Mammals exhibit different rates of metastasis, which interestingly correlates with the subtype of placentation during pregnancy. Based on these, and many other evidence, we are advancing a new paradigm of cancer metastasis called: Evolved Levels of Invasability (ELI) suggesting that stromal resistance (or assistance) to cancer invasion is evolutionarily derived.

This paradigm presents a roadmap to observe the stromal compartment in cancer as a crucial player in regulating cancer phenotypes, as well as providing new avenues to understand and target cancer dissemination and metastasis.

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Kshitiz^±, Afzal J, Suhail Y, Chang H, Hubbi ME, Hamidzadeh A, Goyal R, Liu Y, Sun P, Dang CV^±, Levchenko A^± (2022), Lactate-dependent chaperone-mediated autophagy induces oscillatory HIF-1a activity promoting proliferation of hypoxic cells, Cell Systems, Accepted. ±: Corresponding Authors Article

Liu S, Suhail Y, Novin A, Perpetua L, Kshitiz (2022). Metastatic transition of pancreatic ductal cell adenocarcinoma is accompanied by the emergence of pro-invasive cancer associated fibroblasts, Cancers, 14(9), 2197. Article

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Suhail Y, Afzal J, Kshitiz (2021). Incorporating and addressing testing bias within estimates of epidemic dynamics for SARS-Cov-2, BMC Medical Research Methodology, 21(1). Article

Suhail Y, Upadhyay M, Chhibber A, Kshitiz (2020). Machine Learning for the Diagnosis of Orthodontic Extractions: A Computational Analysis Using Ensemble Learning, Bioengineering, 7(2), 55. Article

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Kshitiz, Afzal J, Kim SY, Kim DH (2014). A nanotopography approach for studying the structure-function relationship of cells and tissues, Cell Adhesion & Migration, 8(4). Article

Kshitiz, Afzal J, Kim DH, Levchenko A (2014). Mechanotransduction via p190RhoGAP regulates a switch between cardiomyogenic and endothelial lineages in adult cardiac progenitors, Stem Cells,  32(8), 1999-2007.  Article

Suhail Y*, Kshitiz*, Lee J, Walker M, Kim DH, Brennan MD, Bader JS, Levchenko A (2013). Modeling intercellular transfer of biomolecules through tunneling nanotubes, Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 75(8), 1400-1416. Article

Chaturvedi P, Gilkes DM, Wong CC, Kshitiz, Luo W, Zhang H, Wei H, Takano N, Schito L, Levchenko A, Semenza GL. (2013). Hypoxia-inducible factor-dependent breast cancer-mesenchymal stem cell bidirectional signaling promotes metastasis, Journal of Clinical Investigations, 123(1):189-205. Article

Kshitiz*, Hubbi ME*, Ahn EH, Downey J, Kim DH, Rey S, Kundu A, Semenza GL, Abraham RM, Levchenko, A. (2012). Matrix rigidity coordinates the proliferation, differentiation, and morphogenesis of endothelial cells derived from cardiac progenitors, Science Signaling, 5(227):ra41. (Featured as a Article, Highlighted in Science). Article

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Kshitiz, Kim DH, Beebe D, Levchenko A. (2011). Micro- and nanoengineering for stem cell biology: the promise with a caution, Trends in Biotechnology, 29(8):399-408. Article

Gupta K, Kim DH, Ellison D, Smith C, Kundu A, Tuan J, Suh KY, Levchenko A. (2011). Lab-on- a-chip devices as an emerging platform for stem cell biology, Lab on a Chip, 10(16):2019-31. Article

Gupta K*, Sehgal V*, Levchenko A. (2008). A method for probabilistic mapping between protein structure and function taxonomies through cross training, BMC Structural Biology, 8:40. Article