An Autonomous Body under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India

Faculty and Staff

Dr. Saptak Banerjee Senior Scientific Officer-II

Department: Cancer Research

Education

Academic Summary

  • Ph.D in Life Science (2009-2014), Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
  • DMRIT (2008), Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, India
  • M.Sc. in Biotechnology (2006), Bangalore University, Karnataka, India.
  • B.Sc in Biotechnology (2004), Bangalore University, Karnataka, India.

Contact details: Tel. 91-33-2476-5101 (ext-334).
Email: drsaptakbanerjee@gmail.com ; saptakbanerjee@cnci.ac.in



Professional Career

  • Senior Scientific Officer, Grade II (2018 to present) at Department of Cancer Chemoprevention, Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, West Bengal, India.
  • Scientist-C; Immunology; Non-medical (2016–2018) at National Institute of Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai, India. MRC-DBT Project:  Cambridge‐Chennai Centre Partnership on Antimicrobial Resistant Tuberculosis. Major field of research:  Imunophenotyping and Stimulation of T cells using peptides in Drug sensitive and Multidrug resistant TB patients.
  • Research Associate, Department of Immuno Biology-1, National Institute of Immunology (2015-2016), New Delhi, India. DBT funded project: To study the relative role of T cell intrinsic and extrinsic factors in Th1 and Th2 differentiation, survival and memory.” Major field of research: Studying survival and differentia of central and effective memory compartment and influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factor in it.

Academic Milestones achived:

Original Articles: 36

Total citations: 648

Citations since 2021: 397

h-index: 15

i10-index: 21

Book Chapter: 2


Membership:

·         IACR (Indian Association for Cancer Research) - LM-1031

·         AAISCR (American Association of Indian Scientists In Cancer Research) from 2023

·         EACR (European Association for Cancer Research) - EACR37905 (Till 26 May 2028)

·         ASCO (American Society for Clinical Oncology) – 7387395 (Till 31st March 2027)


Research Paper Published:

Google Scholar ID: cJ3wyucAAAAJ&hl

ORCiD ID: 0000-0001-9211-2074

Research ID: rid46886

Scopus ID: 50060932700

  • 1.      Tumor-educated-platelets interact with breast cancer-stem-cells via P-selectin-PSGL1 and ensure stemness and metastasis through WNT-β-catenin-VEGF-VEGFR2 intra-cellular signaling: therapeutic modulation by aspirin. Breast Cancer Research. 2025 December 15; 28 (15), doi.org/10.1186/s13058-025-02185-5. IF: 5.6; CItation Index: 1

 

2.      Trogocytosis at the crossroad of cancer and immunity: mechanisms, implications and therapeutic perspectives. Guha A, Banerjee S. Front. Cell Dev. Biol. 2025 October 17; 13, 20. doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2025.1676945. IF: 4.3; CItation Index: 4

 

3.      Notch signalling in T cells: bridging tumour immunity and intratumoral cellular crosstalk. Sultana J, Choudhury PR, Bera S, Chakravarti M, Guha A, Das P, Das J, Iyer GS, Sarkar A, Dhar S, Ganguly N, Baral R, Bose A, Banerjee S. Frontiers in Immunology. 2025 October 2; 16, 1-14. doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2025.1659614. IF: 5.9; CItation Index: 3

 

4.      Evolving Trends in Breast Cancer Immunotherapy: Recent Updates. Sultana J, Choudhury PR, Guha A, Das P, Bera S, Das J, Banerjee S. Journal of Current Oncological Trends. 2025 June; 2 (1), 51-64. DOI: 10.4103/JCOT.JCOT_19_24. IF: not given; CItation Index: Yet to site

 

5.      Neem Leaf Glycoprotein Disrupts Exhausted CD8+ T-Cell–Mediated Cancer Stem Cell Aggression. Chakravarti M, Bera S, Dhar S, Sarkar A, Choudhury PR, Ganguly N, Das J, Sultana J, Guha A, Biswas S, Das T, Hajra S, Banerjee S, Baral R, Bose A. Molecular Cancer Research. 2024 Aug 2; 22(8): 759–778. /doi.org/10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-23-0993. IF: 4.1; CItation Index: 1

 

6.      Neem leaf glycoprotein binding to Dectin-1 receptors on dendritic cell induces type-1 immunity through CARD9 mediated intracellular signal to NFκB. Ganguly N, Das T, Bhuniya A, Guha I, Chakravarti M, Dhar S, Sarkar A, Bera S, Dhar J, Dasgupta S, Saha A, Ghosh T, Das J, Sk UH, Banerjee S, Laskar S, Bose A, Baral R. Cell Commun Signal. 2024 Apr 23; 22(1):237. doi: 10.1186/s12964-024-01576-z. IF: 7.3; CItation Index: 4

 

7.      Das J, Bera S, Ganguly N, Guha I, Ghosh Halder T, Bhuniya A, Nandi P, Chakravarti M, Dhar S, Sarkar A, Das T, Banerjee S, Ghose S, Bose A, Baral R. The immunomodulatory impact of naturally derived neem leaf glycoprotein on the initiation progression model of 4NQO induced murine oral carcinogenesis: a preclinical study. Front Immunol (Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy). 2024 Mar 22;15:1325161. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1325161. IF: 7.3; CItation Index: Yet to site

 

8.      High monocytic MDSC signature predicts multi-drug resistance and cancer relapse in non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients treated with R-CHOP. Dhar S, Chakravarti M, Ganguly N, Saha A, Dasgupta S, Bera S, Sarkar A, Roy K, Das J, Bhuniya A, Ghosh S, Sarkar M, Hajra S, Banerjee S, Pal C, Saha B, Mukherjee KK, Baral R, Bose A. Front Immunol (Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy). 2024 Jan 18;14:1303959. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1303959. eCollection (Tumor Microenvironment and Hematological Malignancies: New Evidences and New Questions). IF: 7.3; CItation Index: 15

 

9.      Guha A, Goswami KK, Sultana J, Ganguly N, Choudhury PR, Chakravarti M, Bhuniya A, Sarkar A, Bera S, Dhar S, Das J, Das T, Baral R, Bose A, Banerjee S. Cancer stem cell–immune cell crosstalk in breast tumor microenvironment: a determinant of therapeutic facet. Front Immunol (Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy). 2023 Nov 27; 14:1245421. ISSN: 1664-3224. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1245421. eCollection (Reciprocal Crosstalk Between the Tumor Microenvironment and Cancer Stem Cells). IF: 7.3; Citation Index: 22

 

10.  Chakravarti M, Dhar S, Bera S, Sinha A, Roy K, Sarkar A, Dasgupta S, Bhuniya A, Saha A, Das J, Banerjee S, Vernekar M, Pal C, Alam N, Datta D, Baral R, Bose A. Terminally Exhausted CD8+ T Cells Resistant to PD-1 Blockade Promote Generation and Maintenance of Aggressive Cancer Stem Cells. Cancer Research, 2023: 83(11): 1815-1833. IF: 11.2; Citation Index: 24

 

11.  Bhuniya A, Sarkar A, Guha A, Choudhury PR, Bera S, Sultana J, Chakravarti M, Dhar S, Das J, Guha I, Ganguly N, Banerjee S, Bose A, Baral R. Tumor activated platelets induce vascular mimicry in mesenchymal stem cells and aid metastasis.Cytokine. 2022 Oct; 158:155998. DOI: 10.1016/j.cyto.2022.155998. Epub 2022 Aug 15. IF: 3.488; Citation Index: 14

 

12.  Dasgupta S, Saha A, Ganguly N, Bhuniya A, Dhar S, Guha I, Ghosh T, Sarkar A, Ghosh S, Roy K, Das T, Banerjee S, Pal C, Baral R, Bose A. NLGP regulates RGS5-TGFβ axis to promote pericyte-dependent vascular normalization during restricted tumor growth. The FASEB Journal. 2022 April; 26(5): e22268. doi: DOI: 10.1096/fj.202101093r. IF: 4.966; Citation Index: 8

 

13.  Goswami KK, Banerjee S, Bose A, Baral R. Lactic acid in alternative polarization and function of macrophages in tumor microenvironment. Human Immunol. 2022 March; In press, DOI: 10.1016/j.humimm.2022.02.007. IF: 2.85; Citation Index: 27

 

14.  Dasgupta S, Ghosh T, Dhar J, Bhuniya A, Nandi P, Das A, Saha A, Das J, Guha I, Banerjee S, Chakravarti M, Dasgupta PS, Alam N, Chakrabarti J, Majumdar S, Chakrabarti P, Storkus WJ, Baral R, Bose A. RGS5-TGFβ-Smad2/3 axis switches pro- to anti-apoptotic signaling in tumor-residing pericytes, assisting tumor growth. Cell Death Differ. 2021 Nov; 28(11):3052-3076. doi: 10.1038/s41418-021-00801-3. IF: 15.83; Citation Index: 38

 

  1. Sarkar M, Bhuniya A, Ghosh S, Sarkar A, Saha A, Dasgupta S, Bera S, Chakravarti M, Dhar S, Guha I, Ganguly N, Das T, Banerjee S, Pal S, Ghosh SK, Bose A, Baral R. Neem leaf glycoprotein salvages T cell functions from Myeloid-derived suppressor cells-suppression by altering IL-10/STAT3 axis in melanoma tumor microenvironment. (2021), Melanoma Res. 31(2):130-139. ISSN: 0960-8931. IF:2.750. Citation: 5

 

  1. Saha A, Nandi P, Dasgupta S, Bhuniya A, Ganguly N, Ghosh T, Guha I, Banerjee S, Baral R, Bose A. Neem Leaf Glycoprotein restrains VEGF production by direct modulation of HIF1α-linked upstream and downstream cascades. (2020), Front Oncol (Cancer Molecular Targets and Therapeutics), 10; 10:260. ISSN: 2234-943X, IF: 4.3; Citation Index: 11

 

  1. Bhuniya A, Guha I, Ganguly N, Saha A, Dasgupta S, Nandi P, Das A, Ghosh S, Ghosh T, Haque E, Banerjee S, Bose A, Baral R. (2020), NLGP Attenuates Murine Melanoma and Carcinoma Metastasis by Modulating Cytotoxic CD8+ T Cells. Front Oncol (Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy), 10; 10:201. ISSN: 2234-943X, IF: 4.3; Citation Index: 11

 

18.  Goswami KK, Sarkar M, Ghosh S, Saha A, Ghosh T, Guha I, Barik S, Banerjee S, Roy S, Bose A, Dasgupta P, Baral R. Neem leaf glycoprotein regulates function of tumor associated M2 macrophages in hypoxic tumor core: Critical role of IL-10/STAT3 signaling. Mol Immunol. 2016; 80:1-10. ISSN: 0161-5890, IF: 3.375. Citation: 35

 

19.  Barik S, Banerjee S, Sarkar M, Bhuniya A, Roy S, Bose A, Baral R. Neem leaf glycoprotein optimizes effector and regulatory functions within tumor microenvironment to intervene therapeutically the growth of B16 melanoma in C57BL/6 mice. Trials in Vaccinology; 2015, 4, e80-e87.; ISSN:1879-4378; IF: 0.157. Citation: 12.

 

20.  Banerjee S, Ghosh T, Barik S, Das A, Ghosh S, Bhuniya A, Bose A and Baral R. Neem leaf glycoprotein prophylaxis transduces immune dependent stop signal for tumor angiogenic switch within tumor microenvironment. PLoS One 2014; 9:e110040. ISSN: 1932-6203; IF: 3.730. Citation: 43

 

21.  Das A, Barik S, Banerjee S, Bose A, Sarkar K, Biswas J, Baral R, and Pal S. A monoclonal antibody against neem leaf glycoprotein recognizes carcinoembryonicantigen (CEA) and restricts cea expressing tumor growth. J Immunother 2014; 37: 394–406. ISSN: 1524-9557, IF: 3.463. Citation: 13

 

22.  Goswami KK, Barik S, Banerjee S, Bhowmick AK, Biswas J, Bose A, Baral R. Supraglottic laryngeal tumor microenvironmental factors facilitate STAT3 dependent pro-tumorigenic switch in tumor associated macrophages to render utmost immune evasion. Immunology Letters 2013; 156: 7-17. ISSN: 0165-2478; IF: 2.512. Citation: 17

 

23.  Barik S, Banerjee S, Mallick A, Goswami KK, Roy S, Bose A, Baral R. Normalization of tumor microenvironment by neem leaf glycoprotein potentiates effector t cell functions and therapeutically intervenes in the growth of mouse sarcoma. PLoS One 2013;8: e6650. ISSN: 1932-6203; IF: 3.730. Citation: 29.

 

24.  Roy S, Barik S, Banerjee S, Bhuniya A, Pal S, Basu P, Biswas J, Goswami S, Chakraborty T, Bose A, Baral R. Neem leaf glycoprotein overcomes indoleamine 2,3 dioxygenase mediated tolerance in dendritic cells by attenuating hyperactive regulatory T cells in cervical cancer stage IIIB patients. Human Immunology 2013; 74: 1015–1023. ISSN: 0198-8859; IF: 2.477. Citation: 50.

 

25.  Bose A, Barik S, Banerjee S, Ghosh T, Mallick A, Bhattacharyya Majumdar S, Goswami KK, Bhuniya A, Banerjee S, Baral R, Storkus WJ, Dasgupta PS, Majumdar S. Tumor-Derived Vascular Pericytes Anergize Th Cells. J Immunol. 2013; 191: 971-81. IF: 5.520. Citation: 85.

 

26.  Barik S, Bhuniya A, Banerjee S, Das A, Sarkar M, Paul T, Ghosh T, Ghosh S, Roy S, Pal S, Bose A, Baral R. Neem leaf glycoprotein is superior than Cisplatin and Sunitinib malate in restricting melanoma growth by normalization of tumor microenvironment. Int Immunopharmacology 2013; 17: 42–49. IF: 2.472. Citation: 12.

 

27.  Mallick A, Barik S, Goswami KK, Banerjee S, Ghosh S, Sarkar K, Bose A, Baral R. Neem leaf glycoprotein activates CD8+ T cells to promote therapeutic anti-tumor immunity inhibiting the growth of mouse sarcoma. PLoS One 2013; 8: e47434. ISSN: 1932-6203; IF: 3.730. Citation: 49.

 

28.  Mallick A, Ghosh S, Banerjee S, Majumder S, Das A, Mondal B, Barik S, Goswami KK, Pal S, Laskar S, Sarkar K, Bose A, Baral R. Neem Leaf Glycoprotein is nontoxic to physiological functions of Swiss mice and Sprague Dawley rats: Histological, biochemical and immunological perspectives. Int Immunopharmacol. 2013; 15: 73-83. IF: 2.472. Citation: 36

 

29.  Chakraborty T, Bose A, Barik S, Goswami KK, Banerjee S, Goswami S, Ghosh D, Roy S, Chakraborty K, Sarkar K, Baral R. Neem leaf glycoprotein inhibits CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Tregs to restrict murine tumor growth. Immunotherapy. 2011, 3:949-69. IF: 2.393. Citation: 34

 

Publication with collaboration

 

30.  Mechanistic understanding of Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome protein (WASp)-mediated epigenetic regulation of T helper cell differentiation in acute leukemia. R Pradeep, Rakshit S, Shanmugam G, Choudhary A, Ramesh R, Ramamoorthy JG, Gulati R, Amalnath D, Manivannan P, Kayal S, Banerjee S, Sarkar K. 3 Biotech 2025 August 18; 15, 302. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13205-025-04474-4. IF: 2.89. Citation: Yet to site

 

31.  Reprogrammed immuno-metabolic environment of cancer: the driving force of ferroptosis resistance. Bhowmick S, Banerjee S, Shridhar V, Mondal S. Molecular Cancer. 2025 June 3, 24(161); https://doi.org/10.1186/s12943-025-02337-3. IF: 33.9. Citation: 26

 

32.  Repurposing of dibucaine and niflumic acid as antimicrobial agents in combination with antibiotics against Staphylococcus aureus. Chakraborty J, Mondal R, Sultana J, Banerjee S, Mandal AK, Sarkar H. The Journal of Antibiotics. 77 (11); 746-756. 2024 November. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41429-024-00759-7, IF: 2.7. Citation: 5

 

33.  Das P, Sahu P, Behera PK, Sultana J, Banerjee S, Chandra SK, Dinda J. Synthesis, structural characterization, solid-state structures, and DNA binding studies of pseudo octahedral mercury(II)-N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) complex. Inorganica Chimica Acta. 2024. 565: 121961. IF: 2.8. Citation: 4.

 

34.  Mondal A, Behera S, Kisan HK, Isab AA, Chandra SK, Sultana J, Banerjee S, Dinda J. Synthesis, structures, electrochemical characterizations, theoretical and anticancer studies of Pd(II)-, Pt(II)- NHC complexes. Inorganica Chimica Acta. 2023. 559: 121796. IF: 2.8. Citation: 4

1    873 Pre-exposure of atorvastatin remedies hypercholesterolemia mediated intratumoral dendritic cell dysfunctions in triple negative breast cancer. Choudhury PR, Chakravarti M, Bera S, Sultana J, Ganguly N, Dhar S, Ghosh I, Guha A, Das J, Das P, Sarkar A, Baral R, Arora P, Banerjee S, Bose A. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer. 2025 November 4; Volume 13, Issue Suppl 2. https://doi.org/10.1136/jitc-2025-SITC2025.0873 . IF: 10.6; Citation Index: Yet to site. 

2    930 Intervention on intra-tumoral breast cancer stem cells and CD8+ T cell dysregulation: the impact of 2-deoxy-D-glucose. Sultana J, Guha A, Chakravarti M, Bera S, Choudhury PR, Dhar S, Sarkar A, Das J, Ganguly N, Alam N, Baral R, Bose A, Banerjee S. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer. 2024 November 5; volume 12, Issue Suppl 2. https://doi.org/10.1136/jitc-2024-SITC2024.0930. IF: 10.6; Citation Index: Yet to site.

    3        Evaluating interaction between tumor educated platelets and cancer stem cells on breast cancer subtypes. Guha A, Sultana J, Bhuniya A, Chakravarti M, Bera S, Sarkar A, Dhar S, Das J, Ganguly N, Das T, Alam N, Ghosh I, Hajra S, Bose A, Baral R, Banerjee S. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2025 June 10; 42 (23). DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2024.42.23_suppl.5 IF: 43; Citation Index: Yet to site.

 4        Tumor educated platelets promote disease advancement in breast cancer by interacting with cancer stem cells. A Guha, J Sultana, M Chakravarti, S Bera, S Dhar, A Sarkar, P Roychowdhury, N Ganguly, J Das, T Das, A Bose, R Baral, S Banerjee. ESMO Open. 78P. 2024 May 1, Volume 9, 103084, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esmoop.2024.103084 IF: 8.3; Citation Index: 1.

Book Chapter:

·         Barik S, Goswami KK, Mallick A, Banerjee S, Bose A, Baral R. Tumor and its Environment: Effort by Neem Leaf Glycoprotein to keep it Green. In: “Natural Products: Research Reviews” (Ed. V. K. Gupta) by Daya Publishing House, New Delhi, Vol 2, 2012, p51-82.

·    Choudhury PR, Chakravarti M, Banerjee S, Baral R, Bose A. B-cell editing: An emerging alternative of precision oncotherapy. In “Advances in Immunology,” Elsevier 2025:166:103-135. DOI: 10.1016/bs.ai.2024.10.002 Epub 2024 Oct 30.

 

Research Interest:        

  •      Understanding the metabolic regulation of Breast Cancer Stem Cells (BCSCs) and its impact on immune landscape.
  •     Understanding the importance of thrombocytosis on breast cancer detection and deciphering the differences between healthy and patient platelets and their role in disease progression.
  •        Influence of cardiovascular disease-linked statin(S) treatment on cancer immunoediting process and its modulation by NLGP.
  •      Analyzing the status of infiltrated macrophages and their effects on different breast cancer sub-types.

Extramural Projects:

Principal Investigator:

Elucidating the role of tumor educated platelets in promoting Epithelial to Mesenchymal transition and Angiogenesis in breast cancer: Modulation by 2DG/NLGP; CSIR-NET - Completed

Understanding the metabolic regulation of Breast cancer stem cells and its impact on immune landscape; ICMR - Completed

Understanding the influence of prolonged statin(s) treatment on cancer immunoediting process: Modulatory role of neem leaf glycoprotein; UGC-NET – Ongoing

Understanding the role of tumor-associated macrophages in the breast tumor microenvironment of different molecular sub-variants and their immunological impact on the disease progression; ICMR - Ongoing

Intramural Grant:

Repurposing of PGE2 inhibitors to target activated platelets to reduce drug resistance, immune suppression and tumor metastasis in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma; CNCI Intramural fund Ongoing

 Current Lab Members:

·         Ms. Jasmine Sultana (ICMR-SRF)

·         Ms. Pritha Roy Choudhury (NET-UGC SRF)

·         Mr. Prodipto Das (ICMR-Project Research Scientist-I)

·         Ms. Phalguni Chowdhury (NET-UGC JRF)


Alumni Members:

·         Ms. Aishwarya Guha (NET-CSIR)

We are looking for highly motivated future doctoral/postdoctoral fellows with own source of funding and interested in tumor immunology/cancer stem cell research/ EMT-Metastasis research. Interested scholars can mail me to drsaptakbanerjee@gmail.com or  saptakbanerjee@cnci.ac.in with your updated CV containing the names of three references along with a brief project proposal.