Dr. Nilubol is the Principle Investigator of the protocol that comprehensively analyzes molecular alterations in endocrine cancers that lead to tumor progression and metastasis. He is the Principle Investigator who aims to risk-stratify patients with von Hippel-Lindau disease (VHL)-associated pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors by combining the advanced imaging modalities, genetic information, and the molecular mechanisms involved in early metastasis identified by mRNA profiling, metabolomics, and exosomes.

Dr. Nilubol’s research program focuses on the identification of novel targeted therapeutics in endocrine cancers such as adrenocortical cancer and aggressive variants of thyroid cancers. Patients with these rare and aggressive cancers do not have treatment options with a durable response. Dr. Nilubol collaborates with a number of NIH intramural investigators and uses the quantitative high-throughput drug screening method to identify candidate compounds from several pharmaceutical libraries containing approved drugs and natural compounds. Candidate compounds are being investigated in preclinical studies with the goal to translate the effective combinations of drugs to clinical trials in patients with advanced endocrine cancers. However, most newly-discovered drugs do not show anti-tumor efficacy because many characteristics of solid cancers prohibit effective drug delivery. Thus, Dr. Nilubol’s research focuses on targeting the tumor microenvironment to reduce interstitial fluid pressure and increase drug delivery. To accomplish this goal, he utilizes gold nanomedicine carrying vascular disrupting agent (tumor necrosis factor-alpha) specifically targeting tumor cells and their blood supply in collaborating with extramural investigators. The current research aim is to understand how TNF-α works in the tumor microenvironment and how to induce the response downstream to TNF-α in tumors refractory to TNF-α.