Click here for description of available postdoctoral position in Jeruss lab
Dr. Jeruss is a breast surgeon and a laboratory based investigator. Her laboratory focuses on how alterations in cell signaling affect breast cancer prognosis. Several new proteins are being studied that have shown potential to affect breast cancer onset and progression. While significant data exists to link the importance of a group of growth regulatory proteins known as the TGFß superfamily to breast cancer development, the role of several members of this family, such as the growth factor activin, as well as that of the signal transducer Smad 3, is not well understood. Activin is a protein that acts on the cell surface to trigger specific cellular functions related to growth control. Smad 3 is a messenger protein that travels to the nucleus of the cell to enable specific growth regulatory actions. There is compelling preliminary data that links the actions of activin and Smad 3 to the regulation of normal cellular growth control in breast tissue. Additionally, Smad 3 has been shown to slow down the growth of breast cancer cells in the laboratory. Breast cancers that have intact activin and Smad 3 function are smaller and exhibit more favorable biologic phenotypes.
The goal of the Jeruss laboratory is to further understand the mechanism by which Smad 3 acts to inhibit breast cancer growth and development and to identify the mechanism of inactivation of the Smad 3 protein. Additional work focuses on whether Smad 3 acts alone or in conjunction with additional key regulatory proteins to inhibit breast cancer cell growth. Lastly patient samples are being studied to determine if the presence or absence of Smad 3, along with two other key growth regulatory proteins, cyclins D1 and E, help to predict the prognosis of patients with breast cancer. These efforts will ultimately facilitate the further development of individualized patient care, based on the unique biology of each breast cancer patient. The Jeruss lab also works on research designed to address the possible association between infertility treatment and breast cancer development in a high risk breast cancer model. Further initiatives also focus on the development of a molecular staging of breast cancer, through collaboration with Dr. Lonnie Shea in the Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, who is designing a cell based array for the functional assessment of cancer gene activity.
Publications:
Jeruss JS, Braun SV, Reese JC, Guillot A. Cyclosporine-induced white and gray matter central nervous system lesions in a pediatric renal transplant patient. Pediatric Transplantation 1998; 2: 45-50.
Jeruss JS, Liu NX, Cheung Y, Magrane G, Waldman F, Edgerton S, Yang X, Thor AD. Characterization and Chromosomal Instability of Novel Derived Cell Lines from an erbB-2 Transgenic Mouse Model. Carcinogenesis 2003; 24: 659-64.
Jeruss JS, Santiago JY, Woodruff TK. Expression and Localization of Activin and Inhibin Receptors, Smads, and Subunits in Postnatal Mammary Gland Development. Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology 2003; 203: 185-96.
Jeruss JS, Sturgis CD, Rademaker AW, Woodruff TK. Downregulation and Cellular Redistribution of Activin, Activin Receptors, and Smads in High Grade Breast Cancer. Cancer Research 2003; 63: 3783-90.
Jeruss JS, Winchester DJ, Sener SS, Brinkman EM, Bilimoria MB, Barrera E, Alwaw E, Schermerhorn GM, Winchester DP. Axillary Recurrence Following Sentinel Node Biopsy. Ann Surg Oncol 2005; 12: 34-40.
Burdette JE, Jeruss JS, Kurley SJ, Lee EJ, Woodruff TK. Activin A Mediates Growth Inhibition and Cell Cycle Arrest Through Smads in Human Breast Cancer Cells. Cancer Res 2005; 65: 7968-75.
Jeruss JS, Vicini FA, Beitsch PD, Haffty BG, Quiet CA, Zannis VJ, Keleher AJ, Garcia D, Snider HC, Gittleman MA, Whitacre E, Whitworth PW, Fine RE, Arrambide A, Kuerer HM. Initial Outcomes for Patients Treated on the American Society of Breast Surgeons MammoSite Clinical Trial for Ductal Carcinoma In Situ of the Breast. Ann. Surg. Oncol 2006; 13: 967-76.
Jeruss JS, Xing Y, Krishnamurthy S, Meric-Bernstam F, Cantor SB, Ross, MI, Hunt KK, Cormier JN. Is Intraoperative Touch Imprint Cytology of Sentinel Lymph Nodes in Patients with Breast Cancer Cost Effective? Cancer 2006; 107: 2328-36.
Jeruss JS, Mittendorf EA, Tucker SL, Gonzalez-Angulo AM, Bucholz TA, Sahin AA, Cormier JN, Buzdar AU, Hortobagyi GN, Hunt KK. The Combined Use of Clinical and Pathologic Staging Variables to Define Outcomes for Breast Cancer Patients Treated with Neoadjuvant Therapy. J Clin Oncol 2008; 26: 246-52.
Jeruss JS, Newman LA, Ayers GD, Cristofanilli M, Broglio K, Meric-Bernstam F, Yi M, Waljee JF, Bedrosian I, Ross MI, GV, Kuerer HM, Feig BW, Hunt KK. Factors Predicting Additional Disease in the Axilla in Patients with Positive Sentinel Nodes after Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy. Cancer 2008; (in press).
