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

John F. Enders Research Building, Room 1149
300 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
617-919-2030 (office)
617-730-0238 (fax)
Dolores.DiVizio@Childrens.Harvard.Edu

I have been working with the Freeman group since September 2005. I am interested in elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying prostate cancer progression to advanced disease. Particular emphasis is dedicated to membrane-associated proteins, complexes they form with other proteins, and post-translational modifications, particularly lipidation, that can affect signal transduction.

Main lines of research are:

Biological and molecular implications of Fatty Acid Synthase (FASN) and Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) coordinate upregulation in prostate cancer progression. Our hypothesis is that overexpression of FASN and Cav-1 may trigger alterations in cholesterol and fatty acid content of tumor cell membranes in a manner that affects signaling receptor function in the membrane and, consequently, the biological behavior of tumor cells.

Study of non-apoptotic cell surface blebbing in cancer cells, resulting in secretion of biologically active microvesicles in the tumor microenvironment. Our objective is to elucidate the mechanism of membrane blebbing and oncosome formation and to identify potent inhibitors of this process through siRNA and drug screening. The overarching hypothesis is that oncosomes may be responsible for both motility and paracrine signals that are required for migration, metastasis and hormone independence of tumor cells.

Honors and Awards

• 2008-2010 Howard Temin Award (K99) from the NCI (1K99CA131472)
  
• 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.

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.

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; 6(8): 1263-8.

Di Vizio D, Adam RM, Kim J, Kim R, Sotgia F, Williams T, Demichelis F, Solomon KR, Loda M, Rubin MA, Lisanti MP, Freeman MR. (2008) Caveolin-1 interacts with a lipid-raft associated population of fatty acid synthase. Cell Cycle 2007; 7 (14): 2257-67

Di Vizio D., Solomon K.R., Freeman M.R. Cholesterol and cholesterol-rich membranes in prostate cancer: an update. Tumori 2008; 94: 633-39

Di Vizio, D., Kim, J., Hager, M.H., Morello, M., Yang, W., Lafargue, C.J., True, L., Rubin, M.A., Adam, R.M., Beroukhim, R., Demichelis, F., and Freeman, M.R. Oncosome formation in prostate cancer: Association with a region of frequent chromosomal deletion in metastatic disease. Cancer Research 2009; 69:5601-5609.

Di Vizio, D., Morello M., Sotgia F., Pestell R.G., Freeman M.R., Lisanti M.P. An absence of stromal caveolin-1 is associated with advanced prostate cancer, metastatic disease spread and epithelial Akt activation. Cell Cycle 2009; 8 (15): 2420-4

Yang, W., Di Vizio, D., Kirchner, M., Steen, H., and Freeman, M.R. Proteome-scale characterization of human s-acylated proteins in lipid raft-enriched and non-raft membranes. Mol. Cell. Proteomics 2009; 9(1):54-70

top