Lewis Cantley
Department of Systems Biology
CLS Building, Room 412
3 Blackfan Circle
Boston, MA 02115
Tel: 617-735-2601
Fax: 617-735-2646
Email: lcantley@hms.harvard.edu
Lab Members: 13 postdoctoral fellows, 3 graduate students
The major research objective of our laboratory is to understand the biochemical and genetic basis for cell growth regulation by growth factors and hormones. Research from our laboratory has led to the elucidation of a pathway by which growth factors stimulate nutrient uptake and cellular metabolism, leading to increased cell growth and cell survival. Defects in homeostatic control of this signaling network can lead to cancers or to diabetes or metabolic disease. A central node in this network is the enzyme phosphoinositide 3-kinase. In order to explore the in vivo role of this network we are generating mice in which components of the network can be switched on or off to determine their effects on cancers and other diseases.
References:
Zheng B, Jeong JH, Asara JM, Yuan YY, Granter SR, Chin L, Cantley LC. Oncogenic B-RAF negatively regulates the tumor suppressor LKB1 to promote melanoma cell proliferation. Mol Cell. 2009 Jan 30;33(2):237-47. PMCID 2659340
Hutti JE, Shen RR, Abbott DW, Zhou AY, Sprott KM, Asara JM, Hahn WC, Cantley LC. Phosphorylation of the tumor suppressor CYLD by the breast cancer oncogene IKKepsilon promotes cell transformation. Mol Cell. 2009 May 14;34(4):461-72. PMCID 2746958
Gewinner C, Wang ZC, Richardson A, Teruya-Feldstein J, Etemadmoghadam D, Bowtell D, Barretina J, Lin WM, Rameh L, Salmena L, Pandolfi PP, Cantley LC. Evidence that inositol polyphosphate 4-phosphatase type II is a tumor suppressor that inhibits PI3K signaling. Cancer Cell. 2009 Aug 4;16(2):115-25. NIHMSID: NIHMS235483
Vander Heiden MG, Locasale JW, Swanson KD, Sharfi H, Heffron GJ, Amador-Noguez D, Christofk HR, Wagner G, Rabinowitz JD, Asara JM, Cantley LC. Evidence for an alternative glycolytic pathway in rapidly proliferating cells. Science. 2010 Sep 17;329(5998):1492-9. PMID: 20847263; NIHMS264693
Yuan TL, Wulf G, Burga L, Cantley LC. Cell-to-Cell Variability in PI3K Protein Level Regulates PI3K-AKT Pathway Activity in Cell Populations. Curr Biol. 2011 Feb 8;21(3):173-83. Epub 2011 Jan 20. PMID: 21256021
Sasaki AT, Carracedo A, Locasale JW, Anastasiou D, Takeuchi K, Kahoud ER, Haviv S, Asara JM, Pandolfi PP, Cantley LC. Ubiquitination of k-ras enhances activation and facilitates binding to select downstream effectors. Sci Signal. 2011 Mar 8;4(163):ra13. PMID: 21386094 [PubMed - in process]
Tsou P, Zheng B, Hsu CH, Sasaki AT, Cantley LC. A Fluorescent Reporter of AMPK Activity and Cellular Energy Stress. Cell Metab. 2011 Apr 6;13(4):476-86.PMID: 21459332 [PubMed - in process]