Munjal Acharya

About

Munjal Acharya is an Associate Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine, with a joint appointment in Radiation Oncology. He is a member of the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Stem Cell Research Center. His research focuses on the neurobiological and cognitive effects of cancer treatments, including cranial radiation therapy, and the underlying mechanisms involved in cancer-related cognitive impairment. Acharya's work involves investigating neuroinflammation, neurotrophin signaling, and the role of immune checkpoints in neurocognitive functions. His contributions include exploring therapeutic strategies such as BDNF augmentation and microglial replacement to mitigate cognitive decline caused by cancer therapies and radiation exposure.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Neuroscience
• Cancer research
• Psychiatry
• Internal medicine
• Computer Science
• Biology
• Pathology
• Oncology
• Cell biology

Selected publications

• Hypofractionated FLASH-RT as an Effective Treatment against Glioblastoma that Reduces Neurocognitive Side Effects in Mice

  Clinical Cancer Research · 2020 · 325 citations

  PURPOSE: Recent data have shown that single-fraction irradiation delivered to the whole brain in less than tenths of a second using FLASH radiotherapy (FLASH-RT), does not elicit neurocognitive deficits in mice. This observation has important clinical implications for the management of invasive and treatment-resistant brain tumors that involves relatively large irradiation volumes with high cytotoxic doses. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Therefore, we aimed at simultaneously investigating the antitumor ef…

  DOI

• Neuroprotection of Radiosensitive Juvenile Mice by Ultra-High Dose Rate FLASH Irradiation

  Cancers · 2020 · 131 citations

  ) neurons and increased neuroinflammation, adverse effects that were not found with FLASH-RT. Our data point to a potentially innovative treatment modality that is able to spare, if not prevent, many of the side effects associated with long-term treatment that disrupt the long-term cognitive and emotional well-being of medulloblastoma survivors.

  DOI

• Human neural stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles mitigate hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease

  Alzheimer s Research & Therapy · 2021 · 101 citations

  BACKGROUND: Regenerative therapies to mitigate Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuropathology have shown very limited success. In the recent era, extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from multipotent and pluripotent stem cells have shown considerable promise for the treatment of dementia and many neurodegenerative conditions. METHODS: Using the 5xFAD accelerated transgenic mouse model of AD, we now show the regenerative potential of human neural stem cell (hNSC)-derived EVs on the neurocognitive and ne…

  DOI

• Immune and Inflammatory Determinants Underlying Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology

  Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology · 2020 · 56 citations

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Immune checkpoint inhibition perturbs neuro-immune homeostasis and impairs cognitive function

  Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research · 2025-07-02 · 7 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  BACKGROUND: Blockade of Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) and Programmed Cell Death Protein 1 (PD-1) significantly improves progression-free survival in patients with cancers, including melanoma. In addition to unleashing antitumor immunity, immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) therapies disrupt immune regulatory networks critical for maintaining homeostasis in various tissues, including the central nervous system (CNS). Despite growing reports of cancer- and ICI-related cogniti…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Charles L. Limoli

  University of California, Irvine

  101 shared

• Janet E. Baulch

  43 shared

• Erich Giedzinski

  40 shared

• Vipan K. Parihar

  28 shared

• Lori‐Ann Christie

  28 shared

• Leila Alikhani

  20 shared

• Katherine K. Tran

  University of California, Los Angeles

  20 shared

• Vincent J. Caiozzo

  University of California, Irvine

  19 shared

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