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Kerns Laboratory

Location
MFRC 6009 (Lab)
MFRC 6010 (Office)

View principal investigator bio
Sara Kerns Laboratory
Kerns Lab research areas

Research Areas

The Kerns lab studies inherited genetic predisposition to development of late toxicities resulting from cancer treatment. Approaches include genome-wide association studies (GWAS), analysis of circulating biomarkers, and analysis of gene expression and epigenetic changes using biospecimens from patients undergoing treatment for cancer. The long-term goal of our research is to develop predictive models for use in the clinic to better personalize cancer treatment and survivorship care. Research conducted in the lab also aims to uncover novel biologic pathways that might be targeted to prevent or mitigate the toxic effects of cancer treatment. Much of this work is done collaboratively, through research consortia, to facilitate large-scale clinical genomic studies. Dr. Kerns is a leader in the NCI-supported International Radiogenomics Consortium and a member of the NIH-funded Polygenic Risk Methods in Diverse Populations (PRIMED) Consortium.

Current Members

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Sanchita Giri, MSc

Clinical Research Assistant II

sangiri@mcw.edu

MCW Collaborators

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William A. Hall, MD

Professor of Radiation Oncology and Surgery, School of Graduate Studies; Medical Director of Radiation Oncology, Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Clinical Cancer Center

Clinical and research interests include pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, MRI guided radiation therapy, renal cell carcinoma and rectal cancer.

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Paul Auer, PhD

Cancer Center Core Director & Professor

pauer@mcw.edu

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Manzur Rahman Farazi, PhD

Statistical Research Scientist II

mfarazi@mcw.edu

Kerns Laboratory Funding

Kerns Lab researcher
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Current Funding

NIH/NCI MP2PRT 22X016Q (subcontract to HHSN26100039)
“Evaluation of an inflammation polygenic risk score (iPRS) to predict cancer related cognitive impairment and fatigue in patients receiving chemotherapy for non-metastatic breast cancer in URCC0701 and URCC10055”
(PI: Kerns), 07/19/2022 – 04/30/2024

Completed Funding
NIH/NCI UG1CA189961
“Biobank to Support Translational Research”
(MPIs: Janelsins, Kerns), 9/01/2021 – 8/31/2022

NIH/NCI K07CA187546
"Risk Prediction for Development of Adverse Effects Following Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer”
(PI: Kerns), 9/18/2015 – 8/31/2021

Wilmot Cancer Institute’s Research Development Funding Program
“Elucidating the Role of the Renin-Angiotensin Pathway in Development of Hemorrhagic Radiation Cystitis”
(PIs: Kerns and Marples), 7/01/2020 – 6/30/2021

NIH/SBIR HHSN261201500043C
"Predictive Biomarkers of Adverse Reactions to Prostate Radiotherapy”
(PIs: Peterson-Roth, Kerns, Rosenstein), 9/1/2015 – 9/18/2020

DOD PC140371
"Genetic Modeling of Radiation Injury in Prostate Cancer Patients Treated With Radiotherapy”
(PIs: Rosenstein and Ostrer; UR site PI: Kerns), 9/1/2015 – 8/31/2018

Recent Publications

  • KDM3B Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms Impact Radiation Therapy Toxicity Through Circular RNA-Mediated KDM3B Expression and Inflammatory Responses.

    (Sun Y, Tsai Y, Wood R, Shen B, Chen J, Zhou Z, Zeng G, Marples B, Kerns S, Chen Y.) Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2024 May 01;119(1):251-260 PMID: 38008196 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85180584261 11/27/2023

  • Characterizing prostate cancer risk through multi-ancestry genome-wide discovery of 187 novel risk variants.

    (Wang A, Shen J, Rodriguez AA, Saunders EJ, Chen F, Janivara R, Darst BF, Sheng X, Xu Y, Chou AJ, Benlloch S, Dadaev T, Brook MN, Plym A, Sahimi A, Hoffman TJ, Takahashi A, Matsuda K, Momozawa Y, Fujita M, Laisk T, Figuerêdo J, Muir K, Ito S, Liu X, Biobank Japan Project, Uchio Y, Kubo M, Kamatani Y, Lophatananon A, Wan P, Andrews C, Lori A, Choudhury PP, Schleutker J, Tammela TLJ, Sipeky C, Auvinen A, Giles GG, Southey MC, MacInnis RJ, Cybulski C, Wokolorczyk D, Lubinski J, Rentsch CT, Cho K, Mcmahon BH, Neal DE, Donovan JL, Hamdy FC, Martin RM, Nordestgaard BG, Nielsen SF, Weischer M, Bojesen SE, Røder A, Stroomberg HV, Batra J, Chambers S, Horvath L, Clements JA, Tilly W, Risbridger GP, Gronberg H, Aly M, Szulkin R, Eklund M, Nordstrom T, Pashayan N, Dunning AM, Ghoussaini M, Travis RC, Key TJ, Riboli E, Park JY, Sellers TA, Lin HY, Albanes D, Weinstein S, Cook MB, Mucci LA, Giovannucci E, Lindstrom S, Kraft P, Hunter DJ, Penney KL, Turman C, Tangen CM, Goodman PJ, Thompson IM Jr, Hamilton RJ, Fleshner NE, Finelli A, Parent MÉ, Stanford JL, Ostrander EA, Koutros S, Beane Freeman LE, Stampfer M, Wolk A, Håkansson N, Andriole GL, Hoover RN, Machiela MJ, Sørensen KD, Borre M, Blot WJ, Zheng W, Yeboah ED, Mensah JE, Lu YJ, Zhang HW, Feng N, Mao X, Wu Y, Zhao SC, Sun Z, Thibodeau SN, McDonnell SK, Schaid DJ, West CML, Barnett G, Maier C, Schnoeller T, Luedeke M, Kibel AS, Drake BF, Cussenot O, Cancel-Tassin G, Menegaux F, Truong T, Koudou YA, John EM, Grindedal EM, Maehle L, Khaw KT, Ingles SA, Stern MC, Vega A, Gómez-Caamaño A, Fachal L, Rosenstein BS, Kerns SL, Ostrer H, Teixeira MR, Paulo P, Brandão A, Watya S, Lubwama A, Bensen JT, Butler EN, Mohler JL, Taylor JA, Kogevinas M, Dierssen-Sotos T, Castaño-Vinyals G, Cannon-Albright L, Teerlink CC, Huff CD, Pilie P, Yu Y, Bohlender RJ, Gu J, Strom SS, Multigner L, Blanchet P, Brureau L, Kaneva R, Slavov C, Mitev V, Leach RJ, Brenner H, Chen X, Holleczek B, Schöttker B, Klein EA, Hsing AW, Kittles RA, Murphy AB, Logothetis CJ, Kim J, Neuhausen SL, Steele L, Ding YC, Isaacs WB, Nemesure B, Hennis AJM, Carpten J, Pandha H, Michael A, De Ruyck K, De Meerleer G, Ost P, Xu J, Razack A, Lim J, Teo SH, Newcomb LF, Lin DW, Fowke JH, Neslund-Dudas CM, Rybicki BA, Gamulin M, Lessel D, Kulis T, Usmani N, Abraham A, Singhal S, Parliament M, Claessens F, Joniau S, Van den Broeck T, Gago-Dominguez M, Castelao JE, Martinez ME, Larkin S, Townsend PA, Aukim-Hastie C, Bush WS, Aldrich MC, Crawford DC, Srivastava S, Cullen J, Petrovics G, Casey G, Wang Y, Tettey Y, Lachance J, Tang W, Biritwum RB, Adjei AA, Tay E, Truelove A, Niwa S, Yamoah K, Govindasami K, Chokkalingam AP, Keaton JM, Hellwege JN, Clark PE, Jalloh M, Gueye SM, Niang L, Ogunbiyi O, Shittu O, Amodu O, Adebiyi AO, Aisuodionoe-Shadrach OI, Ajibola HO, Jamda MA, Oluwole OP, Nwegbu M, Adusei B, Mante S, Darkwa-Abrahams A, Diop H, Gundell SM, Roobol MJ, Jenster G, van Schaik RHN, Hu JJ, Sanderson M, Kachuri L, Varma R, McKean-Cowdin R, Torres M, Preuss MH, Loos RJF, Zawistowski M, Zöllner S, Lu Z, Van Den Eeden SK, Easton DF, Ambs S, Edwards TL, Mägi R, Rebbeck TR, Fritsche L, Chanock SJ, Berndt SI, Wiklund F, Nakagawa H, Witte JS, Gaziano JM, Justice AC, Mancuso N, Terao C, Eeles RA, Kote-Jarai Z, Madduri RK, Conti DV, Haiman CA.) Nat Genet. 2023 Dec;55(12):2065-2074 PMID: 37945903 PMCID: PMC10841479 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85176259299 11/10/2023

  • Large-scale meta-genome-wide association study reveals common genetic factors linked to radiation-induced acute toxicities across cancer types.

    (Naderi E, Aguado-Barrera ME, Schack LMH, Dorling L, Rattay T, Fachal L, Summersgill H, Martínez-Calvo L, Welsh C, Dudding T, Odding Y, Varela-Pazos A, Jena R, Thomson DJ, Steenbakkers RJHM, Dennis J, Lobato-Busto R, Alsner J, Ness A, Nutting C, Gómez-Caamaño A, Eriksen JG, Thomas SJ, Bates AM, Webb AJ, Choudhury A, Rosenstein BS, Taboada-Valladares B, Herskind C, Azria D, Dearnaley DP, de Ruysscher D, Sperk E, Hall E, Stobart H, Chang-Claude J, De Ruyck K, Veldeman L, Altabas M, De Santis MC, Farcy-Jacquet MP, Veldwijk MR, Sydes MR, Parliament M, Usmani N, Burnet NG, Seibold P, Symonds RP, Elliott RM, Bultijnck R, Gutiérrez-Enríquez S, Mollà M, Gulliford SL, Green S, Rancati T, Reyes V, Carballo A, Peleteiro P, Sosa-Fajardo P, Parker C, Fonteyne V, Johnson K, Lambrecht M, Vanneste B, Valdagni R, Giraldo A, Ramos M, Diergaarde B, Liu G, Leal SM, Chua MLK, Pring M, Overgaard J, Cascallar-Caneda LM, Duprez F, Talbot CJ, Barnett GC, Dunning AM, Vega A, Andreassen CN, Langendijk JA, West CML, Alizadeh BZ, Kerns SL, Radiogenomics Consortiumn.) JNCI Cancer Spectr. 2023 Oct 31;7(6) PMID: 37862240 PMCID: PMC10653584 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85178100666 10/20/2023

  • Predicting the germline dependence of hematuria risk in prostate cancer radiotherapy patients.

    (Oh JH, Lee S, Thor M, Rosenstein BS, Tannenbaum A, Kerns S, Deasy JO.) Radiother Oncol. 2023 Aug;185:109723 PMID: 37244355 PMCID: PMC10524941 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85160710340 05/28/2023

  • Normal Tissue Toxicity Prediction: Clinical Translation on the Horizon.

    (Kerns SL, Hall WA, Marples B, West CML.) Semin Radiat Oncol. 2023 Jul;33(3):307-316 PMID: 37331785 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85158119838 06/19/2023

  • Normal Tissue Toxicity Prediction: Clinical Translation on the Horizon

    (Kerns SL, Hall WA, Marples B, West CML.) Seminars in Radiation Oncology. July 2023;33(3):307-316 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85158119838 07/01/2023

  • Modeling normal bladder injury after radiation therapy.

    (Kerns SL, Williams JP, Marples B.) Int J Radiat Biol. 2023;99(7):1046-1054 PMID: 36854008 PMCID: PMC10330568 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85150470766 03/01/2023

  • Germline genomics in radiotherapy

    (Rosenstein BS, West C, Kerns S, Barnett G, Zuhour R.) Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Radiation Oncology: A Guide for Clinicians. 1 January 2023:197-215 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85184308901 01/01/2023