Program Leaders
Mission Statement
The mission of the Cancer Biology Program is to provide basic discoveries that lead to new approaches and identify novel targets for treating and preventing cancer.
Specific Aims: The overarching goal of the Cancer Biology Program is to improve understanding of the biochemical, molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying tumor development, progression and metastasis. To achieve this goal, research in the Cancer Biology Program has the following aims:
- Aim 1: Delineate molecular mechanisms that drive the development and progression of cancer.
- Aim 2: Define contributions of stromal-tumor cell interaction in determining tumor behavior and patient response to therapy.
- Aim 3: Understand the mechanisms that suppress tumor immune responses and potential approaches to overcome immune suppression.
Primary Areas of Research
Cancer Initiation and Malignancy
Determine the cellular processes that contribute to the malignant transformation, growth, and metastasis of cells.
Tumor Microenvironment
Determine the cellular processes that contribute to the malignant transformation, growth, and metastasis of cells.
Tumor Immune Response
Understand interactions between cancer cells and stromal components of tumors that affect cancer growth and metastasis and how they can be targeted to inhibit growth.
Featured Publications
Thompson MD, Byrd AK. Untargeted CUT&Tag reads are enriched at accessible chromatin and restrict identification of potential G4-forming sequences in G4-targeted CUT&Tag experiments. Nucleic acids research. 2025 Jul;53(14). doi: 10.1093/nar/gkaf678. PMID: 40682824; PMCID: PMC12276005.
West KL, Nguyen TTN, Tengler KA, Kreiling N, Raney KD, Ghosal G, Leung JW. Autophosphorylation of the Tousled-like kinases TLK1 and TLK2 regulates recruitment to damaged chromatin via PCNA interaction. Nucleic acids research. 2025 Feb;53(4). doi: 10.1093/nar/gkae1279. PMID: 39727191; PMCID: PMC11879137.
Owens SM, Sifford JM, Li G, Murdock SJ, Salinas E, Oldenburg D, Ghosh D, Stumhofer JS, Nookaew I, Manzano M, Forrest JC. Intrinsic p53 activation restricts gammaherpesvirus driven germinal center B cell expansion during latency establishment. Nature communications. 2025 Jan;16(1):951. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-56247-5. PMID: 39843898; PMCID: PMC11754798.
Kaur J, Adhikari M, Sabol HM, Anloague A, Khan S, Kurihara N, Diaz-delCastillo M, Andreasen CM, Barnes CL, Stambough JB, Palmieri M, Reyes-Castro O, Zarrer J, Taipaleenmäki H, Ambrogini E, Almeida M, O’Brien C, Nookaew I, Delgado-Calle J. Single-Cell Transcriptomic Analysis Identifies Senescent Osteocytes That Trigger Bone Destruction in Breast Cancer Metastasis. Cancer research. 2024 Dec;84(23):3936-3952. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-24-0857. PMID: 39312185; PMCID: PMC11611663.
Leung YK, Lee SG, Wang J, Guruvaiah P, Rusch NJ, Ho SM, Park C, Kim K. The Loss of an Orphan Nuclear Receptor NR2E3 Augments Wnt/β-catenin Signaling via Epigenetic Dysregulation that Enhances Sp1-β catenin-p300 Interactions in Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany). 2024 Aug;11(29):e2308539. doi: 10.1002/advs.202308539. PMID: 38790135; PMCID: PMC11304255.
Gao J, Proffitt DR, Marecki JC, Protacio RU, Wahls WP, Byrd AK, Raney KD. Two residues in the DNA binding site of Pif1 helicase are essential for nuclear functions but dispensable for mitochondrial respiratory growth. Nucleic acids research. 2024 Jun;52(11):6543-6557. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkae403. PMID: 38752483; PMCID: PMC11194084.
Sun F, Cheng Y, Wanchai V, Guo W, Mery D, Xu H, Gai D, Siegel E, Bailey C, Ashby C, Al Hadidi S, Schinke C, Thanendrarajan S, Ma Y, Yi Q, Orlowski RZ, Zangari M, van Rhee F, Janz S, Bishop G, Tricot G, Shaughnessy JD Jr, Zhan F. Bispecific BCMA/CD24 CAR-T cells control multiple myeloma growth. Nature communications. 2024 Jan;15(1):615. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-44873-4. PMID: 38242888; PMCID: PMC10798961.
Cheng Y, Sun F, Alapat DV, Wanchai V, Mery D, Guo W, Cao H, Zhu Y, Ashby C, Bauer MA, Nookaew I, Siegel ER, Ying J, Chen JR, Gai D, Peng B, Xu H, Bailey C, Al Hadidi S, Schinke C, Thanendrarajan S, Zangari M, Chesi M, Bergsagel PL, van Rhee F, Janz S, Tricot G, Shaughnessy JD Jr, Zhan F. High NEK2 expression in myeloid progenitors suppresses T cell immunity in multiple myeloma. Cell reports. Medicine. 2023 Oct;4(10):101214. doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2023.101214. PMID: 37794587; PMCID: PMC10591052.
Gai D, Chen JR, Stewart JP, Nookaew I, Habelhah H, Ashby C, Sun F, Cheng Y, Xu H, Peng B, Garg TK, Schinke C, Thanendrarajan S, Zangari M, Chen F, Barlogie B, van Rhee F, Tricot G, Shaughnessy JD Jr, Zhan F. CST6 suppresses osteolytic bone disease in multiple myeloma by blocking osteoclast differentiation. The Journal of clinical investigation. 2022 Sep;132(18). doi: 10.1172/JCI159527. PMID: 35881476; PMCID: PMC9479617.
Sabol HM, Ferrari AJ, Adhikari M, Amorim T, McAndrews K, Anderson J, Vigolo M, Lehal R, Cregor M, Khan S, Cuevas PL, Helms JA, Kurihara N, Srinivasan V, Ebetino FH, Boeckman RK, Roodman GD, Bellido T, Delgado-Calle J. Targeting Notch Inhibitors to the Myeloma Bone Marrow Niche Decreases Tumor Growth and Bone Destruction without Gut Toxicity. Cancer research. 2021 Oct;81(19):5102-5114. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-21-0524. PMID: 34348968; PMCID: PMC8488008.
Ketkar A, Smith L, Johnson C, Richey A, Berry M, Hartman JH, Maddukuri L, Reed MR, Gunderson JEC, Leung JWC, Eoff RL. Human Rev1 relies on insert-2 to promote selective binding and accurate replication of stabilized G-quadruplex motifs. Nucleic acids research. 2021 Feb;49(4):2065-2084. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkab041. PMID: 33555350; PMCID: PMC7913688.
Edwards AD, Marecki JC, Byrd AK, Gao J, Raney KD. G-Quadruplex loops regulate PARP-1 enzymatic activation. Nucleic acids research. 2021 Jan;49(1):416-431. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkaa1172. PMID: 33313902; PMCID: PMC7797039.
Meeting Time and Location
The Cancer Biology Program meets monthly on the 4th Tuesday at 4:00pm in the Betsy Blass Conference Room on the 10th floor of the Cancer Institute.