Lewis
A. Chodosh, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Cancer Biology, Cell & Developmental Biology and Medicine
Director, Cancer Genetics, Abramson Family Cancer Center Institute
Leader, Breast Cancer Program, Abramson Cancer Center
Program
Summary
The Chodosh
laboratory uses
genetically engineered mouse models to study the genes
and mechanisms that cause breast cancer and that regulate
normal mammary gland development. The relationship between
mammary gland development and mammary carcinogenesis is
illustrated by the observation that women who have their
first child early in life have a significantly lower lifetime
risk of developing breast cancer. Understanding the molecular
biology of breast cancer susceptibility requires both a
thorough understanding of the normal developmental biology
of the mammary gland, and the role played by key developmental
regulatory molecules in the process of carcinogenesis.
Current experimental approaches towards this goal in the
Chodosh laboratory include: 1) defining the molecular and
cellular changes that occur in the breast during stages
of development that influence breast cancer risk; 2) using
microarray expression profiling and computational approaches
to investigate genetic programs in mammary development
and carcinogenesis; and 3) using novel genetically engineered
animal models that permit the inducible activation or deletion
of specific oncogenic pathways to analyze the processes
by which breast cancers arise, as well as the effect of
developmental events on breast cancer susceptibility. These
approaches employ a variety of molecular, cellular, animal,
and in silico model systems to study the function of key
regulatory molecules in mammary gland biology.
Publications Please visit PubMed
for a complete list of publications.
1. Blakely CM, Sintasath L, D'Cruz CM, Master SR, Hahn KT, Belka GK, and Chodosh LA. Developmental stage determines the effects of c-MYC in the mammary epithelium. Development, 132:1147-1160, 2005.
2. Moody SE, Perez D, Pan TC, Sarkisian CJ, Portocarrero C, Sterner CJ, Notarfrancesco K, Cardiff RD, and Chodosh LA. The transcriptional repressor, Snail, promotes mammary tumor recurrence. Cancer Cell, 8:197-209, 2005.
3. Jang JW, Boxer RB, and Chodosh LA. Isoform-specific Ras Activation and
Oncogene Dependence in MYC and Wnt-induced Mammary Tumorigenesis. Molecular
and Cellular Biology, in press.
4. Blakely CM, Stoddard AJ, Belka GK, Dugan KD, Notarfrancesco KL, Moody SE, D'Cruz CM, and Chodosh LA. Hormone-induced protection against mammary tumorigenesis is conserved in multiple rat strains and identifies a core gene expression signature induced by pregnancy. Cancer Research, 66:6421-6431, 2006.
5. Wang M, Master SR, and Chodosh LA. Computational expression deconvolution in a complex mammalian organ. BMC Bioinformatics, 7:328-341, 2006.
