Hunter College Professor Shahana Mahajan is living her childhood dream of finding a cure for a deadly cancer.
A Medical Laboratory Sciences professor at Brookdale Campus, Mahajan is exploring whether the drug Riluzole effectively treats osteosarcoma, a bone cancer that occurs most commonly in children, adolescents, and young adults. Her research has shown that Riluzole kills osteosarcoma cells in cell cultures and mouse models.
For Mahajan, who grew up in a Muslim family in Hyderabad, India, the research is deeply personal. A close childhood friend died of osteosarcoma at age 16 after rounds of amputations and chemotherapy. The third-most-common childhood cancer, osteosarcoma often resists treatment and spreads aggressively to other organs.
“It was heartbreaking to see my friend, who fought so bravely, succumb to the disease,” said Mahajan. “When I got the opportunity to work on osteosarcoma, it was as if my entire research career was waiting for this moment.”
Mahajan is partnering with scientists at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to test Riluzole on samples derived from patients who have undergone chemotherapy and either have failed to respond to the treatment or had cancers that spread to distant tissues after initially responding. Such samples are valuable for determining whether Riluzole can treat stubborn cancers with low survival rates.
In 2020, Mahajan received a $1 million National Institutes of Health grant to support her research. The grant offered further opportunities to collaborate with scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and to train PhD students and MDs as well as undergraduates.
Mahajan also investigates the mechanisms involved in cell death and the enzymes and proteins that make osteosarcoma vulnerable to Riluzole. Understanding the science is crucial for effective drug-development strategies. Riluzole now is used for treating the degenerative nerve disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Mahajan, whose father enthusiastically supported her passion for science, earned a PhD in Molecular Biology from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. She is married to Hunter Professor Muktar Mahajan, who works in the same department. She lost her first lab in 2012 to flood waters from Hurricane Sandy — fortuitously, perhaps, because it was then that she turned from basic research to osteosarcoma.
Mahajan is hopeful that her research will contribute to finding treatments for osteosarcoma.
“Our research is very encouraging,” she said. “It is only a matter of time until it will reach fruition.”
