, Shilpi; Chakraborty, Samik; Guha, Deblina; Adhikary, Arghya; Jana, Debarshi; Gorain, Mahadeo; Mukherjee, Sanhita; Kundu, G. C.; Sarkar, Diptendra; Das, Tanya (February 2016). "Non-migratory tumorigenic intrinsic cancer stem cells ensure breast cancer metastasis by generation of CXCR4+ migrating cancer stem cells". Oncogene. 35 (37): 4937–4948. doi:10.1038/onc.2016.26. PMID 26923331.
* Kumar, Dhiraj; Kumar, Santosh; Gorain, Mahadeo; Tomar, Deepti; Patil, Harshal S.; Radharani, NNV; Kumar, TVS; Patil, Tushar V.; Thulasiram, H. V.; Kundu, G. C. (2016). "Notch1-MAPK Signaling Axis Regulates CD133+ Cancer Stem Cell-Mediated Melanoma Growth and Angiogenesis". Journal of Investigative Dermatology. 136 (12): 2462–2474. doi:10.1016/j.jid.2016.07.024. PMID 27476721.
* Dai, Xiaoyun; Ahn, Kwang Seok; Wang, Ling Zhi; Kim, Chulwon; Deivasigamni, Amudha; Arfuso, Frank; Um, Jae-Young; Kumar, Alan Prem; Chang, Young-Chae; Kumar, Dhiraj; Kundu, Gopal C; Magae, Junji; Goh, Boon Cher; Hui, Kam Man; Sethi, Gautam (2016). "Ascochlorin Enhances the Sensitivity of Doxorubicin Leading to the Reversal of Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition in Hepatocellular Carcinoma". Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. 15 (12): 2966–2976. doi:10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-16-0391. PMID 27765853.
* Kumar, Dhiraj; Gorain, Mahadeo; Kundu, Gautam; Kundu, Gopal C (2017). "Therapeutic implications of cellular and molecular biology of cancer stem cells in melanoma". Molecular Cancer. 16 (1): 7. doi:10.1186/s12943-016-0578-3. PMC 5282877. PMID 28137308.
* Ghosh, Alip; Dasgupta, Debanjali; Ghosh, Amit; Roychoudhury, Shrabasti; Kumar, Dhiraj; Gorain, Mahadeo; Butti, Ramesh; Datta, Simanti; Agarwal, Shaleen; Gupta, Subash; Krishna Dhali, Gopal; Chowdhury, Abhijit; Schmittgen, Thomas D; Kundu, Gopal C; Banerjee, Soma (2017). "MiRNA199a-3p suppresses tumor growth, migration, invasion and angiogenesis in hepatocellular carcinoma by targeting VEGFA, VEGFR1, VEGFR2, HGF and MMP2". Cell Death & Disease. 8 (3): e2706. doi:10.1038/cddis.2017.123. PMC 5386529. PMID 28358369.
* Wadhwani, Sweety; Gorain, Mahadeo; Banerjee, Pinaki; Shedbalkar, Utkarsha; Singh, Richa; Kundu, Gopal; Chopade, Balu A (2017). "Green synthesis of selenium nanoparticles using Acinetobacter sp. SW30: Optimization, characterization and its anticancer activity in breast cancer cells". International Journal of Nanomedicine. 12: 6841–6855. doi:10.2147/IJN.S139212. PMC 5602452. PMID 28979122.
* Datta, Arindam; Ghatak, Dishari; Das, Sumit; Banerjee, Taraswi; Paul, Anindita; Butti, Ramesh; Gorain, Mahadeo; Ghuwalewala, Sangeeta; Roychowdhury, Anirban; Alam, Sk Kayum; Das, Pijush; Chatterjee, Raghunath; Dasgupta, Maitrayee; Panda, Chinmay Kumar; Kundu, Gopal C; Roychoudhury, Susanta (2017). "P53 gain-of-function mutations increase Cdc7-dependent replication initiation". EMBO Reports. 18 (11): 2030–2050. doi:10.15252/embr.201643347. PMC 5666604. PMID 28887320.