Gustavo W. Leone, PhD

Professor; Director, MCW Cancer Center; Senior Associate Dean of Cancer Research

Locations

CCC C5317

Contact Information

gleone@mcw.edu

Education

Post-doctoral Training, Duke University Medical Center, 1994-1998
PhD, Virology, University of Calgary, 1994
BS, Biochemistry, University of Calgary, 1988

Biography

Gustavo W. Leone, PhD, started in his role as Director of the MCW Cancer Center, Senior Associate Dean of Cancer Research, and Professor of Biochemistry on April 15, 2020. Prior to his arrival at MCW, Dr. Leone served as the Director of the NCI-designated Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina from March 2017 to April 2020. Dr. Leone’s past research includes graduate work in biochemical and biophysical approaches to study protein function and virology (reovirus), with a specific emphasis on mechanisms of viral mediated entry into host cells. As a postdoctoral fellow at Duke University, he had the seminal finding linking Cyclin Dependent Kinases to the control of E2F transcription factors and regulation of the cell cycle.

Research Interests

Currently, Dr. Leone has an active research program that utilizes genetic models (cell-based systems, worms, and mice) to study Rb/E2F & PTEN signaling in the context of cell cycle control, endoreduplication, developmental biology and cancer (endometrial, liver, pancreatic, and breast cancers), as well as the genetics and biology of PTEN and the tumor microenvironment. Dr. Leone’s research group has made seminal contributions in two broad areas of research, one in the role of the Rb/E2F pathway in development and cancer, and the other in signaling between cells within the tumor microenvironment.

Non-phosphorylatable cyclin D1 mutant potentiates endometrial hyperplasia and drives carcinoma with Pten loss.

(Yoshida A, Phillips-Mason P, Tarallo V, Avril S, Koivisto C, Leone G, Diehl JA.) Oncogene. 2022 04;41(15):2187-2195 PMID: 35210557 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85125132416 02/26/2022
RNA-binding protein FXR1 drives cMYC translation by recruiting eIF4F complex to the translation start site.

(George J, Li Y, Kadamberi IP, Parashar D, Tsaih SW, Gupta P, Geethadevi A, Chen C, Ghosh C, Sun Y, Mittal S, Ramchandran R, Rui H, Lopez-Berestein G, Rodriguez-Aguayo C, Leone G, Rader JS, Sood AK, Dey M, Pradeep S, Chaluvally-Raghavan P.) Cell Rep. 2021 11 02;37(5):109934 PMID: 34731628 PMCID: PMC8675433 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85118477211 11/04/2021
Protein Phosphatase 2A Activation Via ApoER2 in Trophoblasts Drives Preeclampsia in a Mouse Model of the Antiphospholipid Syndrome.

(Chu H, Sacharidou A, Nguyen A, Li C, Chambliss KL, Salmon JE, Shen YM, Lo J, Leone GW, Herz J, Hui DY, Marciano DK, Abrahams VM, Natale BV, Montalbano AP, Xiao X, Xu L, Natale DR, Shaul PW, Mineo C.) Circ Res. 2021 09 17;129(7):735-750 PMID: 34404233 PMCID: PMC8448973 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85115908382 08/19/2021
Nuclear PFKP promotes CXCR4-dependent infiltration by T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

(Gao X, Qin S, Wu Y, Chu C, Jiang B, Johnson RH, Kuang D, Zhang J, Wang X, Mehta A, Tew KD, Leone GW, Yu XZ, Wang H.) J Clin Invest. 2021 08 16;131(16) PMID: 34255748 PMCID: PMC8363288 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85113146308 07/14/2021
Stromal Platelet-Derived Growth Factor Receptor-β Signaling Promotes Breast Cancer Metastasis in the Brain.

(Thies KA, Hammer AM, Hildreth BE 3rd, Steck SA, Spehar JM, Kladney RD, Geisler JA, Das M, Russell LO, Bey JF 4th, Bolyard CM, Pilarski R, Trimboli AJ, Cuitiño MC, Koivisto CS, Stover DG, Schoenfield L, Otero J, Godbout JP, Chakravarti A, Ringel MD, Ramaswamy B, Li Z, Kaur B, Leone G, Ostrowski MC, Sizemore ST, Sizemore GM.) Cancer Res. 2021 02 01;81(3):606-618 PMID: 32327406 PMCID: PMC7581545 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85100405678 04/25/2020
Evaluating the efficacy of enzalutamide and the development of resistance in a preclinical mouse model of type-I endometrial carcinoma.

(Koivisto CS, Parrish M, Bonala SB, Ngoi S, Torres A, Gallagher J, Sanchez-Hodge R, Zeinner V, Nahhas GJ, Liu B, Cohn DE, Backes FJ, Goodfellow PJ, Chamberlin HM, Leone G.) Neoplasia. 2020 10;22(10):484-496 PMID: 32818842 PMCID: PMC7452078 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85089427396 08/21/2020
Evaluating the efficacy of enzalutamide and the development of resistance in a preclinical mouse model of type-I endometrial carcinoma

(Koivisto CS, Parrish M, Bonala SB, Ngoi S, Torres A, Gallagher J, Sanchez-Hodge R, Zeinner V, Nahhas GJ, Liu B, Cohn DE, Backes FJ, Goodfellow PJ, Chamberlin HM, Leone G.) Neoplasia (United States). October 2020;22(10):484-496 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85089427396 10/01/2020
Cyclin D-CDK4/6 functions in cancer.

(Gao X, Leone GW, Wang H.) Adv Cancer Res. 2020;148:147-169 PMID: 32723562 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85082819252 07/30/2020
PTEN in the Stroma.

(Thies KA, Lefler JE, Leone G, Ostrowski MC.) Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2019 10 01;9(10) PMID: 31427286 PMCID: PMC6771362 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85072848926 08/21/2019
Modeling Human Cancer-induced Cachexia.

(Talbert EE, Cuitiño MC, Ladner KJ, Rajasekerea PV, Siebert M, Shakya R, Leone GW, Ostrowski MC, Paleo B, Weisleder N, Reiser PJ, Webb A, Timmers CD, Eiferman DS, Evans DC, Dillhoff ME, Schmidt CR, Guttridge DC.) Cell Rep. 2019 08 06;28(6):1612-1622.e4 PMID: 31390573 PMCID: PMC6733019 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85069958981 08/08/2019
Abrupt involution induces inflammation, estrogenic signaling, and hyperplasia linking lack of breastfeeding with increased risk of breast cancer.

(Basree MM, Shinde N, Koivisto C, Cuitino M, Kladney R, Zhang J, Stephens J, Palettas M, Zhang A, Kim HK, Acero-Bedoya S, Trimboli A, Stover DG, Ludwig T, Ganju R, Weng D, Shields P, Freudenheim J, Leone GW, Sizemore GM, Majumder S, Ramaswamy B.) Breast Cancer Res. 2019 07 17;21(1):80 PMID: 31315645 PMCID: PMC6637535 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85070057466 07/19/2019
Capturing variations in nuclear phenotypes

(Raman S, Singh S, Pécot T, Caserta E, Huang K, Rittscher J, Leone G, Machiraju R.) Journal of Computational Science. September 2019;36 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85071611725 09/01/2019

Gustavo W. Leone, PhD