Awards & Publications

2024

Izadmehr S, Fernandez-Hernandez H, Wiredja D, Kirschenbaum A, Lee-Poturalski C, Tavassoli P, Yao S, Schlatzer D, Hoon D, Difeo A, Levine AC, Mosquera JM, Galsky MD, Cordon-Cardo C, Narla G. Cooperativity of c-MYC with Krüppel-Like Factor 6 Splice Variant 1 induces phenotypic plasticity and promotes prostate cancer progression and metastasis. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Feb 1:2024.01.30.577982. doi: 10.1101/2024.01.30.577982. PMID: 38352401

2023

Bustos MA, Yokoe T, Shoji Y, Kobayashi Y, Mizuno S, Murakami T, Zhang X, Sekhar SC, Kim S, Ryu S, Knarr M, Vasilev SA, DiFeo A, Drapkin R, Hoon DSB. MiR-181a targets STING to drive PARP inhibitor resistance in BRCA-mutated triple-negative breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Cell Biosci. 2023 Nov 6;13(1):200. doi: 10.1186/s13578-023-01151-y. PMID: 37932806

Centeno D, Farsinejad S, Kochetkova E, Volpari T, Klupczynska-Gabryszak A, Kung D, Polotaye T, Hyde E, Greenberg M, Pavlovic T, Alshehri S, Sullivan W, Plewa S, Vakifahmetoglu-Norberg H, Monsma FJ, Muller PAJ, Matysiak J, Zaborowski M, DiFeo A, Andres-Martin L, Norberg E, Iwanicki M. The nutritional supplement taurine activates p53-dependent and independent tumor suppressor mechanisms in various cellular models of ovarian cancer. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2023 Aug 26:2023.02.24.529893. doi: 10.1101/2023.02.24.529893. PMID: 36909636

Avelar RA, Armstrong AJ, Carvette G, Gupta R, Puleo N, Colina JA, Joseph P, Sobeck AM, O'Connor CM, Raines B, Gandhi A, Dziubinski ML, Ma DS, Resnick K, Singh S, Zanotti K, Nagel C, Waggoner S, Thomas DG, Skala SL, Zhang J, Narla G, DiFeo A. Small-Molecule-Mediated Stabilization of PP2A Modulates the Homologous Recombination Pathway and Potentiates DNA Damage-Induced Cell Death. Mol Cancer Ther. 2023 May 4;22(5):599-615. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-21-0880. PMID: 36788429

2022

Achreja A, Yu T, Mittal A, Choppara S, Animasahun O, Nenwani M, Wuchu F, Meurs N, Mohan A, Jeon JH, Sarangi I, Jayaraman A, Owen S, Kulkarni R, Cusato M, Weinberg F, Kweon HK, Subramanian C, Wicha MS, Merajver SD, Nagrath S, Cho KR, DiFeo A, Lu X, Nagrath D. Metabolic collateral lethal target identification reveals MTHFD2 paralogue dependency in ovarian cancer. Nat Metab. 2022 Sep;4(9):1119-1137. doi: 10.1038/s42255-022-00636-3. Epub 2022 Sep 21. PMID: 36131208

O'Connor CM, Taylor SE, Miller KM, Hurst L, Haanen TJ, Suhan TK, Zawacki KP, Noto FK, Trako J, Mohan A, Sangodkar J, Zamarin D, DiFeo A, Narla G. Targeting Ribonucleotide Reductase Induces Synthetic Lethality in PP2A-Deficient Uterine Serous Carcinoma. Cancer Res. 2022 Feb 15;82(4):721-733. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-21-1987. PMID: 34921012

2021

Huvila J, Cochrane DR, Ta M, Chow C, Greening K, Leung S, Karnezis AN, , Huntsman DG. STING pathway expression in low-grade serous carcinoma of the ovary: an unexpected therapeutic opportunity? J Pathol Clin Res. 2021 doi: 10.1002/cjp2.230. PMID: 34138519

Belur Nagaraj A, Knarr M, Sekhar S, Connor RS, Joseph P, Kovalenko O, Fleming A, Surti A, Nurmemmedov E, Beltrame L, Marchini S, Kahn M, DiFeo A . The miR-181a-SFRP4 axis regulates Wnt activation to drive stemness and platinum resistance in ovarian cancer. Cancer Res. 2021 doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-20-2041. PMID: 33574092.

Vincent J, Craig SEL, Johansen ML, Narla J, Avril S, DiFeo A, Brady-Kalnay SM. Detection of Tumor-Specific PTPmu in Gynecological Cancer and Patient Derived Xenografts. Diagnostics (Basel) 2021 Jan 27;11(2):181.

Lee RT, Yang P, Alahmadi A, McQuade J, Yuan E, DiFeo A, Narla G, Kaseb A. Mistletoe Extract Viscum Fraxini-2 for Treatment of Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Case Series. Case Rep Oncol. 2021 Mar 1;14(1):224-231. doi: 10.1159/000511566. PMID: 33776708; PMCID: PMC7983630.

2020

O'Connor CM, Leonard D, Wiredja D, Avelar RA, Wang Z, Schlatzer D, Bryson B, Tokala E, Taylor SE, Upadhyay A, Sangodkar J, Gingras AC, Westermarck J, Xu W, DiFeo A , Brautigan DL, Haider S, Jackson M, Narla G. Inactivation of PP2A by a recurrent mutation drives resistance to MEK inhibitors. Oncogene. 2020. doi: 10.1038/s41388-019-1012-2.

Knarr M, Kwiatkowski LJ, McAnulty J, Skala S, Arvil S, Drapkin R, DiFeo A  miR-181a initiates and perpetuates oncogenic transformation through the regulation of innate immune signaling. Nature Communications, Nat Commun. 2020 Jun 26;11(1):3231. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-17030-w.

Noto FK, Sangodkar J, Adedeji BT, Moody S, McClain CB, Tong M, Ostertag E, Crawford J, Gao X, Hurst L, O'Connor CM, Hanson EN, Izadmehr S, Tohmé R, Narla J, LeSueur K, Bhattacharya K, Rupani A, Tayeh MK, Innis JW, Galsky MD, Evers BM, DiFeo A, Narla G, Jamling TY. The SRG rat, a Sprague-Dawley Rag2/Il2rg double-knockout validated for human tumor oncology studies. PLoS One. 2020 Oct 7;15(10):e0240169.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0240169.

McAnulty J, DiFeo A. The Molecular 'Myc-anisms' Behind Myc-Driven Tumorigenesis and the Relevant Myc-Directed Therapeutics. Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Dec 13;21(24):E9486. doi: 10.3390/ijms21249486. PMID: 33322239.

2019

Belur Nagaraj, Joseph P, Ponting E, Fedorov Y, Singh S, Cole A, Lee W, Yoon E, Baccarini A, Scacheri P, Buckanovich R, Adams DJ, Drapkin R, Brown BD, DiFeo A. A miRNA-Mediated Approach to Dissect the Complexity of Tumor-Initiating Cell Function and Identify miRNA-Targeting Drugs. Stem Cell Reports. 2019 Jan 8;12(1):122-134.

Knarr M, Belur Nagaraj A, Kwiatkowski LJ and. miR-181a modulates circadian rhythm in immortalized bone marrow and adipose derived stromal cells and promotes differentiation through the regulation of PER3.  Sci Rep. 2019 Jan 22;9(1):307.

Belur Nagaraj A, Joseph, DiFeo A. Repurposed Drugs Trials for Ovarian Cancer. Cancer J. 2019;25(2):149-152.

DiFeo A. Repurposed Drugs Trials for Ovarian Cancer. Cancer J. 2019;25(2):149-152.

Taylor SE, O'Connor C, Wang Z, Shen G, Song H, Leonard D, Sangodkar J, LaVasseur C, Avril S, Waggoner S, Zanotti K, Armstrong AJ, Nagel C, Resnick K, Singh S, Jackson MW, Xu W, Haider D, and Narla G. The highly recurrent PP2A Aα-subunit mutation P179R alters protein structure and impairs PP2A enzyme function to promote endometrial tumorigenesis. Cancer Research doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-19-0218

Parasido E, Avetian G, Naeem A, Graham G, Pishvaian M, Glasgow E, Mudambi S, Lee Y, Ihemelandu C, Choudhry M, Peran I, Banerjee PP, Avantaggiati ML, Bryant K, Baldelli E, Pierobon M, Liotta L, Petricoin E, Fricke ST, Sebastian A, Cozzitorto J, Loots GG, Kumar D, Byers S, Londin E, , Narla G, Winter J, Brody JR, Rodriguez O, Albanese C. The sustained induction of c-Myc drives nab-paclitaxel resistance in primary pancreatic ductal carcinoma cells. Mol Cancer Res. 2019 doi: 10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-19-0191.

Shang S, Yang J, Jazaeri AA, Duval AJ, Tufan T, Lopes Fischer N, Benamar M, Guessous F, Lee I, Campbell RM, Ebert PJ, Abbas T, Landen CN, , Scacheri PC, Adli M. Chemotherapy-induced distal enhancers drive transcriptional program to maintain the chemoresistant state in ovarian cancer. Cancer Res. 2019; doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-19-0215.

O'Connor CM, Leonard D, Wiredja D, Avelar RA, Wang Z, Schlatzer D, Bryson B, Tokala E, Taylor SE, Upadhyay A, Sangodkar J, Gingras AC, Westermarck J, Xu W, , Brautigan DL, Haider S, Jackson M, Narla G. Inactivation of PP2A by a recurrent mutation drives resistance to MEK inhibitors. Oncogene. 2020. doi: 10.1038/s41388-019-1012-2.

2018

Collins GG, Mesiano S, & DiFeo A Effects of Metformin on Cellular Proliferation and Steroid Hormone Receptors in Patient-Derived, Low-Grade Endometrial Cancer Cell Lines. Reprod Sci. 2018:1933719118779734.

Belur Nagaraj A, Joseph P,  Kovalenko O,  Wang QQ,  Xu R, and DiFeo A. Evaluating class III antiarrhythmic agents as novel MYC targeting drugs in ovarian cancer. Gynecol Oncol. 2018, pii: S0090-8258(18)31238

Belur Nagaraj A, Kovalenko O, Avelar R, Joseph P, Brown A, Surti A, Mantilla S, DiFeo A Mitotic Exit dysfunction through the deregulation of APC/C characterizes cisplatin resistant state in epithelial ovarian cancer. Clinical Cancer Research 2018 Apr 13. pii: clincanres.2885.2017. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-17-2885. PMID:29653924

Morrow JJ, Bayles I, Funnell APW, Miller TE, Saiakhova A, Lizardo MM,Bartels CF, Kapteijn MY, Hung S, Mendoza A, Dhillon G, Chee DR, Myers JT, Allen F, Gambarotti M, Righi A, DiFeo A,Rubin BP, Huang AY, Meltzer PS, Helman LJ, Picci P, Versteeg H, Stamatoyannopolus J, Khanna C, Scacheri PC. Positively selected enhancer elements endow osteosarcoma cells with metastatic competence. Nat Med. 2018 Jan 15. doi: 10.1038/nm.4475.

McClinch K, Avelar RA, Callejas D, Izadmehr S, Wiredja D, Perl A, Sangodkar J, Kastrinsky DB, Schlatzer D, Cooper M, ...., DiFeo A, Ioannou YA, Ohlmeyer M, Narla G and Galsky MD Small molecule activators of protein phosphatase 2A for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer. Cancer Res. 2018 pii: canres.0123.2017

Noto FK, Adjan Steffey V, Tong M, Ravichandran K, Zhang W, Arey A, McClain CB, Ostertag E, Mazhar S, Sangodkar J, DiFeo A, Crawford J, Narla G, Jamling TY. Sprague Dawley Rag2 null rats created from engineered spermatogonial stem cells are immunodeficient and permissive to human xenografts. Mol Cancer Ther. 2018, pii: molcanther.0156.2018. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-18-0156.

2017

Nagaraj, A. B., et al. "Using a novel computational drug-repositioning approach (DrugPredict) to rapidly identify potent drug candidates for cancer treatment." Oncogene (2017).

Sangodkar J, Perl A, Tohme R, Kiselar J, Kastrinsky DB, Zaware N, Izadmehr S, Mazhar S, Wiredja DD, O'Connor CM, Hoon D, Dhawan NS, Schlatzer D, Yao S, Leonard D, Borczuk AC, Gokulrangan G, Wang L, Svenson E, Farrington CC, Yuan E, Avelar RA, Stachnik A, Smith B, Gidwani V, Giannini HM, McQuaid D, McClinch K, Wang Z, Levine AC, Sears RC, Chen EY, Duan Q, Datt M, Haider S, Ma'ayan A, DiFeo A, Sharma N, Galsky MD, Brautigan DL, Ioannou YA, Xu W, Chance MR, Ohlmeyer M, Narla G Activation of tumor suppressor protein PP2A inhibits KRAS-driven tumor growth. J Clin Invest. 2017 Jun 1;127(6):2081-2090. doi: 10.1172/JCI89548

Saygin C, Wiechert A, Rao VS, Alluri R, Connor E, Thiagarajan PS, Hale JS, Li Y, Chumakova A, Jarrar A, Parker Y, Lindner DJ, Nagaraj AB, Kim JJ, DiFeo A, Abdul-Karim FW, Michener C, Rose PG, DeBernardo R, Mahdi H, McCrae KR, Lin F, Lathia JD, Reizes O.CD55 regulates self-renewal and cisplatin resistance in endometriod tumors J Exp Med. 2017 Sep 4;214(9):2715-2732s

2016

Dimitrova, N., et al. "InFlo: a novel systems biology framework identifies cAMP-CREB1 axis as a key modulator of platinum resistance in ovarian cancer." Oncogene (2016).

Hudson CD, Savadelis A, Nagaraj AB, Joseph P, Avril S, DiFeo A et al. Altered glutamine metabolism in platinum resistant ovarian cancer. Oncotarget 2016.

Calura E, Paracchini L, Fruscio R, DiFeo A, Ravaggi A, Peronne J, Martini P, Sales G, Beltrame L, Bignotti E, Tognon G, Milani R, Clivio L, Dell'Anna T, Cattoretti G, Katsaros D, Sartori E, Mangioni C, Ardighieri L, D'Incalci M, Marchini S, Romualdi C.  A prognostic regulatory pathway in stage I epithelial ovarian cancer: new hints for the poor prognosis assessment. Ann Oncol. 2016 Aug;27(8):1511-9

Wiechert A, Saygin C, Thiagarajan PS, Rao V, Hale JS, Gupta N, Hitomi M,  Nagaraj AB, DiFeo A, Lathia JD, Reizes O Cisplatin induces stemness in ovarian cancer. Oncotarget. 2016;7(21):30511-22. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.8852

Petrillo M, Zannoni G, Beltrame L, Martinelli E, DiFeo A, Paracchini L, Craparotta I, Mannarino L, Vizzielli G, Scambia G, D'Incalci M, Romualdi C, Marchini S Identification of high-grade serous ovarian cancer miRNA species associated with survival and drug response in patients receiving neo-adjuvant chemotherapy: a retrospective longitudinal analysis using matched tumor biopsies. Ann Oncol. 2016 Jan 17. pii: mdw007