Assistant Professor in Neurosurgery
Member of the Duke Cancer Institute
Overview
Our laboratory is focused on searching for cures for brain tumors. We have three main branches to our research:
Oligodendroglioma
We are exploring clinicopathological correlates in oliogendroglioma, by delving into the mechanisms that underlie features observed on histological sections. By understanding the mechanisms, we can begin to target pathways specifically activated in oligodendrogliomas at the time of progression.
Glioblastoma tumor microenvironment
The tumor microenvironment comprises tumor cells, inflammation, and blood vessels. In glioblastoma, a large component of the inflammatory infiltrate is macrophages. Our research explores the role of these macrophages in the glioblastoma tumor microenvironment.
Tumors metastatic to the brain
Tumors from the lung, breast, kidney, colon, and skin frequently metastasize to the brain, where they cause significant morbidity and mortality. We aim to better understand the tumor microenvironment in these metastases, and how the microenvironment differs from that in primary gliomas, with the goal of identifying targets for activating the immune system against the metastatic tumors.
Publications
Publications by Lab Members
- Ahn JS, Petersen M, Friedman AH, López EM, Cummings TJ, Buckley AF, López GY. Eosinophilic globules in a classic ependymoma: evidence of a possible secretory role. Ultrastruct Pathol. 2020 Nov 20;44(4-6):511-518. doi: 10.1080/01913123.2020.1843578. Epub 2020 Nov 5. PMID: 33148106.
- López GY, Perry A, Harding B, Li M, Santi M. CDKN2A/B Loss Is Associated with Anaplastic Transformation in a Case of NTRK2 Fusion-positive Pilocytic Astrocytoma. Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol. 2019 Feb;45(2):174-178. doi: 10.1111/nan.12503. Epub 2018 Jun 21. PubMed PMID: 29804288; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6258357.
- López GY, Van Ziffle J, Onodera C, Grenert JP, Yeh I, Bastian BC, Clarke J, Oberheim Bush NA, Taylor J, Chang S, Butowski N, Banerjee A, Mueller S, Kline C, Torkildson J, Samuel D, Siongco A, Raffel C, Gupta N, Kunwar S, Mummaneni P, Aghi M, Theodosopoulos P, Berger M, Phillips JJ, Pekmezci M, Tihan T, Bollen AW, Perry A, Solomon DA. The genetic landscape of gliomas arising after therapeutic radiation. Acta Neuropathol. 2019 Jan;137(1):139-150. doi: 10.1007/s00401-018-1906-z. Epub 2018 Sep 8. PubMed PMID: 30196423; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6589431.
- Lopez GY, Oberheim Bush NA, Phillips JJ, Bouffard JP, Moshel YA, Jaeckle K, Kleinschmidt-DeMasters BK, Rosenblum MK, Perry A, Solomon DA. Diffuse midline gliomas with subclonal H3F3A K27M mutation and mosaic H3.3 K27M mutant protein expression. Acta Neuropathol. 2017 Dec;134(6):961-963. doi: 10.1007/s00401-017-1780-0. Epub 2017 Oct 23. PubMed PMID: 29063183; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6078201.
- López G, Oberheim Bush NA, Berger MS, Perry A, Solomon DA. Diffuse non-midline glioma with H3F3A K27M mutation: a prognostic and treatment dilemma. Acta Neuropathol Commun. 2017 May 15;5(1):38. doi: 10.1186/s40478-017-0440-x. PubMed PMID: 28506301; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5433088.
- Lopez G, McLendon RE, Peters KB. Supratentorial tanycytic ependymoma in an adult male: case report and review of literature. Case Rep Oncol. 2015 Jan-Apr;8(1):159-63. doi: 10.1159/000380906. eCollection 2015 Jan-Apr. PubMed PMID: 25873884; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4386143.
- Feng H, Lopez GY, Kim CK, Alvarez A, Duncan CG, Nishikawa R, Nagane M, Su AJ, Auron PE, Hedberg ML, Wang L, Raizer JJ, Kessler JA, Parsa AT, Gao WQ, Kim SH, Minata M, Nakano I, Grandis JR, McLendon RE, Bigner DD, Lin HK, Furnari FB, Cavenee WK, Hu B, Yan H, Cheng SY. EGFR phosphorylation of DCBLD2 recruits TRAF6 and stimulates AKT-promoted tumorigenesis. J Clin Invest. 2014 Sep;124(9):3741-56. doi: 10.1172/JCI73093. Epub 2014 Jul 25. PubMed PMID: 25061874; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4151226.
- Jin G, Reitman ZJ, Duncan CG, Spasojevic I, Gooden DM, Rasheed BA, Yang R, Lopez GY, He Y, McLendon RE, Bigner DD, Yan H. Disruption of wild-type IDH1 suppresses D-2-hydroxyglutarate production in IDH1-mutated gliomas. Cancer Res.2013 Jan 15;73(2):496-501. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-12-2852. Epub 2012 Nov 30. PubMed PMID: 23204232; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3548957.
- Koivunen P, Lee S, Duncan CG, Lopez G, Lu G, Ramkissoon S, Losman JA, Joensuu P, Bergmann U, Gross S, Travins J, Weiss S, Looper R, Ligon KL, Verhaak RG, Yan H, Kaelin WG Jr. Transformation by the (R)-enantiomer of 2-hydroxyglutarate linked to EGLN activation. Nature. 2012 Feb 15;483(7390):484-8. doi: 10.1038/nature10898. PubMed PMID: 22343896; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3656605.
- Lopez GY, Reitman ZJ, Solomon D, Waldman T, Bigner DD, McLendon RE, Rosenberg SA, Samuels Y, Yan H. IDH1(R132) mutation identified in one human melanoma metastasis, but not correlated with metastases to the brain. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2010 Jul 30;398(3):585-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2010.06.125. Epub 2010 Jul 13. PubMed PMID: 20603105; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2987603.
People
We are hiring! We are actively looking for graduate students to join our growing group. Please reach out if you are interested in learning about available positions.
Huifang Dai
Research Analyst
Jorge Santana Santini
Research Technician