Leticia Salvador Vieira is the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Highlighted Trainee Author for the December 2023 issue. Ms. Vieira is a PhD candidate in the Department of Pharmaceutics at the University of Washington. Her mentor is Dr. Joanne Wang. The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics article that earned her selection as a Highlighted Trainee Author is titled “The Plasma Membrane Monoamine Transporter (PMAT) is Highly Expressed in Neuroblastoma and Functions as an mIBG Transporter” and is available at https://doi.org/10.1124/jpet.123.001672
Ms. Vieira’s area of research concerns the roles of drug transporters - in particular, the polyspecific organic cation transporters - in cancer drug targeting, xenobiotics disposition, and renal drug-drug interactions. In her article, Leticia and her co-authors identified that PMAT is a novel transporter highly expressed in neuroblastoma (a childhood neuroendocrine tumor). Its expression level is associated with overall survival rate in high-risk patients without MYCN oncogene amplification. Additionally, their research revealed that PMAT is expressed intracellularly in neuroblastoma cells, transports the theranostic agent mIBG, and thus could impact tumor retention and response to 131I-mIBG therapy.
The anticipated impact of Ms. Vieira's research is to improve the understanding of drug transporters and how they can impact not only systemic exposure but also healthy tissue and tumor disposition of drugs such as mIBG. The findings from this research have important clinical implications as PMAT could represent a novel molecular marker in neuroblastoma to help inform disease prognosis and predict tumor response to 131I-mIBG therapy.
Outside of the lab, Leticia enjoys cooking and traveling. She also enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, swimming, and playing basketball.