Nagireddy Putluri, Ph.D

Professor

Email

putluri@bcm.edu

Positions

Professor: Molecular and Cellular Biology
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas, United States

Education

PhD from Indian Institute Of Chemical Technology-IICT: 01/2007 - Hyderabad, AP, India; Analytical Chemistry-Mass Spectrometry, Metabolomics, Proteomics

MS from Osmania University: 07/2001 - HYDERABAD, AP, India; ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

BS from Osmania University: 06/1998 - HYDERABAD, AP, India

Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, LSU: 07/2007 - Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States; Proteomics

Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Medical College of Georgia: 01/2009 - Augusta, Georgia, United States; Metabolomics

Professional Statement

My research is centered on leveraging advanced mass spectrometry technologies to investigate metabolic reprogramming in cancer development and progression. I have established a robust and independent research program with a particular focus on bladder cancer. My team has identified key metabolic alterations associated with tobacco smoking and health disparities, and more recently, elucidated the role of oncogenic signaling pathways in driving bladder cancer progression. These studies have culminated in several impactful publications in high-profile journals, including Nature Communications (2024), JCI Insight (2024), Oncogene (2020), Clinical Cancer Research (2019), European Urology Focus (2017), Oncotarget (2017), and The Journal of Urology (2016). I maintain active collaborations with clinicians to translate these findings into meaningful advances in biomarker discovery and clinical applications. Since joining Baylor College of Medicine as Director of the Cancer Metabolomics Core, I have led the strategic development and expansion of a state-of-the-art metabolomics infrastructure. Originally launched as an institutional core, the facility has since evolved into a Texas Medical Center-wide service unit, supporting investigators across a broad spectrum of research areas. I have developed and implemented a comprehensive suite of mass spectrometry-based platforms, including targeted metabolite profiling, untargeted global metabolomics, lipidomics, and more recently, in vitro metabolic flux analysis.
These integrated platforms enable high-resolution, quantitative interrogation of metabolic pathways, contributing to a deeper understanding of cancer biology and metabolic disease. My work has contributed to numerous high-impact publications in leading journals such as Cell (2014), Science (2018), Nature (2017, 2018), Journal of Clinical Investigation (2014, 2015, 2017), Cell Metabolism (2017), and Cancer Research (2011, 2016).
Through both my research and leadership, I remain committed to bridging basic and translational science with the ultimate goal of identifying metabolic vulnerabilities and developing innovative strategies for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy.

Websites

VIICTR Publications List

Cancer Metabolomics

Putluri Lab Website

Selected Publications

Kornberg MD, Bhargava P, Kim PM, Putluri V, Snowman AM, Putluri N, Calabresi PA, Snyder SH.. " Dimethyl fumarate targets GAPDH and aerobic glycolysis to modulate immunity. " Science. 2018 Apr 27; 360 (6387) : 449-453.
Pubmed PMID: 29599194.
Vantaku V, Amara CS, Piyarathna DWB, Donepudi SR, Ambati CR, Putluri V, Tang W, Rajapakshe K, Estecio MR, Terris MK, Castro PD, Ittmann MM, Williams SB, Lerner SP, Sreekumar A, Bollag R, Coarfa C, Kornberg MD, Lotan Y, Ambs S, Putluri N.. " DNA methylation patterns in bladder tumors of African American patients point to distinct alterations in xenobiotic metabolism. " Carcinogenesis. 2019 ;
Pubmed PMID: 31284295.
Zhang X, Wang X, Wang XQD, Su J, Putluri N, Zhou T, Qu Y, Jeong M, Guzman A, Rosas C, Huang YN, Sreekumar A, Li W, Goodell MA. " Dnmt3a loss and Idh2 neomorphic mutations mutually potentiate malignant hematopoiesis. " Blood. 2020 ;
Pubmed PMID: 31932841.
Dasgupta S, Rajapakshe K, Zhu B, Nikolai BC, Yi P, Putluri N, Choi JM, Jung SY, Coarfa C, Westbrook TF, Zhang XH, Foulds CE, Tsai SY, Tsai MJ, O'Malley BW.. " Metabolic enzyme PFKFB4 activates transcriptional coactivator SRC-3 to drive breast cancer. " Nature. 2018 Apr 3; 556 (7700) : 249-254.
Pubmed PMID: 29615789.
Vareed SK, Bhat VB, Thompson C, Vasu VT, Fermin D, Choi H, Creighton CJ, Gayatri S, Lan L, Putluri N, Thangjam GS, Kaur P, Shabahang M, Giri JG, Nesvizhskii AI, Asea AA, Cashikar AG, Rao A, McLoughlin J, Sreekumar A. " Metabolites of Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase (NP) in Serum Have the Potential to Delineate Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma. " PLoS ONE. 2011 ; 6 (3) : e17177.
Pubmed PMID: 21448452.
Kaushik AK, Vareed SK, Basu S, Putluri V, Putluri N, Panzitt K, Brennan CA, Chinnaiyan AM, Vergara IA, Erho N, Weigel NL, Mitsiades N, Shojaie A, Palapattu G, Michailidis G, Sreekumar A. " Metabolomic Profiling Identifies Biochemical Pathways Associated with Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer " J Proteome Res. 2013 ;
Pubmed PMID: 24359151.
Putluri N, Shojaie A, Vasu VT, Nalluri S, Vareed SK, Putluri V, Vivekanandan-Giri A, Byun J, Pennathur S, Sana TR, Fischer SM, Palapattu GS, Creighton CJ, Michailidis G, Sreekumar A. " Metabolomic profiling reveals a role for androgen in activating amino Acid metabolism and methylation in prostate cancer cells. " PLoS ONE. 2011 ; 6 (7) : e21417.
Pubmed PMID: 21789170.
Putluri N, Shojaie A, Vasu VT, Vareed SK, Nalluri S, Putluri V, Thangjam GS, Panzitt K, Tallman CT, Butler C, Sana TR, Fischer SM, Sica G, Brat DJ, Shi H, Palapattu GS, Lotan Y, Weizer AZ, Terris MK, Shariat SF, Michailidis G, Sreekumar A.. " Metabolomic Profiling Reveals Impaired Detoxification Mechanism in Bladder Cancer " Cancer Research. 2011 Oct ;
Pubmed PMID: 21990318.
Bader DA, Hartig SM, Putluri V, Foley C, Hamilton MP, Smith EA, Saha PK, Panigrahi A, Walker C, Zong L, Martini-Stoica H, Chen R, Rajapakshe K, Coarfa C, Sreekumar A, Mitsiades N, Bankson JA, Ittmann MM, O'Malley BW, Putluri N, McGuire SE. " Mitochondrial pyruvate import is a metabolic vulnerability in androgen receptor-driven prostate cancer. " Nature Metabolism. 2019 ;
Pubmed PMID: 31198906.
Vantaku V, Dong J, Ambati CR, et. al... Coarfa C, Putluri N. " Multi-omics Integration Analysis Robustly Predicts High-Grade Patient Survival and Identifies CPT1B Effect on Fatty Acid Metabolism in Bladder Cancer. " Clinical Cancer Research. 2019 ;
Pubmed PMID: 30846479.
Terunuma, A. Putluri, N. Sreekumar, A. and Ambs, S. " MYC-driven 2-Hydroxyglutarate Associates with Poor Prognosis in Breast Cancer " J Clin Invest. 2014 Jan ; 124 : 398-412.
Pubmed PMID: 24316975.
Dey P et. al.... DePinho RA. " Oncogenic Kras driven metabolic reprogramming in pancreas cancer cells utilizes cytokines from the tumor microenvironment. " Cancer Discovery. 2020 Feb ;
Pubmed PMID: 32046984.
Hu Q, et. al........Yang L.. " Oncogenic lncRNA downregulates cancer cell antigen presentation and intrinsic tumor suppression. " Nature Immunology. 2019 ;
Pubmed PMID: 1160797.
Putluri N, Maity S, Kommangani R, Creighton CJ, Putluri V, Chen F, Nanda S, Bhowmik SK, Terunuma A, Dorsey T, Nardone A, Fu X, Shaw C, Sarkar TR, Schiff R, Lydon JP, O'Malley BW, Ambs S, Das GM, Michailidis G, Sreekumar A. " Pathway-centric integrative analysis identifies RRM2 as a prognostic marker in breast cancer associated with poor survival and tamoxifen resistance. " Neoplasia. 2014 May ; 16 (5) : 390-402.
Pubmed PMID: 25016594.
Scherp P, Putluri N, LeBlanc GJ, Wang ZQ, Zhang XH, Yu Y, Ribnicky D, Cefalu WT, Kheterpal I. " Proteomic analysis reveals cellular pathways regulating carbohydrate metabolism that are modulated in primary human skeletal muscle culture due to treatment with bioactives from Artemisia dracunculus L " J Proteomics. 2012 ;
Pubmed PMID: 22480907.
Scherp P, Putluri N, Leblanc GJ, Wang ZQ, Zhang XH, Yu Y, Ribnicky D, Cefalu WT, Kheterpal I. " Proteomic analysis reveals cellular pathways regulating carbohydrate metabolism that are modulated in primary human skeletal muscle culture due to treatment with bioactives from Artemisia dracunculus L. " J Proteomics. 2012 Jun 18; 75 (11) : 3199-210.
Pubmed PMID: 22480907.
Stashi E, Lanz RB, Mao J, Michailidis G, Zhu B, Kettner NM, Putluri N, Reineke EL, Reineke LC, Dasgupta S, Dean A, Stevenson CR, Sivasubramanian N, Sreekumar A, Demayo F, York B, Fu L, O'Malley BW. " SRC-2 Is an Essential Coactivator for Orchestrating Metabolism and Circadian Rhythm " Cell Rep. 2014 Feb ;
Pubmed PMID: 24529706.
Andreas Martin Lisewski, Joel P. Quiros, et. al. " Supergenomic Network Compression and the Discovery of EXP1 as a Glutathione Transferase Inhibited by Artesunate. " cell. 2014 Aug ;
Amara CS, Kami Reddy KR, et al.. Msaouel P, Kavuri SM, Putluri N.. " The IL6/JAK/STAT3 signaling axis is a therapeutic vulnerability in SMARCB1-deficient bladder cancer " Nature Communication. 2024 Feb 14;
Pubmed PMID: 38355560.

Memberships

Sigma Xi: Active Member (01/2010)

American Association for Cancer Research (AACR): Associate Member (01/2009)

American Society of Mass Spectrometry: Member (01/2007)

American Urological Association - AUA: Member (01/2017)

Funding

Elucidating the Role of Xenobiotic Metabolism in Bladder Cancer Progression: $796,000.00 (07/01/2015 - 06/30/2019); Grant funding from American Cancer Society

RACIAL DISPARITY IN BLADDER CANCER AND IDENTIFICATION OF ALTERED METABOLISM IN AFRICAN AMERICAN COMPARE TO EUROPEAN BLADDER CANCER #R01CA220297: $1,819,903.00 (06/05/2017 - 06/05/2022); Grant funding from National Cancer Institute/NIH

IDENTIFY THE DNA ADDUCT AND ASSOCIATED METABOLIC ALTERATIONS IN BLADDER CANCER OF SMOKERS #RO1CA216426: $1,980,358.00 (04/01/2018 - 03/31/2023); Grant funding from National Cancer Institute/NIH