Kirsten H Limesand, PhD

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Professor, Nutritional Sciences
Biography
Kirsten H. Limesand earned her BS in Microbiology from North Dakota State University and her PhD in Microbiology with an emphasis in Virology from Colorado State University. She then completed post-doctoral training at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center where she first began her work on the regulation of apoptosis in salivary glands exposed to different damaging agents. In 2005, she was hired as an Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2011 and Full Professor in 2015.
Cancer Focus
Radiotherapy for head and neck cancer causes adverse secondary side effects in the normal salivary gland including xerostomia, oral mucositis, and malnutrition resulting in diminished quality of life for these individuals. Our overall vision is to restore salivary gland function in patients following radiotherapy by identifying healing stages in salivary glands that lead to the stratification and administration of precise therapeutics for their stage. Our approach to this framework involves understanding the response of endogenous cells within experimental models of radiation damage compared to models where we can reverse hypofunction. These studies have the potential to find new therapies to restore salivary gland function to patients with chronic dry mouth.
Selected Publications
Gilman, K. E., J. M. Camden, R. R. Klein, Q. Zhang, G. A. Weisman, and K. H. Limesand, "P2X7 receptor deletion suppresses γ-radiation-induced hyposalivation.", Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol, vol. 316, issue 5, pp. R687-R696, 2019 05 01. PMCID: PMC6589606 PMID: 30892913
Jensen, S. Beier, A. Vissink, K. H. Limesand, and M. E. Reyland, "Salivary Gland Hypofunction and Xerostomia in Head and Neck Radiation Patients.", J Natl Cancer Inst Monogr, vol. 2019, issue 53, 2019 08 01. PMID: 31425600
Chibly, A. M., W. Yu Wong, M. Pier, H. Cheng, Y. Mu, J. Chen, S. Ghosh, and K. H. Limesand, "aPKCζ-dependent Repression of Yap is Necessary for Functional Restoration of Irradiated Salivary Glands with IGF-1.", Sci Rep, vol. 8, issue 1, pp. 6347, 2018 04 20. PMCID: PMC5910385 PMID: 29679075
H Lin, H., Y. Chung, C-T. Cheng, C. Ouyang, Y. Fu, C-Y. Kuo, K. K. Chi, M. Sadeghi, P. Chu, H-J. Kung, et al., "Autophagic reliance promotes metabolic reprogramming in oncogenic KRAS-driven tumorigenesis.", Autophagy, vol. 14, issue 9, pp. 1481-1498, 2018. PMCID: PMC6135591 PMID: 29956571
Wong, W. Yu, M. Pier, and K. H. Limesand, "Persistent disruption of lateral junctional complexes and actin cytoskeleton in parotid salivary glands following radiation treatment.", Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol, vol. 315, issue 4, pp. R656-R667, 2018 10 01. PMCID: PMC6230885 PMID: 29897817