DAVID F JARRARD, MD

Research

Dr. Jarrard has a joint appointment with the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center, and his clinical research emphasizes developing new therapies for genitourinary cancers. He is a pioneer in the use of robotic-assisted prostatectomy.

His laboratory’s basic research is focused on two areas:
1. the role of epigenetics in aging and prostate cancer susceptibility, and
2. the molecular pathways involved in the bypass of senescence.

Many environmental aspects, such as oxidative stress, diet, and hormonal influences, may affect epigenetic marks at imprinted loci. We are currently investigating alterations in imprinting in both an in vitro human prostate epithelial cell model and in vivo in a mouse model of aging. Based on our observation that the peripheral zone of the prostate from men with prostate cancer commonly contains biallelic IGF2 expression, we hypothesize that a loss of imprinting in IGF2, an oncogenic growth factor, contributes to the development of prostate cancer with aging. DNA methylation is a putative regulatory mechanism underlying these alterations in imprinting. Our laboratory has also characterized a number of the genetic events and pathways that occur in human prostate epithelial cells that have overcome or bypassed senescence. These pathways are being examined in human prostate cancer samples for their use as prognostic markers and therapeutic targets.

Publications

• Dobosy JR, Roberts JL, Fu VX, Jarrard DF. The expanding role of epigenetics in the development, diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia. J Urol. 2007 Mar;177(3):822-31. Review.
• Best S, Sawers Y, Fu VX, Almassi N, Huang W, Jarrard DF. Integrity of prostatic tissue for molecular analysis after robotic-assisted laparoscopic and open prostatectomy. Urology. 2007 Aug;70(2):328-32.
• Aziz MH, Nihal M, Fu VX, Jarrard DF, Ahmad N. Resveratrol-caused apoptosis of human prostate carcinoma LNCaP cells is mediated via modulation of phosphatidylinositol 3′-kinase/Akt pathway and Bcl-2 family proteins. Mol Cancer Ther. 2006 May;5(5):1335-41.
• Saleem M, Adhami VM, Zhong W, Longley BJ, Lin CY, Dickson RB, Reagan-Shaw S, Jarrard DF, Mukhtar H. A novel biomarker for staging human prostate adenocarcinoma: overexpression of matriptase with concomitant loss of its inhibitor, hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor-1. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2006 Feb;15(2):217-27.
• Schwarze SR, Fu VX, Desotelle JA, Kenowski ML, Jarrard DF. The identification of senescence-specific genes during the induction of senescence in prostate cancer cells. Neoplasia. 2005 Sep;7(9):816-23.

Mentor to METC Graduate Students:

• Josh Desotelle (2011)
• J. Lea Roberts (MS 2007)