Photo of Karen Cichowski, PhD

Karen Cichowski, PhD

Brigham And Women's Hospital

Brigham And Women's Hospital
Phone: (617) 525-4722
Fax: (617) 525-4705


kcichowski@rics.bwh.harvard.edu

Photo of Karen Cichowski, PhD

Brigham And Women's Hospital
Phone: (617) 525-4722
Fax: (617) 525-4705


kcichowski@rics.bwh.harvard.edu

Visualize Collaborations
Learn how these members are similar
Similar Members

DF/HCC members that share similar concepts* with Karen Cichowski, PhD but have yet to coauthor a publication with this researcher.

* Concepts are MeSH terms, automatically derived from member publications

Similar Members

Karen Cichowski, PhD

Brigham And Women's Hospital

EDUCATIONAL TITLES

  • Professor, Medicine, Harvard Medical School
  • Professor, Medicine/Genetics, Brigham And Women's Hospital

DF/HCC PROGRAM AFFILIATION

DF/HCC ASSOCIATIONS

  • Associate Director, Planning and Evaluation, Executive Committee
  • Chair, Center Scientific Council

Research Abstract

The focus of my laboratory is to elucidate how deregulated cell signaling drives cancer. To achieve this we have been taking a multi-faceted approach; combining mouse modeling techniques with basic biochemical and cell biological studies. One of the most commonly deregulated signaling pathways in human cancer is the Ras pathway. Mutations can occur in Ras itself, upstream regulators, or downstream effectors. Therefore we have been focusing on how this pathway promotes nervous system, lung, prostate, and breast cancers. We have also been using our mouse models and insight to develop novel therapies, several of which have been developed into clinical trials.

Publications from Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Powered by Harvard Catalyst
  • Nardi F, Perurena N, Schade AE, Li ZH, Ngo K, Ivanova EV, Saldanha A, Li C, Gokhale PC, Hata AN, Barbie DA, Paweletz CP, Janne PA, Cichowski K. Co-targeting a MYC-eIF4A survival axis improves the efficacy of KRAS inhibitors in lung cancer. J Clin Invest 2023. PubMed
  • Perurena N, Lock R, Davis RA, Raghavan S, Pilla NF, Ng R, Loi P, Guild CJ, Miller AL, Sicinska E, Cleary JM, Rubinson DA, Wolpin BM, Gray NS, Santagata S, Hahn WC, Morton JP, Sansom OJ, Aguirre AJ, Cichowski K. USP9X mediates an acute adaptive response to MAPK suppression in pancreatic cancer but creates multiple actionable therapeutic vulnerabilities. Cell Rep Med 2023; 4:101007. PubMed
  • Schade AE, Kuzmickas R, Rodriguez CL, Mattioli K, Enos M, Gardner A, Cichowski K. Combating castration-resistant prostate cancer by co-targeting the epigenetic regulators EZH2 and HDAC. PLoS Biol. 2023; 21:e3002038. PubMed
  • Miller AL, Perurena N, Gardner A, Hinoue T, Loi P, Laird PW, Cichowski K. DAB2IP is a bifunctional tumor suppressor that regulates wildtype RAS and inflammatory cascades in KRAS mutant colon cancer. Cancer Res 2023. PubMed
  • Zhang Y, Guillermier C, De Raedt T, Cox AG, Maertens O, Yimlamai D, Lun M, Whitney A, Maas RL, Goessling W, Cichowski K, Steinhauser ML. Imaging Mass Spectrometry Reveals Tumor Metabolic Heterogeneity. iScience 2020; 23:101355. PubMed
  • Guerra SL, Maertens O, Kuzmickas R, De Raedt T, Adeyemi RO, Guild CJ, Guillemette S, Redig AJ, Chambers ES, Xu M, Tiv H, Santagata S, Jänne PA, Elledge SJ, Cichowski K. A Deregulated HOX Gene Axis Confers an Epigenetic Vulnerability in KRAS-Mutant Lung Cancers. Cancer Cell 2020; 37:705-719.e6. PubMed
  • Tian T, Lofftus S, Pan Y, Stingley CA, King SL, Zhao J, Pan TY, Lock R, Marglous JW, Liu K, Widlund HR, Fuhlbrigge RC, Cichowski K, Kupper TS. IL1α antagonizes IL1β and promotes adaptive immune rejection of malignant tumors. Cancer Immunol Res 2020. PubMed
  • Maertens O, Kuzmickas R, Manchester HE, Emerson CE, Gavin AG, Guild CJ, Wong TC, De Raedt T, Bowman-Colin C, Hatchi E, Garraway LA, Flaherty KT, Pathania S, Elledge SJ, Cichowski K. MAPK Pathway Suppression Unmasks Latent DNA Repair Defects and Confers a Chemical Synthetic Vulnerability in -, and -Mutant Melanomas. 2019; 9:526-545. PubMed
  • Haigis KM, Cichowski K, Elledge SJ. Tissue-specificity in cancer: The rule, not the exception. Science 2019; 363:1150-1151. PubMed
  • Widemann BC, Lu Y, Reinke D, Okuno SH, Meyer CF, Cote GM, Chugh R, Milhem MM, Hirbe AC, Kim A, Turpin B, Pressey JG, Dombi E, Jayaprakash N, Helman LJ, Onwudiwe N, Cichowski K, Perentesis JP. Targeting Sporadic and Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) Related Refractory Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors (MPNST) in a Phase II Study of Everolimus in Combination with Bevacizumab (SARC016). Sarcoma 2019; 2019:7656747. PubMed
  • Takahashi N, Chen HY, Harris IS, Stover DG, Selfors LM, Bronson RT, Deraedt T, Cichowski K, Welm AL, Mori Y, Mills GB, Brugge JS. Cancer Cells Co-opt the Neuronal Redox-Sensing Channel TRPA1 to Promote Oxidative-Stress Tolerance. Cancer Cell 2018; 33:985-1003.e7. PubMed
  • Liao S, Maertens O, Cichowski K, Elledge SJ. Genetic modifiers of the BRD4-NUT dependency of NUT midline carcinoma uncovers a synergism between BETis and CDK4/6is. Genes Dev 2018; 32:1188-1200. PubMed
  • Singleton KR, Crawford L, Tsui E, Manchester HE, Maertens O, Liu X, Liberti MV, Magpusao AN, Stein EM, Tingley JP, Frederick DT, Boland GM, Flaherty KT, McCall SJ, Krepler C, Sproesser K, Herlyn M, Adams DJ, Locasale JW, Cichowski K, Mukherjee S, Wood KC. Melanoma Therapeutic Strategies that Select against Resistance by Exploiting MYC-Driven Evolutionary Convergence. Cell Rep 2017; 21:2796-2812. PubMed
  • Maertens O, McCurrach ME, Braun BS, De Raedt T, Epstein I, Huang TQ, Lauchle JO, Lee H, Wu J, Cripe TP, Clapp DW, Ratner N, Shannon K, Cichowski K. A Collaborative Model for Accelerating the Discovery and Translation of Cancer Therapies. Cancer Res 2017; 77:5706-5711. PubMed
  • Malone CF, Emerson C, Ingraham R, Barbosa W, Guerra S, Yoon H, Liu LL, Michor F, Haigis M, Macleod KF, Maertens O, Cichowski K. mTOR and HDAC inhibitors converge on the TXNIP/thioredoxin pathway to cause catastrophic oxidative stress and regression of RAS-driven tumors. 2017. PubMed
  • Olsen SN, Wronski A, Castaño Z, Dake B, Malone C, De Raedt T, Enos M, DeRose YS, Zhou W, Guerra S, Loda M, Welm A, Partridge AH, McAllister SS, Kuperwasser C, Cichowski K. Loss of RasGAP Tumor Suppressors Underlies the Aggressive Nature of Luminal B Breast Cancers. 2017. PubMed
  • Zhang H, Qi J, Reyes JM, Li L, Rao PK, Li F, Lin CY, Perry JA, Lawlor MA, Federation A, De Raedt T, Li YY, Liu Y, Duarte MA, Zhang Y, Herter-Sprie GS, Kikuchi E, Carretero J, Perou CM, Reibel JB, Paulk J, Bronson RT, Watanabe H, Fillmore CM, Kim CF, Hammerman PS, Brown M, Cichowski K, Long H, Bradner JE, Wong KK. Oncogenic deregulation of EZH2 as an opportunity for targeted therapy in lung cancer. 2016. PubMed
  • Lock R, Ingraham R, Maertens O, Miller AL, Weledji N, Legius E, Konicek BM, Yan SC, Graff JR, Cichowski K. Cotargeting MNK and MEK kinases induces the regression of NF1-mutant cancers. J Clin Invest 2016; 126:2181-90. PubMed
  • Lock R, Cichowski K. Loss of negative regulators amplifies RAS signaling. Nat Genet 2015; 47:426-7. PubMed
  • Montero J, Sarosiek KA, DeAngelo JD, Maertens O, Ryan J, Ercan D, Piao H, Horowitz NS, Berkowitz RS, Matulonis U, Jänne PA, Amrein PC, Cichowski K, Drapkin R, Letai A. Drug-induced death signaling strategy rapidly predicts cancer response to chemotherapy. Cell 2015; 160:977-89. PubMed
  • De Raedt T, Beert E, Pasmant E, Luscan A, Brems H, Ortonne N, Helin K, Hornick JL, Mautner V, Kehrer-Sawatzki H, Clapp W, Bradner J, Vidaud M, Upadhyaya M, Legius E, Cichowski K. PRC2 loss amplifies Ras-driven transcription and confers sensitivity to BRD4-based therapies. Nature 2014; 514:247-51. PubMed
  • Malone CF, Fromm JA, Maertens O, DeRaedt T, Ingraham R, Cichowski K. Defining key signaling nodes and therapeutic biomarkers in NF1-mutant cancers. 2014. PubMed
  • Maertens O, Cichowski K. Paths of resistance to EGFR inhibitors: is NF enough? 2014; 4:519-21. PubMed
  • Maertens O, Cichowski K. An expanding role for RAS GTPase activating proteins (RAS GAPs) in cancer. Adv Biol Regul 2014; 55C:1-14. PubMed
  • Widemann BC, Acosta MT, Ammoun S, Belzberg AJ, Bernards A, Blakeley J, Bretscher A, Cichowski K, Clapp DW, Dombi E, Evans GD, Ferner R, Fernandez-Valle C, Fisher MJ, Giovannini M, Gutmann DH, Hanemann CO, Hennigan R, Huson S, Ingram D, Kissil J, Korf BR, Legius E, Packer RJ, McClatchey AI, McCormick F, North K, Pehrsson M, Plotkin SR, Ramesh V, Ratner N, Schirmer S, Sherman L, Schorry E, Stevenson D, Stewart DR, Ullrich N, Bakker AC, Morrison H. CTF meeting 2012: Translation of the basic understanding of the biology and genetics of NF1, NF2, and schwannomatosis toward the development of effective therapies. Am J Med Genet A 2014; 164A:563-78. PubMed
  • McLaughlin SK, Olsen SN, Dake B, De Raedt T, Lim E, Bronson RT, Beroukhim R, Polyak K, Brown M, Kuperwasser C, Cichowski K. The RasGAP gene, RASAL2, is a tumor and metastasis suppressor. Cancer Cell 2013; 24:365-78. PubMed
  • Hollstein PE, Cichowski K. Identifying the Ubiquitin Ligase complex that regulates the NF1 tumor suppressor and Ras. 2013. PubMed
  • Maertens O, Johnson B, Hollstein P, Frederick DT, Cooper ZA, Messiaen L, Bronson RT, McMahon M, Granter S, Flaherty K, Wargo JA, Marais R, Cichowski K. Elucidating distinct roles for NF1 in melanomagenesis. 2013. PubMed
  • McClatchey AI, Cichowski K. SPRED proteins provide a NF-ty link to Ras suppression. Genes Dev 2012; 26:1515-9. PubMed
  • Beert E, Brems H, Daniëls B, De Wever I, Van Calenbergh F, Schoenaers J, Debiec-Rychter M, Gevaert O, De Raedt T, Van Den Bruel A, de Ravel T, Cichowski K, Kluwe L, Mautner V, Sciot R, Legius E. Atypical neurofibromas in neurofibromatosis type 1 are premalignant tumors. Genes Chromosomes Cancer 2011; 50:1021-32. PubMed
  • De Raedt T, Walton Z, Yecies JL, Li D, Chen Y, Malone CF, Maertens O, Jeong SM, Bronson RT, Lebleu V, Kalluri R, Normant E, Haigis MC, Manning BD, Wong KK, Macleod KF, Cichowski K. Exploiting cancer cell vulnerabilities to develop a combination therapy for ras-driven tumors. Cancer Cell 2011; 20:400-13. PubMed
  • Huson SM, Acosta MT, Belzberg AJ, Bernards A, Chernoff J, Cichowski K, Gareth Evans D, Ferner RE, Giovannini M, Korf BR, Listernick R, North KN, Packer RJ, Parada LF, Peltonen J, Ramesh V, Reilly KM, Risner JW, Schorry EK, Upadhyaya M, Viskochil DH, Zhu Y, Hunter-Schaedle K, Giancotti FG. Back to the future: proceedings from the 2010 NF Conference. Am J Med Genet A 2011; 155:307-21. PubMed
  • Cichowski K, Jänne PA. Drug discovery: inhibitors that activate. Nature 2010; 464:358-9. PubMed
  • Min J, Zaslavsky A, Fedele G, McLaughlin SK, Reczek EE, De Raedt T, Guney I, Strochlic DE, Macconaill LE, Beroukhim R, Bronson RT, Ryeom S, Hahn WC, Loda M, Cichowski K. An oncogene-tumor suppressor cascade drives metastatic prostate cancer by coordinately activating Ras and nuclear factor-kappaB. Nat Med 2010; 16:286-94. PubMed
  • McGillicuddy LT, Fromm JA, Hollstein PE, Kubek S, Beroukhim R, De Raedt T, Johnson BW, Williams SM, Nghiemphu P, Liau LM, Cloughesy TF, Mischel PS, Parret A, Seiler J, Moldenhauer G, Scheffzek K, Stemmer-Rachamimov AO, Sawyers CL, Brennan C, Messiaen L, Mellinghoff IK, Cichowski K. Proteasomal and genetic inactivation of the NF1 tumor suppressor in gliomagenesis. Cancer Cell 2009; 16:44-54. PubMed
  • Cichowski K,Hahn WC. Unexpected pieces to the senescence puzzle. Cell 2008; 133:958-61. PubMed
  • Courtois-Cox S, Jones SL, Cichowski K. Many roads lead to oncogene-induced senescence. Oncogene 2008; 27:2801-9. PubMed
  • Johannessen CM, Johnson BW, Williams SM, Chan AW, Reczek EE, Lynch RC, Rioth MJ, McClatchey A, Ryeom S, Cichowski K. TORC1 is essential for NF1-associated malignancies. Curr Biol 2008; 18:56-62. PubMed
  • Courtois-Cox S, Genther Williams SM, Reczek EE, Johnson BW, McGillicuddy LT, Johannessen CM, Hollstein PE, MacCollin M, Cichowski K. A negative feedback signaling network underlies oncogene-induced senescence. Cancer Cell 2006; 10:459-72. PubMed
  • Johannessen CM, Reczek EE, James MF, Brems H, Legius E, Cichowski K. The NF1 tumor suppressor critically regulates TSC2 and mTOR. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2005; 102:8573-8. PubMed
Hide
Visualize Collaborations
Learn how these members are similar
Similar Members

DF/HCC members that share similar concepts* with Karen Cichowski, PhD but have yet to coauthor a publication with this researcher.

* Concepts are MeSH terms, automatically derived from member publications

Similar Members