Research Summary
Dr. De Marzo’s research focuses on prostate cancer, paying special attention to prevention. His research group has postulated that a common lesion often associated with inflammation—called proliferative inflammatory atrophy (PIA)—may represent a risk factor or precursor lesion to prostate cancer. This research has implications for prevention and chemoprevention of prostate cancer.
Dr Marzo’s laboratory is also using genetically engineered mouse models and cell culture systems to study the role of the MYC oncogene in prostate cancer cell neoplastic transformation and cell growth regulation. Since MYC is a key regulator of stem cells, these studies have direct implications for stem cell models of prostate cancer formation.
Additionally, the laboratory also has been leading efforts to apply novel biomarkers to human prostate tissues, to provide tissue banking for the prostate cancer research program, and to develop tissue microarrays and tissue microarray software.
Lab
Dr. De Marzo's laboratory is focused on developing new insights into the molecular pathobiology of prostate cancer. For example, they are focused on determining the cell type of origin and the molecular mechanisms involved in neoplastic transformation in the prostate.
His laboratory performs translational research to interrogate biomarker expression in human prostate tissues, where such biomarkers might aid the pathologist in making a diagnosis on challenging biopsy cases, help to predict outcome, help determine whether a given pathway alteration is present, or help to determine whether a drug has hit its target.
Additionally, Dr. De Marzo's lab is involved in tissue banking, tissue microarray technology, tissue microarray software and database design, and image analysis of tissue microarrays.
Dr. De Marzo's laboratory works very closely with the labs of William G. Nelson M.D., Ph.D., Srinivasan Yegnasubramanian M.D., Ph.D. and Karen Sfanos Ph.D. in a number of related research areas. The lab also collaborates extensively with Alan K. Meeker Ph.D., and Elizabeth Platz Sc.D. PSD, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a range of other investigators both within and outside of Johns Hopkins.
Lab Website: De Marzo Lab
Selected Publications
View all on PubMed
Tan S, Sood A, Rahimi H, Wang W, Gupta N, Hicks J, Mosier S, Gocke CD, Epstein JI, Netto GJ, Liu W, Isaacs WB, De Marzo AM, Lotan T. “Rb Loss is Characteristic of Prostatic Small Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma.” Clin Cancer Res. 2013 Dec 9. [Epub ahead of print]
Canene-Adams K, Sfanos KS, Liang CT, Yegnasubramanian S, Nelson WG, Brayton C, De Marzo AM. “Dietary Chemoprevention of PhIP Induced Carcinogenesis in Male Fischer 344 Rats with Tomato and Broccoli.” PLoS One. 2013 Nov 27;8(11):e79842. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0079842. eCollection 2013.
Hurwitz LM, Heaphy CM, Joshu CE, Isaacs WB, Konishi Y, De Marzo AM, Isaacs SD, Wiley KE, Platz EA, Meeker AK. “Telomere length as a risk factor for hereditary prostate cancer.” Prostate. 2014 Apr;74(4):359-64. doi: 10.1002/pros.22755. Epub 2013 Nov 28.
Haffner MC, Mosbruger T, Esopi DM, Fedor H, Heaphy CM, Walker DA, Adejola N, Gürel M, Hicks J, Meeker AK, Halushka MK, Simons JW, Isaacs WB, De Marzo AM, Nelson WG, Yegnasubramanian S. “Tracking the clonal origin of lethal prostate cancer.” J Clin Invest. 2013 Nov 1;123(11):4918-22. doi: 10.1172/JCI70354. Epub 2013 Oct 25.
Darshan M, Zheng Q, Fedor HL, Wyhs N, Yegnasubramanian S, Lee P, Melamed J, Netto GJ, Trock BJ, De Marzo AM, Sfanos KS. “Biobanking of derivatives from radical retropubic and robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy tissues as part of the prostate cancer biorepository network.” Prostate. 2014 Jan;74(1):61-9. doi: 10.1002/pros.22730. Epub 2013 Sep 21.
Nelson, W.G., De Marzo, A.M., and Isaacs, W.B. Mechanisms of disease. The molecular pathogenesis of prostate cancer: a new role for inflammation? New Eng. J. Med., 349:366-81, 2003.
De Marzo AM, Platz EA, Sutcliffe S, Xu J, Grönberg H, Drake CG, Nakai Y, Isaacs WB, Nelson WG. Inflammation in prostate carcinogenesis. Nat Rev Cancer. 2007;7:256-69.
Koh CM, Gurel B, Sutcliffe S, Aryee MJ, Schultz D, Iwata T, Uemura M, Zeller KI, Anele U, Zheng Q, Hicks JL, Nelson WG, Dang CV, Yegnasubramanian S, De Marzo AM. Alterations in nucleolar structure and gene expression programs in prostatic neoplasia are driven by the MYC oncogene. Am J Pathol. 2011 Apr;178(4):1824-34.
Xu J, Hicks JL, Park BH, Humphreys E, Partin AW, Han M, Netto GJ, Isaacs WB, De Marzo AM. PTEN protein loss by immunostaining: analytic validation and prognostic indicator for a high risk surgical cohort of prostate cancer patients. Clin Cancer Res. 2011; 17:6563-73.
Sfanos KS, Canene-Adams K, Hempel H, Yu SH, Simons BW, Schaeffer AJ, Schaeffer EM, Nelson WG, De Marzo AM. Bacterial Prostatitis Enhances 2-Amino-1-Methyl-6-Phenylimidazo[4,5-b]Pyridine (PhIP)-Induced Cancer at Multiple Sites. Cancer Prev Res. 2015; 8:683-92.
Haffner MC, Weier C, Xu M, Vaghasia A, Gürel B, Gümüskaya B, Esopi DM, Fedor H, Tan HL, Kulac I, Hicks J, Isaacs WB, Lotan TL, Nelson WG, Yegnasubramanian S, De Marzo AM. Molecular evidence that invasive adenocarcinoma can mimic prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) and intraductal carcinoma through retrograde glandular colonization. J Pathol. 2015 Aug 31. doi: 10.1002/path.4628.
Hubbard GK, Mutton LN, Khalilia M, McMullin RP, Hicks JL, Bianchi-Frias D, Horn LA, Kulac I, Moubarek MS, Nelson PS, Yegnasubramanian S, De Marzo AM, and Bieberich CJ. Combined MYC activation and Pten loss are sufficient to create genomic instability and lethal metastatic prostate cancer. Can Res, 2015, In Press
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