
Laurie Littlepage
Mechanisms of Cancer Progression
Biography
- 2020-present
- Campbell Family Associate Professor of Cancer Research, University of Notre Dame
- 2012-2020
- Campbell Family Assistant Professor of Cancer Research, University of Notre Dame
- 2009-2012
- Associate Specialist, University of California, San Francisco
- 2003-2009
- Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, San Francisco
- 2003
- Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology, Harvard University
- 1995
- B.S. in Biochemistry, B.S. in Molecular Biology, University of Texas, Austin
Selected Awards
- 2014
- CTSI Young Investigator Award
- 2006-2010
- American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship
- 2003-2006
- Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award, NIH
- 1997-2000
- NSF Predoctoral Fellowship
Research Interests
Littlepage's research program is focused on the contributions of the epithelium and surrounding stroma/microenvironment to both cancer progression and normal tissue development in the mammary gland and prostate.
She has focused on three major projects:
- The transcription factor/oncogene Znf217 that promotes a progenitor cell phenotype, metastasis and chemoresistance during breast cancer progression
- MMP3/Stromelysin-1 promotion of progenitor expansion, genomic instability, DNA damage, and centrosome amplification during mammary tumor progression
- Matrix metalloproteinases that contribute distinct roles in neuroendocrine prostate carcinogenesis, metastasis, and angiogenesis progression.
Overall, her research is grounded in understanding the mechanisms of cancer progression and in identifying therapies that prevent or reverse cancer in patients. She develops and uses integrated mouse models and genome-wide association studies to understand the contributions of specific genes in vivo at multiple points in cancer progression, spanning from normal mammary development to tumor progression and metastasis and chemotherapy resistance.
She uses a combination of mouse and human xenograft in vivo models, cell culture and organotypic cultures, and systems biology approaches to study biomarkers of epithelial plasticity and to determine how these genes drive aberrations in fundamental biological processes, e.g., differentiation state, progenitor cell maintenance, metabolism, and genomic integrity.
She also is identifying targeted therapies appropriate for personalized treatment of cancer patients based on these biomarkers.
Recent Papers
- Kim, B., Shin, J., Wu, J., Omstead, D. T., Kiziltepe, T., Littlepage, L. E., Bilgicer, B. "Engineering peptide-targeted liposomal nanoparticles optimized for improved selectivity for HER2-positive breast cancer cells to achieve enhanced in vivo efficacy" 2020 Journal of Controlled Release, 322 pp. 530-541. DOI:10.1016/j.jconrel.2020.04.010.
- Wang, C., Xiao, L., Dai, C., Nguyen, A. H., Littlepage, L. E., Schultz, Z. D., Li, J. "A Statistical Approach of Background Removal and Spectrum Identification for SERS Data" 2020 Scientific Reports, 10 (1), 1460. DOI:10.1038/s41598-020-58061-z.
- Xiao, L., Wang, C., Dai, C., Littlepage, L. E., Li, J., Schultz, Z. D. "Untargeted Tumor Metabolomics with Liquid Chromatography–Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy" 2020 Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 59 (9), pp. 3439-3443. DOI:10.1002/anie.201912387.
- Breuer, E. -., Fukushiro-Lopes, D., Dalheim, A., Burnette, M., Zartman, J., Kaja, S., Wells, C., Campo, L., Curtis, K. J., Romero-Moreno, R., Littlepage, L. E., Niebur, G. L., Hoskins, K., Nishimura, M. I., Gentile, S. "Potassium channel activity controls breast cancer metastasis by affecting β-catenin signaling" 2019 Cell Death and Disease, 10 (3), 180. DOI:10.1038/s41419-019-1429-0.
- Ni, Y., Schmidt, K. R., Werner, B. A., Koenig, J. K., Guldner, I. H., Schnepp, P. M., Tan, X., Jiang, L., Host, M., Sun, L., Howe, E. N., Wu, J., Littlepage, L. E., Nakshatri, H., Zhang, S. "Death effector domain-containing protein induces vulnerability to cell cycle inhibition in triple-negative breast cancer" 2019 Nature Communications, 10 (1), 2860. DOI:10.1038/s41467-019-10743-7.
- Romero-Moreno, R., Curtis, K. J., Coughlin, T. R., Cristina Miranda-Vergara, M., Dutta, S., Natarajan, A., Facchine, B. A., Jackson, K. M., Nystrom, L., Li, J., Kaliney, W., Niebur, G. L., Littlepage, L. E. "The CXCL5/CXCR2 axis is sufficient to promote breast cancer colonization during bone metastasis" 2019 Nature Communications, 10 (1), 4404. DOI:10.1038/s41467-019-12108-6.
Contact Information
- Associate Professor
- Office: 132 Harper Hall
- Phone: 574-631-4804
- Send an email
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