Akil A. Merchant, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Clinical/Administrative Interests

Dr. Merchant is an oncologist who specializes in blood cancers such as leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, multiple myeloma, and lymphoma.

Research Interests

In the laboratory, my interests are in understanding the biology of normal hematopoietic and leukemic stem cells, under the mentorship of Dr. Bill Matsui.  My previous work, in the laboratory of Margaret Goodell at Baylor College of Medicine, focused on understanding the genetic programs regulating hematopoietic stem cells and their responses to chemotherapy.  My current projects, which build on this foundation, focus on understanding how dysregulation of normal developmental pathways critical for hematopoiesis lead to cancer and chemoresistance.

We have demonstrated that Hedgehog signaling is critical for hematopoietic stem cell function and normal myeloid development and is activated in the majority of acute myeloid leukemia.  The goal of our ongoing work is to better understand the clinical consequences of hedgehog pathway activation in leukemia and cancer stem cells, and explore the role of hedgehog pathway inhibitors as new therapies for hematologic diseases.  This work has been presented at the annual ASH meeting and published in Blood.

Our other interests are in the Nrf2-KEAP1 pathway and its role in normal hematopoietic stem cells and leukemia stem cells.  Our data support a critical role for this pathway in the maintenance of normal hematopoietic stem cells and in mediating chemoresistance in leukemia.

More information regarding Dr. Merchant's research, please visit The Matsui Laboratory

Education/Training

• BA, Art History, Rice University
• MD, Baylor College of Medicine
• Residency in Internal Medicine (ABIM Research Pathway), Baylor College of Medicine Affiliated Hospitals
• Fellowship in Medical Oncology, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins
• Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Oncology, Johns Hopkins University
  

Academic Positions

• Instructor of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University

Selected Publications

Venezia TA, Merchant AA, Ramos CA, Whitehouse NL, Young AS, Shaw CA, Goodell MA.  Molecular signatures of proliferation and quiescence in hematopoietic stem cells.  PLoS Biol. 2004 Oct;2(10):e301. Epub 2004 Sep 28.         

Bowman TV, McCooey AJ, Merchant AA, Ramos CA, Fonseca P, Poindexter A, Bradfute SB, Oliveira DM, Green R, Zheng Y, Jackson KA, Chambers SM, McKinney-Freeman SL, Norwood KG, Darlington G, Gunaratne PH, Steffen D, Goodell MA.  Differential mRNA processing in hematopoietic stem cells.  Stem Cells. 2006 Mar;24(3):662-70. Epub 2005 Dec 22.

Ramos CA, Bowman TA, Boles NC, Merchant AA, Zheng Y, Parra I, Fuqua SA, Shaw CA, Goodell MA.  Evidence for Diversity in Transcriptional Profiles of Single Hematopoietic Stem Cells.  PLoS Genet. 2006 Sep 29;2(9)

Chambers SM, Boles NC,  Lin KK, Tierney MP, Bowman TV, Bradfute SB, Chen AJ, Merchant AA, Sirin O, Weksberg DC, Merchant MG, Fisk CJ, Shaw CA, Goodell MA.  Hematopoietic Fingerprints:  An Expression Database of Stem Cells and Their Progeny. Cell Stem Cell.  2007 Nov;1(5):578–591

Beauchamp E, Bulut G, Abaan O, Chen K, Merchant A, Matsui W, Endo Y, Rubin JS, Toretsky J, Uren A.  GLI1 Is a Direct Transcriptional Target of EWS-FLI1 Oncoprotein.  J Biol Chem. 2009 Apr 3;284(14):9074-82. Epub 2009 Feb 3.

Merchant A, Joseph G, Wang Q, Brennan S, Matsui W.  Gli1 regulates the proliferation and differentiation of HSCs and myeloid progenitors.  Blood. 2010 Mar 25;115(12):2391-6. Epub 2010 Jan 27.

Merchant A and Matsui W. Therapeutic targeting of the Hedgehog signaling pathway in cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2010 Jun 15;16(12):3130-40. Epub 2010 Jun 8.

Brennan SK, Meade B, Wang Q, Merchant AA, Kowalski J, Matsui W. Mantle cell lymphoma activation enhances bortezomib sensitivity.  Blood. 2010 Jun 22. [Epub ahead of print]