Leading the Way in Discovering Novel Treatments for Pancreatic Cancer

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Commitment to Research

The LaBahn Pancreatic Cancer Program supports internationally recognized specialists who provide a wealth of knowledge and experience in pancreatic cancer treatment and research. We are committed to developing the next generation of medical researchers and to translating our research into cutting-edge treatments for our patients. We are involved in many areas of research, including basic science, outcomes assessments, and international clinical trials. Our dedication to research is one of the many tools we have available to make MCW a destination for the best pancreatic cancer care possible.

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About our Biorepository

Our biorepository is a phenomenal resource for both translational research collaborations as well as clinical outcomes research. The Ronald Burklund Eich integrated biorepository and database captures longitudinal samples from patients across a broad spectrum of disease, from pancreatic cancer screening to diagnosis, and even post-mortem.

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Basic and Translational Scientific Investigators

Scientific investigators are discovery-drivers, working to uncover more innovative and cutting-edge treatments with every study they conduct.

Michael B. Dwinell, PhD

Professor; Founding Director, Center for Immunology; Director, Bobbie Nick Voss Laboratory for Colon Cancer Research; Leader, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics

Cancer Metastasis, Tumor Microenvironment, Mucosal Inflammation

Gwen Lomberk, PhD

Chief, Division of Research; Director, Basic Science Research; Department of Surgery; Associate Professor of Surgery and Pharmacology & Toxicology

Marja T. Nevalainen, MD, PhD

Professor, Eminent Scholar, Department of Pathology and Pharmacology & Toxicology; Assistant Dean of Research, Medical College of Wisconsin; Associate Director (Education), Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center; Director, Prostate Cancer Center of Excellence at Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center

Dr. Nevalainen is an internationally recognized leader in the field of cytokine and steroid hormone signaling in prostate cancer. Dr. Nevalainen holds the title of Eminent Scholar at MCW. She is also Director of Prostate Cancer Center of Excellence at MCW Cancer Center, which is a multi-disciplinary hub for prostate cancer research within the institution with an international collaborative network. She also serves as Associate Director of Education for the MCW Cancer Center.

Jong-In Park, PhD

Professor

Matthew Riese, MD, PhD

Associate Professor, Medicine (Hematology and Oncology) and Microbiology & Immunology; Associate Investigator, Versiti Blood Research Institute

TCR signal transduction and application to tumor immunology

Raul A. Urrutia, MD

Professor, Department of Surgery; Director, Genomic Sciences and Precision Medicine Center

Research Lab Links and More

Department of Surgery- Division of Research

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Dr. Dwinell's Lab Page

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Dr. Lomberk's Lab Page

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Dr. Park's Lab Page

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Dr. Urrutia's Lab Page

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ZZW-115-dependent inhibition of NUPR1 nuclear translocation sensitizes cancer cells to genotoxic agents.

(Lan W, Santofimia-Castaño P, Swayden M, Xia Y, Zhou Z, Audebert S, Camoin L, Huang C, Peng L, Jiménez-Alesanco A, Velázquez-Campoy A, Abián O, Lomberk G, Urrutia R, Rizzuti B, Geli V, Soubeyran P, Neira JL, Iovanna J.) JCI Insight. 2020 Sep 17;5(18) PMID: 32780723 08/12/2020
Cytokines, JAK-STAT Signaling and Radiation-Induced DNA Repair in Solid Tumors: Novel Opportunities for Radiation Therapy.

(Hall WA, Sabharwal L, Udhane V, Maranto C, Nevalainen MT.) Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2020 Aug 19;127:105827 PMID: 32822847 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85090734995 08/22/2020
Dabrafenib and Trametinib in Patients With Tumors With BRAFV600E Mutations: Results of the NCI-MATCH Trial Subprotocol H.

(Salama AKS, Li S, Macrae ER, Park JI, Mitchell EP, Zwiebel JA, Chen HX, Gray RJ, McShane LM, Rubinstein LV, Patton D, Williams PM, Hamilton SR, Armstrong DK, Conley BA, Arteaga CL, Harris LN, O'Dwyer PJ, Chen AP, Flaherty KT.) J Clin Oncol. 2020 Aug 06:JCO2000762 PMID: 32758030 08/08/2020
Comparison of overall survival in gallbladder carcinoma at academic versus community cancer centers: An analysis of the National Cancer Data Base.

(Liu C, Rein L, Clarke C, Mogal H, Tsai S, Christians KK, Gamblin TC.) J Surg Oncol. 2020 Aug;122(2):176-182 PMID: 32383268 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85085151262 05/10/2020
Anticholestatic Effect of Bardoxolone Methyl on Hepatic Ischemia-reperfusion Injury in Rats.

(Kim J, Hagen CE, Kumar SN, Park JI, Zimmerman MA, Hong JC.) Transplant Direct. 2020 Aug;6(8):e584 PMID: 32766432 PMCID: PMC7371100 08/09/2020
Growth Inhibitory Signaling of the Raf/MEK/ERK Pathway.

(Wu PK, Becker A, Park JI.) Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Jul 30;21(15) PMID: 32751750 PMCID: PMC7432891 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85089131301 08/06/2020
Targeting the CBP/β-Catenin Interaction to Suppress Activation of Cancer-Promoting Pancreatic Stellate Cells.

(Che M, Kweon SM, Teo JL, Yuan YC, Melstrom LG, Waldron RT, Lugea A, Urrutia RA, Pandol SJ, Lai KKY.) Cancers (Basel). 2020 Jun 05;12(6) PMID: 32516943 PMCID: PMC7352534 06/11/2020
Metabolic Heterogeneity in Patient Tumor-Derived Organoids by Primary Site and Drug Treatment

(Sharick JT, Walsh CM, Sprackling CM, Pasch CA, Pham DL, Esbona K, Choudhary A, Garcia-Valera R, Burkard ME, McGregor SM, Matkowskyj KA, Parikh AA, Meszoely IM, Kelley MC, Tsai S, Deming DA, Skala MC.) Frontiers in Oncology. 15 May 2020;10 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85085504111 05/15/2020
Single-cell transcriptome reveals the novel role of T-bet in suppressing the immature NK gene signature.

(Yang C, Siebert JR, Burns R, Zheng Y, Mei A, Bonacci B, Wang D, Urrutia RA, Riese MJ, Rao S, Carlson KS, Thakar MS, Malarkannan S.) Elife. 2020 May 14;9 PMID: 32406817 PMCID: PMC7255804 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85085630468 05/15/2020
Mortalin/HSPA9 targeting selectively induces KRAS tumor cell death by perturbing mitochondrial membrane permeability.

(Wu PK, Hong SK, Starenki D, Oshima K, Shao H, Gestwicki JE, Tsai S, Park JI.) Oncogene. 2020 May;39(21):4257-4270 PMID: 32291414 PMCID: PMC7244387 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85083767959 04/16/2020
Variant anatomy of the biliary system as a cause of pancreatic and peri-ampullary cancers.

(Muraki T, Reid MD, Pehlivanoglu B, Gonzalez RS, Sekhar A, Memis B, Xue Y, Cheng J, Jang KT, Mittal P, Cardona K, Kooby DA, Maithel S, Sarmiento JM, El-Rayes B, Lomberk G, Urrutia RA, Christians K, Tsai S, Evans DB, Adsay V.) HPB (Oxford). 2020 Apr 23 PMID: 32336556 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85083637358 04/28/2020
Structural Features of an Extended C-Terminal Tail Modulate the Function of the Chemokine CCL21.

(Moussouras NA, Hjortø GM, Peterson FC, Szpakowska M, Chevigné A, Rosenkilde MM, Volkman BF, Dwinell MB.) Biochemistry. 2020 Apr 07;59(13):1338-1350 PMID: 32182428 PMCID: PMC7307649 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85083041593 03/18/2020
Mortalin (HSPA9) facilitates BRAF-mutant tumor cell survival by suppressing ANT3-mediated mitochondrial membrane permeability.

(Wu PK, Hong SK, Chen W, Becker AE, Gundry RL, Lin CW, Shao H, Gestwicki JE, Park JI.) Sci Signal. 2020 Mar 10;13(622) PMID: 32156782 PMCID: PMC7099430 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85081677231 03/12/2020
Combined Targeting of G9a and Checkpoint Kinase 1 Synergistically Inhibits Pancreatic Cancer Cell Growth by Replication Fork Collapse.

(Urrutia G, Salmonson A, Toro-Zapata J, de Assuncao TM, Mathison A, Dusetti N, Iovanna J, Urrutia R, Lomberk G.) Mol Cancer Res. 2020 03;18(3):448-462 PMID: 31822519 PMCID: PMC7056528 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85081130002 12/12/2019
Motor Neuron Generation from iPSCs from Identical Twins Discordant for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

(Seminary ER, Santarriaga S, Wheeler L, Mejaki M, Abrudan J, Demos W, Zimmermann MT, Urrutia RA, Fee D, Barkhaus PE, Ebert AD.) Cells. 2020 Feb 28;9(3) PMID: 32121108 PMCID: PMC7140469 03/04/2020
PAX1 is essential for development and function of the human thymus.

(Yamazaki Y, Urrutia R, Franco LM, Giliani S, Zhang K, Alazami AM, Dobbs AK, Masneri S, Joshi A, Otaizo-Carrasquero F, Myers TG, Ganesan S, Bondioni MP, Ho ML, Marks C, Alajlan H, Mohammed RW, Zou F, Valencia CA, Filipovich AH, Facchetti F, Boisson B, Azzari C, Al-Saud BK, Al-Mousa H, Casanova JL, Abraham RS, Notarangelo LD.) Sci Immunol. 2020 02 28;5(44) PMID: 32111619 PMCID: PMC7189207 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85081071846 03/01/2020
Increased formation of reactive oxygen species during tumor growth: Ex vivo low-temperature EPR and in vivo bioluminescence analyses.

(Cheng G, Pan J, Podsiadly R, Zielonka J, Garces AM, Dias Duarte Machado LG, Bennett B, McAllister D, Dwinell MB, You M, Kalyanaraman B.) Free Radic Biol Med. 2020 02 01;147:167-174 PMID: 31874251 PMCID: PMC6948008 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85076857582 12/25/2019
Salvage ipilimumab associated with a significant response in sarcomatoid renal cell carcinoma.

(George G, Schmidt L, Tolat P, Riese M, Kilari D.) J Immunother Cancer. 2020 02;8(1) PMID: 32114501 PMCID: PMC7057424 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85080840435 03/03/2020
Gross tumor size using the AJCC 8th ed. T staging criteria does not provide prognostic stratification for neoadjuvant treated pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

(Rowan DJ, Hartley CP, Aldakkak M, Christians KK, Evans DB, Tsai S, Hagen CE.) Annals of Diagnostic Pathology. June 2020;46 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85081260042 06/01/2020
Value of Pretreatment 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography in Patients With Localized Pancreatic Cancer Treated With Neoadjuvant Therapy.

(Barnes CA, Aldakkak M, Clarke CN, Christians KK, Bucklan D, Holt M, Tolat P, Ritch PS, George B, Hall WA, Erickson BA, Evans DB, Tsai S.) Front Oncol. 2020;10:500 PMID: 32363161 PMCID: PMC7180175 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85084152103 05/05/2020
Impact of Neoadjuvant Chemoradiation on Pathologic Response in Patients With Localized Pancreatic Cancer.

(Wittmann D, Hall WA, Christians KK, Barnes CA, Jariwalla NR, Aldakkak M, Clarke CN, George B, Ritch PS, Riese M, Khan AH, Kulkarni N, Evans J, Erickson BA, Evans DB, Tsai S.) Front Oncol. 2020;10:460 PMID: 32351886 PMCID: PMC7175033 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85084010622 05/01/2020
Discovery, expression, cellular localization, and molecular properties of a novel, alternative spliced HP1γ isoform, lacking the chromoshadow domain.

(Mathison A, Milech De Assuncao T, Dsouza NR, Williams M, Zimmermann MT, Urrutia R, Lomberk G.) PLoS One. 2020;15(2):e0217452 PMID: 32027651 PMCID: PMC7004349 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85079081692 02/07/2020
Enzalutamide-Induced Feed-Forward Signaling Loop Promotes Therapy-Resistant Prostate Cancer Growth Providing an Exploitable Molecular Target for Jak2 Inhibitors.

(Udhane V, Maranto C, Hoang DT, Gu L, Erickson A, Devi S, Talati PG, Banerjee A, Iczkowski KA, Jacobsohn K, See WA, Mirtti T, Kilari D, Nevalainen MT.) Mol Cancer Ther. 2020 01;19(1):231-246 PMID: 31548294 PMCID: PMC6946850 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85077669370 09/25/2019
Adenosine 2A Receptor Blockade as an Immunotherapy for Treatment-Refractory Renal Cell Cancer.

(Fong L, Hotson A, Powderly JD, Sznol M, Heist RS, Choueiri TK, George S, Hughes BGM, Hellmann MD, Shepard DR, Rini BI, Kummar S, Weise AM, Riese MJ, Markman B, Emens LA, Mahadevan D, Luke JJ, Laport G, Brody JD, Hernandez-Aya L, Bonomi P, Goldman JW, Berim L, Renouf DJ, Goodwin RA, Munneke B, Ho PY, Hsieh J, McCaffery I, Kwei L, Willingham SB, Miller RA.) Cancer Discov. 2020 01;10(1):40-53 PMID: 31732494 PMCID: PMC6954326 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85077761754 11/17/2019
Beyond the Cell Surface: Targeting Intracellular Negative Regulators to Enhance T cell Anti-Tumor Activity.

(Sitaram P, Uyemura B, Malarkannan S, Riese MJ.) Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Nov 20;20(23) PMID: 31756921 PMCID: PMC6929154 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85075296555 11/24/2019
Targeting the Stress-Induced Protein NUPR1 to Treat Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma.

(Santofimia-Castaño P, Xia Y, Peng L, Velázquez-Campoy A, Abián O, Lan W, Lomberk G, Urrutia R, Rizzuti B, Soubeyran P, Neira JL, Iovanna J.) Cells. 2019 11 17;8(11) PMID: 31744261 PMCID: PMC6912534 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85082729502 11/21/2019
Modeling post-translational modifications and cancer-associated mutations that impact the heterochromatin protein 1α-importin α heterodimers.

(Zimmermann MT, Williams MM, Klee EW, Lomberk GA, Urrutia R.) Proteins. 2019 11;87(11):904-916 PMID: 31152607 PMCID: PMC6790107 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85067403924 06/04/2019
Positive STAT5 Protein and Locus Amplification Status Predicts Recurrence after Radical Prostatectomy to Assist Clinical Precision Management of Prostate Cancer.

(Haddad BR, Erickson A, Udhane V, LaViolette PS, Rone JD, Kallajoki MA, See WA, Rannikko A, Mirtti T, Nevalainen MT.) Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2019 10;28(10):1642-1651 PMID: 31292140 PMCID: PMC6774884 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85072849403 07/12/2019
Emerging epigenomic landscapes of pancreatic cancer in the era of precision medicine.

(Lomberk G, Dusetti N, Iovanna J, Urrutia R.) Nat Commun. 2019 08 28;10(1):3875 PMID: 31462645 PMCID: PMC6713756 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85071625821 08/30/2019
Synergistic inhibition of tumor cell proliferation by metformin and mito-metformin in the presence of iron chelators.

(Cheng G, Zielonka J, Hardy M, Ouari O, Chitambar CR, Dwinell MB, Kalyanaraman B.) Oncotarget. 2019 May 28;10(37):3518-3532 PMID: 31191823 PMCID: PMC6544408 06/14/2019
STING agonist inflames the pancreatic cancer immune microenvironment and reduces tumor burden in mouse models.

(Jing W, McAllister D, Vonderhaar EP, Palen K, Riese MJ, Gershan J, Johnson BD, Dwinell MB.) J Immunother Cancer. 2019 04 29;7(1):115 PMID: 31036082 PMCID: PMC6489306 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85065258266 05/01/2019
Mortalin (GRP75/HSPA9) Promotes Survival and Proliferation of Thyroid Carcinoma Cells.

(Starenki D, Sosonkina N, Hong SK, Lloyd RV, Park JI.) Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Apr 26;20(9) PMID: 31027376 PMCID: PMC6540051 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85065295769 04/28/2019
A Serum-Induced Transcriptome and Serum Cytokine Signature Obtained at Diagnosis Correlates with the Development of Early Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Metastasis.

(Tsai S, McOlash L, Jia S, Zhang J, Simpson P, Kaldunski ML, Aldakkak M, Grewal J, Palen K, Dwinell MB, Johnson BD, Mackinnon A, Hessner MJ, Gershan JA.) Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2019 04;28(4):680-689 PMID: 30530849 PMCID: PMC6545232 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85063867816 12/12/2018
Gleason Probability Maps: A Radiomics Tool for Mapping Prostate Cancer Likelihood in MRI Space.

(McGarry SD, Bukowy JD, Iczkowski KA, Unteriner JG, Duvnjak P, Lowman AK, Jacobsohn K, Hohenwalter M, Griffin MO, Barrington AW, Foss HE, Keuter T, Hurrell SL, See WA, Nevalainen MT, Banerjee A, LaViolette PS.) Tomography. 2019 03;5(1):127-134 PMID: 30854450 PMCID: PMC6403022 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85071529534 03/12/2019
Beyond the cell surface: Targeting intracellular negative regulators to enhance t cell anti-tumor activity

(Sitaram P, Uyemura B, Malarkannan S, Riese MJ.) International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 1 December 2019;20(23) SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85075296555 12/01/2019
Targeting the STAT5 pathway in Ph+ acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

(Minieri V, De Dominici M, Nevalainen MT, Calabretta B.) Oncotarget. 2018 Dec 04;9(95):36726-36727 PMID: 30613358 PMCID: PMC6298402 01/08/2019
Targeting STAT5 or STAT5-Regulated Pathways Suppresses Leukemogenesis of Ph+ Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

(Minieri V, De Dominici M, Porazzi P, Mariani SA, Spinelli O, Rambaldi A, Peterson LF, Porcu P, Nevalainen MT, Calabretta B.) Cancer Res. 2018 10 15;78(20):5793-5807 PMID: 30154155 PMCID: PMC7100125 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85054889112 08/30/2018
Mitochondria-targeted drugs stimulate mitophagy and abrogate colon cancer cell proliferation.

(Boyle KA, Van Wickle J, Hill RB, Marchese A, Kalyanaraman B, Dwinell MB.) J Biol Chem. 2018 09 21;293(38):14891-14904 PMID: 30087121 PMCID: PMC6153299 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85054023214 08/09/2018

Pancreatic Cancer