Research Summary
Dr. Tran’s research focuses on the improvement of clinical radiotherapy for the treatment of primarily prostate, as well as adrenal, bladder, penile, testicular and urethral cancer. To learn how tumors arise, how they spread and why some cancers are resistant to treatment, he studies tumor cell epithelial plasticity - transitions of epithelial and mesenchymal cellular states.
Lab
Dr. Tran and his laboratory focus their studies on tumor cell epithelial plasticity - the transitions between epithelial and mesenchymal cellular states and the implications of these transitions for tumorigenesis, cancer treatment resistance and radiation-induced fibrosis. Their research utilizes a variety of inducible transgenic mouse models, non-invasive rodent imaging as well as more tradiational molecular, biochemical and cell biologic approaches. One of these transitions, known as epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), is a conserved developmental program that when inappropriately activated in post-natal life has been associated with organ fibrosis, tumorigenesis and metastasis.
A major focus of the laboratory is the use of inducible mouse models to simulate molecularly targeted therapies for malignancies and radiation induced late effects.
Another focus of the laboratory is the study of novel targeted agents as tumor selective radiosensitizers to increase the therapeutic ratio of clinical radiotherapy.
The Tran lab is committed to translating discoveries from the laboratory bench into novel cancer prevention, diagnostic and treatment approaches that can be tested in the clinic.
Lab Website: The Tran Lab
Technology Expertise Keywords
epithelial plasticity; epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT); genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs)
Clinical Trial Keywords
Prostate cancer; Radiation therapy, Oligometastasis; SBRT/SABR
Clinical Trials
RAdium-223 and SABR Versus SABR for Oligometastatic Prostate Cancers (RAVENS)
Selected Publications
View all on PubMed
Phuoc T. Tran*, Pavan K. Bendapudi*, H. Jill Lin*, Peter Choi, Shan Koh, Joy Chen, George Horng, Nicholas P. Hughes, Lawrence H. Schwartz, Vincent A. Miller, Toshiyuki Kawashima, Toshio Kitamura, David Paik+ and Dean W. Felsher+. Survival and Death Signals Can Predict Tumor Response to Therapy After Oncogene Inactivation. Sci Transl Med 3 (2011) 103ra99**. PMID: 21974937; PMCID: PMC3966995.
* - these authors contributed equally; and + - corresponding authors
Reem Malek*, Hailun Wang*, Kekoa Taparra, Phuoc T. Tran. Therapeutic targeting of epithelial plasticity programs – Focus on the epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Cells Tissues Organs 203 (2017) 114-127. PMID: 28214899. PMCID: PMC5375029.
* - these authors contributed equally.
Jeffrey J. Tosoian, Michael A. Gorin, Ashley E. Ross, Kenneth J. Pienta, Phuoc T. Tran, Edward M. Schaeffer. Oligometastatic Prostate Cancer: Definitions, Clinical Outcomes, and Treatment Considerations. Nat Rev Urol 14 (2017) 15-25. PMID: 27725639.
Kekoa Taparra*, Hailun Wang*, Reem Malek*, Audrey Lafargue, Mustafa A. Barbhuiya, Xing Wang, Brian W. Simons, Matthew Ballew, Katriana Nugent, Jennifer Groves, Russell D. Williams, Takumi Shiraishi, James Verdone, Gokben Yildirir, Roger Henry, Bin Zhang, John Wong, Ken K. Wang, Barry D. Nelkin, Kenneth J. Pienta, Dean Felsher, Natasha E. Zachara+, Phuoc T. Tran+. O-GlcNAcylation is required for mutant KRAS-induced lung tumorigenesis. J Clin Invest 128 (2018) 4924-4937**. PMID 30130254. PMCID: PMC6205381.
* - these authors contributed equally; and + - corresponding authors
** - Highlighted in Cancer Res – Breaking Advances
Ryan Phillips, William Yue Shi, Matthew Deek, Noura Radwan, Su Jin Lim, Emmanuel S. Antonarakis, Steven P. Rowe, Ashley Ross, Michael A. Gorin, Curtiland Deville, Stephen C Greco, Hailun Wang, Samuel R. Denmeade, Channing J. Paller, Shirl Dipasquale, Theodore L. DeWeese, Daniel Y. Song, Hao Wang, Michael A. Carducci, Kenneth J. Pienta, Martin G. Pomper, Adam P. Dicker, Mario A. Eisenberger, Ash A. Alizadeh, Maximilian Diehn, Phuoc T. Tran. Outcomes of Observation versus stereotactic ablative RadiatIon for OLigometastatic prostate CancEr – The ORIOLE Phase 2 Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Oncol 6(2020) 650-659**. PMID 32215577. PMCID: PMC7225913.
** - Editorial in JAMA Oncol, Ranked by Altmetric in top 10% of JAMA Oncol papers & Highlighted in Cancer Discovery & Nat Rev Urol
