Dolores Di Vizio MD, PhD
Staff Scientist
Children's Hospital Boston

John F. Enders Research Building, Room 1077
300 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
617-919-2030 (office)
617-730-0238 (fax)
Dolores.DiVizio@Childrens.Harvard.Edu

After I graduated (MD, 1994) and obtained my Residency in Pathology from Federico II University of Naples, Italy (1998), I moved to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, following a brief parenthesis at the Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK, in order to test my interest in basic research and my capability to survive out of Italy. Under the supervision of Richard Pestell, I was involved in the characterization of Erb-B2 signaling in breast cancer, on one side, and in unraveling the role of Androgen Receptor in prostate cancer, on the other side. During that time I had the opportunity to work with Michael Lisanti and became involved in some of his studies on caveolin-1. During a two year postdoctoral fellowship in Dr. Max Loda’s laboratory at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, I became particularly interested in the roles of caveolin-1 and Fatty Acid Synthase (FAS) role in prostate cancer, and together with Lisanti’s group, I made the observation that the inactivation of caveolin-1 results in Fatty Acid Synthase downregulation and in an increased latency in tumor formation in TRAMP mice. It is known that the aggressive biologic behavior of this murine prostate carcinoma is to be ascribed, at least in part, to FAS overexpression, and to the activation of p-Akt pro-survival pathway. Given the potential connection between caveolin-1 signaling and FAS, this line of research has the potential to yield important information on the role of lipid metabolism and cancer. I joined the Freeman Lab in September 2005, and am currently working under Dr. Freeman’s direction in determining the mechanism of altered lipid rafts composition and the effect of targeting caveolin-1 and Fatty Acid Synthase in prostate cancer.

When I have time, I like listening to music, reading, writing and painting.

Honors and Awards

• 2005-2006 American-Italian Cancer Foundation (AICF) Fellowship
• 2003-2005 Scholarship from Federico II University of Naples
• 2004 Best Proffered Paper award at Federico II Medical School, Naples, Italy
• 2003 Best Proffered Paper award, 19 th European Congress of Pathology, Lubjana, Slovenia
• 2000-2002 Scholarship from Federico II University of Naples as outstanding graduate student at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY
• 1999-2000 Outstanding graduate student at Queen’s Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, UK, founded by Federico II University of Naples and the Medical Research Council, UK
• 1998 Best poster award at Federico II Medical School, Naples, Italy

Selected Publications

B. Razani, J.A. Engelman, X.B. Wang, W. Schubert, X.L. Zhang, C.B. Marks, F. Macaluso, R.G. Russel, M. Li, R.G. Pestell, D. Di Vizio, H. Jr. Hou, B. Knietz, G. Lagaud, G.J. Christ, W. Edelmann, M.P. Lisanti. Caveolin-1 null mice are viable, but show evidence of hyper-proliferative and vascular abnormalities. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2001; 276: 38121-38.

M. D’Amico, K. Wu, D. Di Vizio, A. Reutens, M. Stahl, M. Fu, C. Albanese, RG. Russell, WJ. Muller, M. White, A. Negassa, H.W. Lee, RA. DePinho, RG. Pestell. The role of Ink4a/Arf in ErbB2 Mammary Gland Tumorigenesis. Cancer Research 2003; 63 (12):3395-402.

M. Fu, M. Rao, C. Wang, T. Sakamaki, J. Wang, D. Di Vizio, X. Zhang, C. Albanese, S. Balk, C. Chang, S. Fan, E. Rosen, JJ. Palvimo, OA. Janne, S. Muratoglu, ML. Avvantagiatti, RG. Pestell. Acetylation of Androgen Receptor Enhances Coactivator Binding and Promotes Prostate Cancer Cell Growth. Mol Cell Biol 2003 23 (23): 8563-8575.

D. Di Vizio, L. Cito, A Boccia, P. Chieffi, L. Insabato, G. Pettinato, ML. Motti, F. Schepis, W. D’Amico, F. Fabiani, B. Tavernise, S. Venuta, A. Fusco, G. Viglietto. Loss of expression of the tumor suppressor gene PTEN marks the transition from intratubular germ cell neoplasia (ITGCN) to invasive germ cell tumors. Oncogene 2005; 24(11): 1882-94.

TM. Williams, GS. Hassan, J. Li, AW. Cohen, F. Medina , PG. Frank , RG. Pestell, D. Di Vizio, M. Loda, MP. Lisanti. Caveolin-1 promotes tumor progression in an autochthonous mouse model of prostate cancer: genetic ablation of Cav-1 delays advanced prostate tumor development in TRAMP mice. J Biol Chem 2005; 280: 25134-45.

D.R. Carrasco, T. Fenton, K. Sukhdeo, M. Protopopova, M. Enos, MJ. You, D. Di Vizio, C. Nogueira, J. Stommel, GS. Pinkus, C. Fletcher, JL. Hornick, WK. Cavenee, FB. Furnari, RA. DePinho. The PTEN and INK4A/ARF tumor suppressors maintain myelolymphoid homeostasis and cooperate to constrain histiocytic sarcoma development in humans. Cancer Cell 2006; 9: 379-390

M.R. Freeman, B. Cinar, J. Kim, N.Mukhopadhyay, D. Di Vizio, R.M. Adam, K.R. Solomon Transit of hormonal and EGF receptor-dependent signals through cholesterol-rich membranes. Steroids 2007; 72(2):210-7.

R.J. Byers, D. Di Vizio, F. O’Connell, E. Tholouli, R.M. Levenson, K. Gossard, D. Twomey, Y.Yang, E. Benedettini, J. Rose, K.L. Ligon, S.P. Finn, T.R. Golub, M. Loda Semiautomated Multiplex Quantum Dot-Based in Situ Hybridization and Spectral Deconvolution. J Mol Diagn 2007; 9: 20-29

R.M. Adam, N.Mukhopadhyay, J. Kim, D. Di Vizio, B. Cinar, K. Boucher, K.R. Solomon, M.R. Freeman. Cholesterol sensitivity of endogenous and myristoylated Akt. Cancer Res. 2007; 67(13): 6238-46

D. Di Vizio, F. Sotgia, T.W. Williams, G.S. Hassan, F. Capozza, P.G. Frank, R.G. Pestell, M. Loda, M.R. Freeman, M.P. Lisanti. Caveolin-1 is required for the upregulation of Fatty Acid Synthase (FASN), a tumor promoter, during prostate cancer progression. Cancer Biology and Therapy 2007 (in press)

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