Associate Professor & Biochemistry, Graduate Program Director

Basic Sciences
Division of Biochemistry
School of Medicine
Loma Linda University
Loma Linda, CA 92350
U.S.A

Phone:(909) 558-4000 Ext. 81397
Fax:(909) 558-0177
E-mail: nwall@llu.edu

 

Research Interest

The goal of my lab’s research is to investigate the contribution extracellular (exosomal) survivin makes to the resistance of cancers to stress-induced cell death in the tumor microenvironment. Specifically, we are identifying the functional role of survivin in promoting cancer cell survival in the presence of stress as well as investigating the functional significance of exosomal release of survivin from stressed cancer cells. The paradigm shift to focus less on the autonomous functions of the cancer cell and more on the heterotypic interactions that go on in the tumor microenvironment is a niche that allows my lab to define itself in a manner that doesn’t directly compete with established survivin investigators.  We have thus laid the groundwork for our research by developing effective measures of characterizing the release of survivin to the extracellular space, the uptake of survivin into cancer cells and surrounding non-cancer cells, and its proliferative and therapy resistance-inducing mechanisms.

Web Presence:

Center for Health Disparities: Nathan Wall, PhD

Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications

  1. Jutzy JMS, Khan S, Valenzuela MMA, Milford TM, Payne KJ, Wall NR. Tumor-released survivin inhibits T cell proliferation and alters CD4+ T cell cytokine profiles to induce a pro-tumor environment. Cancer Microenvironment, 6(1): 57-68, 2013. (Impact Factor 2.60)
  2. de Necochea-Campion R, Chen CS, Mirshahidi S, Howard FD, Wall NR.  Clinico-Pathologic Relevance of Survivin Splice Variant Expression in Cancer.  Cancer Letters, 339(2): 167-174, 2013. (Impact Factor: 5.99)
  3. Valenzuela MMA, Ferguson Bennit HR, Gonda A, Diaz-Osterman CJ, Hibma A, Khan S, Wall NR.  Exosomes secreted from human cancer cell lines contain inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP). Cancer Microenvironment, 8(2): 65-73, 2015. (Impact Factor 2.60).
  4. De Nocochea-Campion R, Diaz Osterman CJ, Hsu HW, Fan J, Mirshahidi S, Wall NR*, Chen CS*. AML sensitivity to YM155 is modulated through AKT and Mcl-1. Cancer Letters, 366(1):44-51, 2015. (Impact Factor: 5.99)         *Authors Contributed equally to Journal
  5. Diaz Osterman CJ, Lynch JC, Leaf P, Gonda A, Fergusen Bennit HR, Griffiths D, Wall NR. Curcumin modulates pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell-derived exosomal function. PLoS One, 10(7): e0132845, 2015. (Impact Factor: 4.41)
  6. Díaz Osterman CJ, Gonda A, Stiff TR, Sigaran U, Asuncion Valenzuela MM, Ferguson Bennit H, Moyron RB, Khan S, Wall NR. Curcumin Induces Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Cell Death via Reduction of the Inhibitors of Apoptosis.  Pancreas, 45(1): 101-109, 2016. (Impact Factor: 2.74)
  7. Turay D, Khan S, Osterman CD, Curtis MP, Khaira B, Neidigh JW, Mirshahidi S, Casiano CA, Wall NR. Proteomic profiling of serum-derived exosomes from ethnically diverse prostate cancer patients. Cancer Investigation, 34(1):1-11, 2016. (Impact Factor: 2.23)
  8. McMullen J, Selleck M, Wall NR*, Senthil M*. Peritoneal Carcinomatosis: Limits of Diagnosis and the case for Liquid Biopsy. Oncotarget, 8(26): 43481-43490, 2017. (Impact Factor: 5.01) *Authors Contributed equally to Journal
  9. Moyron RB, Gonda A, Selleck MJ, Luo-Owen X, O’Callahan T, Garberoglio C, Turay D, Wall NR.  Differential Protein Expression in Exosomal Samples Taken from Trauma Patients. Proteomics-Clinical Applications, 11:9-10, 2017. (Impact Factor: 3.81)
  10. Selleck MJ, Senthil M, Wall NR. Making Meaningful Clinical Use of Biomarkers. Biomarker Insights, 12: 1-7, 2017. (Impact Factor: 2.280)
  11. Kabagwira J, Wall NR. An Argument to Examine Exosomal Survivin Splice Variant Expression and Patient Survival in Pancreatic Cancer. Clinics in Oncology, 2: 1-10, 2017. (Impact Factor: 1.920)
  12. Khan S, Simpson J, Lynch JC, Turay D, Mirshahidi S, Gonda A, Sanchez TW, Casiano CA, Wall NR. Racial differences in the expression of inhibitors of apoptosis proteins in exosomes from prostate cancer patients.  PLoS One, 12(10):e0183122, 2017. (Impact Factor: 4.41)
  13. De Necochea-Campion R, Gonda A, Kabagwira J, Mirshahidi S, Cao H, Reeves ME, Wall NR.  A Practical Approach to Extracellular Vesicle Characterization Among Similar Biological Samples. Biomedical Physics & Engineering Express, 4(6), 2018 (Impact Factor Not Yet Available).
  14. Bennit HF, Gonda A, McMullen JRW, Kabagwira J, Wall NR. Peripheral blood cell interactions of cancer-derived exosomes affect immune function, Cancer Microenvironment, 12(1), 2019. doi: 10.1007/s12307-018-0209-1. (Impact Factor 2.680).
  15. Gonda A, Kabagwira J, Senthil GN, Ferguson Bennit HR, Neidigh JW, Khan S, Wall NR. Exosomal Survivin Facilitates Vesicle Internalization. Oncotarget, 9(79):34919-34934, 2018. (Impact Factor: 5.168)
  16. Gonda A, Kabagwira J, Senthil GN, Wall NR. Internalization of Exosomes through Receptor-Mediated Endocytosis. Molecular Cancer Research, 17(2):337-347, 2019. (Impact Factor: 4.484)