Anna Arnal Estape, PhD, BS
Research & Publications
Biography
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Extensive Research Description
Cancer cells disobey signaling networks that control cell division and differentiation during tumor progression and metastasis. My early work during my PhD focused on the role of a breast cancer oncogenic signal, ERBB2, in the evasion of two tumor suppressor mechanisms in breast cancer cells, namely TGFb cytostasis and oncogene-induced senescence. We identified C/EBPb as the molecular link between ERBB2 oncogenic signal and the evasion of these two potent suppressive functions in tumor cells. Despite improvement in primary tumor targeted, metastasis accounts for 90% of solid tumors-related death. We performed an in vivo screen that identified mediators of bone metastasis in breast cancer cells. We validated Noggin and Maf as key effectors of bone metastasis. These publications report the need for stratification of breast cancer patients to determine those with increased risk of bone relapse that will benefit from the therapeutic targeting of these pathways.
In my postdoctoral training at Albert Einstein, I acquired expertise in genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs) of prostate cancer and microenvironmental cues that promotes tumor progression and metastasis such as angiogenesis and the autonomous nervous system. We identified that adrenergic signaling is responsible for a metabolic switch on endothelial cells that allow prostate progression from PIN stage to adenocarcinoma.
In 2014 I joined the laboratory of Don Nguyen in the Pathology department to continue my studies of tumor biology and metastasis of non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs). We are interested in determining the function of a transcriptional network, which normally controls epithelial differentiation in the airways, in different NSCLC subtypes. We found that this transcriptional network correlates with poor outcome in patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), a distinct subtype of NSCLC. To this end, we have developed several GEMMs of LUAD to interrogate the requirements of the metastasis suppressors Hopx and Gata6 in tumor initiation.
I believe science requires a collaborative environment for success. During my PhD and postdoctoral training, I developed my research in tight collaboration with different coworkers within the laboratory as well as researchers from different institutions. From these fruitful collaborations, several projects were published in high impact journals within our field.
Coauthors
Research Interests
Adenocarcinoma; Cell Biology; Disease Models, Animal; Neoplasm Metastasis; Pathology; Tumor Microenvironment
Public Health Interests
Community Engagement
Selected Publications
- Brain metastatic outgrowth and osimertinib resistance are potentiated by RhoA in EGFR-mutant lung cancerAdua S, Arnal-Estapé A, Zhao M, Qi B, Liu Z, Kravitz C, Hulme H, Strittmatter N, López-Giráldez F, Chande S, Albert A, Melnick M, Hu B, Politi K, Chiang V, Colclough N, Goodwin R, Cross D, Smith P, Nguyen D. Brain metastatic outgrowth and osimertinib resistance are potentiated by RhoA in EGFR-mutant lung cancer. Nature Communications 2022, 13: 7690. PMID: 36509758, PMCID: PMC9744876, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34889-z.
- Human WDR5 promotes breast cancer growth and metastasis via KMT2-independent translation regulationCai WL, Chen JF, Chen H, Wingrove E, Kurley SJ, Chan LH, Zhang M, Arnal-Estape A, Zhao M, Balabaki A, Li W, Yu X, Krop ED, Dou Y, Liu Y, Jin J, Westbrook TF, Nguyen DX, Yan Q. Human WDR5 promotes breast cancer growth and metastasis via KMT2-independent translation regulation. ELife 2022, 11: e78163. PMID: 36043466, PMCID: PMC9584608, DOI: 10.7554/elife.78163.
- Preclinical Models for the Study of Lung Cancer Pathogenesis and Therapy DevelopmentArnal-Estapé A, Foggetti G, Starrett JH, Nguyen DX, Politi K. Preclinical Models for the Study of Lung Cancer Pathogenesis and Therapy Development. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives In Medicine 2021, 11: a037820. PMID: 34518338, PMCID: PMC8634791, DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a037820.
- Tumor DNA Mutations From Intraparenchymal Brain Metastases Are Detectable in CSFCheok SK, Narayan A, Arnal-Estape A, Gettinger S, Goldberg SB, Kluger HM, Nguyen D, Patel A, Chiang V. Tumor DNA Mutations From Intraparenchymal Brain Metastases Are Detectable in CSF. JCO Precision Oncology 2021, 5: 163-172. PMID: 34250381, PMCID: PMC8232069, DOI: 10.1200/po.20.00292.
- Tumor progression and chromatin landscape of lung cancer are regulated by the lineage factor GATA6Arnal-Estapé A, Cai WL, Albert AE, Zhao M, Stevens LE, López-Giráldez F, Patel KD, Tyagi S, Schmitt EM, Westbrook TF, Nguyen DX. Tumor progression and chromatin landscape of lung cancer are regulated by the lineage factor GATA6. Oncogene 2020, 39: 3726-3737. PMID: 32157212, PMCID: PMC7190573, DOI: 10.1038/s41388-020-1246-z.
- Specific chromatin landscapes and transcription factors couple breast cancer subtype with metastatic relapse to lung or brainCai WL, Greer CB, Chen JF, Arnal-Estapé A, Cao J, Yan Q, Nguyen DX. Specific chromatin landscapes and transcription factors couple breast cancer subtype with metastatic relapse to lung or brain. BMC Medical Genomics 2020, 13: 33. PMID: 32143622, PMCID: PMC7060551, DOI: 10.1186/s12920-020-0695-0.
- Nestin+NG2+ Cells Form a Reserve Stem Cell Population in the Mouse ProstateHanoun M, Arnal-Estapé A, Maryanovich M, Zahalka AH, Bergren SK, Chua CW, Leftin A, Brodin PN, Shen MM, Guha C, Frenette PS. Nestin+NG2+ Cells Form a Reserve Stem Cell Population in the Mouse Prostate. Stem Cell Reports 2019, 12: 1201-1211. PMID: 31130357, PMCID: PMC6565923, DOI: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2019.04.019.
- Transcriptomic Hallmarks of Tumor Plasticity and Stromal Interactions in Brain MetastasisWingrove E, Liu ZZ, Patel KD, Arnal-Estapé A, Cai WL, Melnick MA, Politi K, Monteiro C, Zhu L, Valiente M, Kluger HM, Chiang VL, Nguyen DX. Transcriptomic Hallmarks of Tumor Plasticity and Stromal Interactions in Brain Metastasis. Cell Reports 2019, 27: 1277-1292.e7. PMID: 31018140, PMCID: PMC6592283, DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.03.085.
- Pre-Conditioning the Airways of Mice with Bleomycin Increases the Efficiency of Orthotopic Lung Cancer Cell Engraftment.Stevens LE, Arnal-Estapé A, Nguyen DX. Pre-Conditioning the Airways of Mice with Bleomycin Increases the Efficiency of Orthotopic Lung Cancer Cell Engraftment. Journal Of Visualized Experiments 2018 PMID: 30010648, PMCID: PMC6102009, DOI: 10.3791/56650.
- MSK1 regulates luminal cell differentiation and metastatic dormancy in ER+ breast cancer.Gawrzak S, Rinaldi L, Gregorio S, Arenas EJ, Salvador F, Urosevic J, Figueras-Puig C, Rojo F, Del Barco Barrantes I, Cejalvo JM, Palafox M, Guiu M, Berenguer-Llergo A, Symeonidi A, Bellmunt A, Kalafatovic D, Arnal-Estapé A, Fernández E, Müllauer B, Groeneveld R, Slobodnyuk K, Stephan-Otto Attolini C, Saura C, Arribas J, Cortes J, Rovira A, Muñoz M, Lluch A, Serra V, Albanell J, Prat A, Nebreda AR, Benitah SA, Gomis RR. MSK1 regulates luminal cell differentiation and metastatic dormancy in ER+ breast cancer. Nature Cell Biology 2018, 20: 211-221. PMID: 29358704, DOI: 10.1038/s41556-017-0021-z.
- Adrenergic nerves activate an angio-metabolic switch in prostate cancerZahalka AH, Arnal-Estapé A, Maryanovich M, Nakahara F, Cruz CD, Finley LWS, Frenette PS. Adrenergic nerves activate an angio-metabolic switch in prostate cancer. Science 2017, 358: 321-326. PMID: 29051371, PMCID: PMC5783182, DOI: 10.1126/science.aah5072.
- Extracellular Matrix Receptor Expression in Subtypes of Lung Adenocarcinoma Potentiates Outgrowth of MicrometastasesStevens LE, Cheung WKC, Adua SJ, Arnal-Estapé A, Zhao M, Liu Z, Brewer K, Herbst RS, Nguyen DX. Extracellular Matrix Receptor Expression in Subtypes of Lung Adenocarcinoma Potentiates Outgrowth of Micrometastases. Cancer Research 2017, 77: 1905-1917. PMID: 28196904, PMCID: PMC5468792, DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-16-1978.
- Fetal liver hematopoietic stem cell niches associate with portal vessels.Khan JA, Mendelson A, Kunisaki Y, Birbrair A, Kou Y, Arnal-Estapé A, Pinho S, Ciero P, Nakahara F, Ma'ayan A, Bergman A, Merad M, Frenette PS. Fetal liver hematopoietic stem cell niches associate with portal vessels. Science (New York, N.Y.) 2016, 351: 176-80. PMID: 26634440, PMCID: PMC4706788, DOI: 10.1126/science.aad0084.
- Enhanced MAF Oncogene Expression and Breast Cancer Bone Metastasis.Pavlovic M, Arnal-Estapé A, Rojo F, Bellmunt A, Tarragona M, Guiu M, Planet E, Garcia-Albéniz X, Morales M, Urosevic J, Gawrzak S, Rovira A, Prat A, Nonell L, Lluch A, Jean-Mairet J, Coleman R, Albanell J, Gomis RR. Enhanced MAF Oncogene Expression and Breast Cancer Bone Metastasis. Journal Of The National Cancer Institute 2015, 107: djv256. PMID: 26376684, PMCID: PMC4681582, DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djv256.
- Neural regulation of hematopoiesis, inflammation, and cancer.Hanoun M, Maryanovich M, Arnal-Estapé A, Frenette PS. Neural regulation of hematopoiesis, inflammation, and cancer. Neuron 2015, 86: 360-73. PMID: 25905810, PMCID: PMC4416657, DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2015.01.026.
- Sweets for a Bitter End: Lung Cancer Cell–Surface Protein Glycosylation Mediates Metastatic ColonizationArnal-Estapé A, Nguyen DX. Sweets for a Bitter End: Lung Cancer Cell–Surface Protein Glycosylation Mediates Metastatic Colonization. Cancer Discovery 2015, 5: 109-111. PMID: 25656895, PMCID: PMC4340588, DOI: 10.1158/2159-8290.cd-15-0013.
- Identification of NOG as a specific breast cancer bone metastasis-supporting gene.Tarragona M, Pavlovic M, Arnal-Estapé A, Urosevic J, Morales M, Guiu M, Planet E, González-Suárez E, Gomis RR. Identification of NOG as a specific breast cancer bone metastasis-supporting gene. The Journal Of Biological Chemistry 2012, 287: 21346-55. PMID: 22547073, PMCID: PMC3375555, DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M112.355834.
- Epithelial-mesenchymal transition can suppress major attributes of human epithelial tumor-initiating cells.Celià-Terrassa T, Meca-Cortés O, Mateo F, Martínez de Paz A, Rubio N, Arnal-Estapé A, Ell BJ, Bermudo R, Díaz A, Guerra-Rebollo M, Lozano JJ, Estarás C, Ulloa C, Álvarez-Simón D, Milà J, Vilella R, Paciucci R, Martínez-Balbás M, de Herreros AG, Gomis RR, Kang Y, Blanco J, Fernández PL, Thomson TM. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition can suppress major attributes of human epithelial tumor-initiating cells. The Journal Of Clinical Investigation 2012, 122: 1849-68. PMID: 22505459, PMCID: PMC3366719, DOI: 10.1172/JCI59218.
- Tumor-stroma interactions a trademark for metastasis.Morales M, Planet E, Arnal-Estape A, Pavlovic M, Tarragona M, Gomis RR. Tumor-stroma interactions a trademark for metastasis. Breast (Edinburgh, Scotland) 2011, 20 Suppl 3: S50-5. PMID: 22015293, DOI: 10.1016/S0960-9776(11)70294-6.
- HER2 silences tumor suppression in breast cancer cells by switching expression of C/EBPß isoforms.Arnal-Estapé A, Tarragona M, Morales M, Guiu M, Nadal C, Massagué J, Gomis RR. HER2 silences tumor suppression in breast cancer cells by switching expression of C/EBPß isoforms. Cancer Research 2010, 70: 9927-36. PMID: 21098707, DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-10-0869.
- Monoclonal anti-mouse laminin antibodies: AL-1 reacts with laminin alpha1 chain, AL-2 with laminin beta1 chain, and AL-4 with the coiled-coil domain of laminin beta1 chain.Schéele S, Sasaki T, Arnal-Estapé A, Durbeej M, Ekblom P. Monoclonal anti-mouse laminin antibodies: AL-1 reacts with laminin alpha1 chain, AL-2 with laminin beta1 chain, and AL-4 with the coiled-coil domain of laminin beta1 chain. Matrix Biology : Journal Of The International Society For Matrix Biology 2006, 25: 301-5. PMID: 16631359, DOI: 10.1016/j.matbio.2006.03.004.