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Department of Cancer Biology
Stritch School of Medicine
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Irida Kastrati, PhD

Associate Professor, Cancer Biology
Research Interests:
  • Breast cancer
  • Selenoproteins
  • Racial disparity
  • Therapy targets in therapy resistance and recurrence
  • Drug development

Worldwide, breast cancer accounts for nearly a quarter of all cancers in women, and it is estimated that 1.7 million women are diagnosed with the disease annually. Most breast cancer deaths are due to aggressive therapy-resistant disease that eventually spreads to other parts of the body (metastasis). Our longstanding interest is to apply a multi-disciplinary approach to identify the fundamental cancer biology of deadly disease. Then, we implement drug discovery tools and evaluate novel therapeutics to improve patient outcome and reduce mortality. More recently, our lab is also working to address the racial disparity in breast cancer. Despite similar incidence, African American women die of breast cancer at a much higher rate than Caucasian women. In the Chicago area, this disparity is even more pronounced than the nation as a whole. While the reasons behind this disparity are multifactorial, recent data also point to biological components. Our goal is to identify these biological drivers and develop therapeutic strategies to eliminate disparity. 

Institute of Translation Medicine video highlighting Dr. Kastrati's research.  Click here to view.

Education

  • BA in Chemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago
  • PhD in Medicinal Chemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago
  • Postdoctoral fellowship in Cancer Biology, University of Illinois at Chicago

Research Interests

  • Breast cancer
  • Selenoproteins
  • Racial disparity
  • Therapy targets in therapy resistance and recurrence
  • Drug development

Publications/Research Listings

  • Contributions of selenoproteins to breast cancer etiology and racial disparity Bera S, Liu L, Ma W, Xu Z, Sverdlov M, Deaton R, Macias V, Valyi-Nagy K, Kajdacsy-Balla A, Hoskins K, Wiley EL, Kastrati I, Diamond AM. Cancer Causes Control. 2026 Jan 21;37(2):35. doi: 10.1007/s10552-025-02123-y. PMID: 41563517
  • Unravelling the anti-cancer mechanisms elicited by non-covalent thioredoxin reductase inhibitors for triple negative breast cancer therapy  Rullo A, Flowers B, Chang K, Zhang A, Petukhova VZ, Harding L, Aboagye SY, Bocchetta M, Qiu W, Williams DL, Angelucci F, Petukhov PA, Kastrati I. Redox Biol. 2026 Mar;90:103980. doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2025.103980. Epub 2025 Dec 19. PMID: 41518849
  • Pleiotropic anti-cancer activities of novel non-covalent thioredoxin reductase inhibitors against triple negative breast cancer  Flowers B, Rullo A, Zhang A, Chang K, Petukhova VZ, Aboagye SY, Angelucci F, Williams DL, Kregel S, Petukhov PA, Kastrati I.  Free Radic Biol Med. 2025 Feb 1;227:201-209. doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2024.12.010. Epub 2024 Dec 4 PMID39643141
  • The "Doorstop Pocket" in Thioredoxin Reductases - An Unexpected Druggable Regulator of the Catalytic Machinery Ardini M, Aboagye SY, Petukhova VZ, Kastrati I, Ippoliti R, Thatcher GRJ, Petukhov PA, Williams DL, Angelucci F. J Med Chem. 2024 Sep 26;67(18):15947-15967. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c00669. Epub 2024 Sep 9. PMID: 39250602
  • Regulation of SELENOF translation by elF4a3: Possible role in prostate cancer progression Bera S, Kadkol S, Hong LK, Ali W, Brockman JD, Sverdlov M, Brister E, Macais V, Kajdacsy-Balla A, Valyi-Nagy K, Xu Z, Kastrati I, Liu L, Diamond AM. Mol Carcinog. 2023 Dec;62(12):1803-1816. doi: 10.1002/mc.23616. Epub 2023 Aug 9. PMID: 37555760
  • SELENOF Controls Proliferation and Cell Death in Breast-Derived Immortalized and Cancer Cells  Ekyalongo RC, Flowers B, Sharma T, Zigrossi A, Zhang A, Quintanilla-Arteaga A, Singh K, Kastrati I. Cancers (Basel). 2023 Jul 19;15(14):3671. doi: 10.3390/cancers15143671. PMID: 37509331
  • Dimethyl fumarate inhibits ZNF217 and can be beneficial in a subset of estrogen receptor positive breast cancers  Sharma T, Zhang Y, Zigrossi A, Cravatt BF, Kastrati I. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2023 Oct;201(3):561-570. doi: 10.1007/s10549-023-07037-4. Epub 2023 Jul 21. PMID: 37477798
  • Distinct Roles of SELENOF in Different Human Cancers  Flowers B, Bochnacka O, Poles A, Diamond AM, Kastrati I. Biomolecules. 2023 Mar 6;13(3):486. doi: 10.3390/biom13030486. PMID: 36979420
  • Identification of a novel ER-NFkB-driven stem-like cell population associated with relapse of ER+ breast tumors  Semina SE, Alejo LH, Chopra S, Kansara NS, Kastrati I, Sartorius CA, Frasor J. Breast Cancer Res. 2022 Dec 8;24(1):88. doi: 10.1186/s13058-022-01585-1. PMID: 36482488
  • Selenium and breast cancer - An update of clinical and epidemiological data  Flowers, B; Poles, A; Kastrati, I  Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics  2022 Nov 13;732:109465. doi: 10.1016/j.abb.2022.109465. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36379313
  • SELENOF is a new tumor suppressor in breast cancer  Zigrossi, A; Hong, LK; Ekyalongo, RC; Cruz-Alvarez, C; Gornick, E; Diamond, AM; Kastrati, I  Oncogene  2022  Feb;41(9):1263-1268. doi: 10.1038/s41388-021-02158-w. Epub 2022 Jan 27. PMID: 35082382

Additional Publicatons List