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Fredika Robertson, Ph.D.

Present Title & Affiliation

Primary Appointment

Professor, Department of Experimental Therapeutics, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Department of Experimental Therapeutics, Houston, TX
Director of Translational Research, Morgan Welch Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Program, Houston, TX
Regular Member, Graduate Faculty, The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, TX

Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment

Joint Appointment, Department of Breast Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Department of Breast Medical Oncology, Houston, TX

Research Interests

The research in my laboratory is directed at understanding the genomic and proteomic alterations that are hallmarks of cellular transformation in the breast, skin and head and neck. There is a strong interest in our laboratory to use proteins and peptides identified by proteomic analysis for development of approaches for earlier detection of tumors and as targets for development of novel therapies for specific tumor types which match their specific characteristics, post-transcriptional mechanisms regulating gene expression. In addition, my laboratory is also involved in multidisciplinary studies to use nanotechnology platforms as a means to accelerate development of diagnostics and therapeutic modalities for use in translational research and ultimately for clinical use.

 

Education & Training

Degree-Granting Education

1986 State University of New York at Buffalo, Roswell Park Memorial Institute Grace Cancer Drug Center, Buffalo, NY, PHD, Experimental Therapeutics
1975 Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, MS, Developmental Biology
1973 Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, BS, Biology

Postgraduate Training

1979-1981 Postdoctoral Fellow, Area of Focus: Multi-Stage Carcinogenesis, University of Southern California Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA, Mentor: Dr. Charles Heidelberger

Selected Publications

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles
1. Van Laere S, Ueno NT, Finetti P, Vermeulen P, Lucci A, Robertson FM, Iwamoto T, Van Dam P, Woodward WA, Cristofanilli M, Birnbaum D, Viens P, Dirix L, Reuben JM, Bertucci F. An integrated analysis of three distinct IBC/nIBC Affymetrix gene expression data sets: uncovering the molecular secrets of IBC-biology. Clin Cancer Res. In Press.
2. Bertucci F, Ueno NT, Finetti P, Vermeulen P, Lucci A, Robertson FM, Marsan M, Iwamoto T, Krishnamurthy S, Hiroko M, Van Dam P, Woodward WA, Cristifanilli M, Viens P, Dirix L, Reuben JM, Symmans WF, Birnbaum D, Van Laere, S. Gene expression profiles of inflammatory breast cancer: correlation with response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and survival. Clin Cancer Res. In Press.
3. Liu H, Luo AZ, Mu Z, Chu K, Ye Z, Alpaugh RK, Circo R, Wulfkuhle J, Fernandez S, Boley KM, Jin J, Wright MC, Barsky SH, Petricoin EF, Cristofanilli M, Robertson FM. Mapping the Angiogenic Pathways in Inflammatory Breast Cancer. J Oncol Special Issue “Tumor Angiogenesis". In Press.
4. Robertson FM, Chu K, Ye Z, Wright MC, Freiter EM, Luo AZ, Jin J, Barsky SH, Cristofanilli M, Krishnamurthy K. Secretory Leukocyte Peptidase Inhibitor as a Biomarker and Therapeutic Target of Tumor Emboli in Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Pathol Res Intl Special Issue “Progress in Diagnosis of Breast Cancer”. In Press.
5. Robertson FM and Cristofanilli M. New Therapeutic Targets in Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Curr Breast Cancer Rep, 7/2012. e-Pub 7/2012.
6. Ye Y, Gao J-X, Tian H, Yearsley K, Lange AR, Robertson, FM, Barsky SH. Early to Intermediate Steps of Tumor Embolic Formation Involve Specific Proteolytic Processing of E-cadherin Regulated by Rab 7. Mol Cancer Res 10(6):713-26, 6/2012. PMID: 22638108.
7. Debeb BG, Cohen EN, Boley K, Freiter EM, Li L, Robertson FM, Reuben JM, Cristofanilli M, Buchholz TA, Woodward WA. Pre-clinical studies of Notch signaling inhibitor RO4929097 in inflammatory breast cancer cells. Breast Cancer Res Treat. e-Pub 5/1/2012. PMID: 22547109.
8. Ye Y, Tian H, Lange AR, Yearsley K, Robertson FM, Barsky SH. The genesis and unique properties of the lymphovascular tumor embolus are because of calpain-regulated proteolysis of E-cadherin. Oncogene. e-Pub 5/14/2012. PMID: 22580607.
9. Mandal PK, Freiter EM, Bagsby AL, Robertson FM, McMurray JS. Efficient synthesis of apricoxib, CS-706, a selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor, and evaluation of inhibition of prostaglandin E2 production in inflammatory breast cancer cells. Bioorg Med Chem Lett 21(20):6071-3, 10/2011. e-Pub 8/2011. PMID: 21903394.
10. Dawood S, Merajver SD, Viens P, Vermeulen PB, Swain SM, Buchholz TA, Dirix LY, Levine PH, Lucci A, Krishnamurthy S, Robertson FM, Woodward WA, Yang WT, Ueno NT, Cristofanilli M. International expert panel on inflammatory breast cancer: consensus statement for standardized diagnosis and treatment. Ann Oncol 22(3):515-23, 3/2011. e-Pub 7/2010. PMID: 20603440.
11. Iwamoto T, Bianchini G, Qi Y, Cristofanilli M, Lucci A, Woodward WA, Reuben JM, Matsuoka J, Gong Y, Krishnamurthy S, Valero V, Hortobagyi GN, Robertson FM, Symmans WF, Pusztai L, Ueno NT. Different gene expressions are associated with the different molecular subtypes of inflammatory breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 125(3):785-95, 2/2011. e-Pub 10/2010. PMID: 21153052.
12. Robertson FM, Cristofanilli M. A global approach to inflammatory breast cancer. Future Oncol 7(1):25-30, 1/2011. PMID: 21174535.
13. Robertson FM, Bondy M, Yang W, Yamauchi H, Wiggins S, Kamrudin S, Krishnamurthy S, Le-Petross H, Bidaut L, Player AN, Barsky SH, Woodward WA, Buchholz T, Lucci A, Ueno NT, Cristofanilli M. Inflammatory breast cancer: the disease, the biology, the treatment. CA Cancer J Clin 60(6):351-75, 11/2010. e-Pub 10/2010. PMID: 20959401.
14. Debeb BG, Zhang X, Krishnamurthy S, Gao H, Cohen E, Li L, Rodriguez AA, Landis MD, Lucci A, Ueno NT, Robertson F, Xu W, Lacerda L, Buchholz TA, Cristofanilli M, Reuben JM, Lewis MT, Woodward WA. Characterizing cancer cells with cancer stem cell-like features in 293T human embryonic kidney cells. Mol Cancer 9(1):180, 7/2010. PMCID: PMC2915978; 20615238.
15. Robertson FM, Ogasawara MA, Ye Z, Chu K, Pickei R, Debeb BG, Woodward WA, Hittelman WN, Cristofanilli M, Barsky SH. Imaging and analysis of 3D tumor spheroids enriched for a cancer stem cell phenotype. J Biomol Screen 15(7). e-Pub 7/2010. PMID: 20639504.
16. Robertson FM, Simeone AM, Lucci A, McMurray JS, Ghosh S, Cristofanilli M. Differential regulation of the aggressive phenotype of inflammatory breast cancer cells by prostanoid receptors EP3 and EP4. Cancer 116(11 Suppl):2806-14, 6/2010. PMID: PMC2889924.
17. Robertson FM, Woodward WA, Pickei R, Ye Z, Bornmann W, Pal A, Peng Z, Hall CS, Cristofanilli M. Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid blocks self-renewal and homotypic aggregation of inflammatory breast cancer spheroids. Cancer 116(11 Suppl):2760-7, 6/2010. PMID: 20503408.
18. Debeb BG, Xu W, Mok H, Li L, Robertson F, Ueno N, Reuben J, Lucci A, Cristofanilli M, Woodward W. Differential radiosensitizing effect of valproic acid in differentiating vs self renewal promoting culture conditions. International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics 76(3):889-95, 3/2010. PMCID: PMC2892870.
19. Nijdam J, MR, Herderick EE, Cheng MM, Prosperi JR, Robertson FM, Petricoin EF, Loitta LA, Ferrari M,. Application of physicochemically modified silicon substrates reverse phase protein microarrays. J Proteome Research 8(3):1247-1254, 3/2009. PMCID: PMC2693459.
20. Robertson FM, Simeone AM, Mazumdar A, Shah AH, McMurray JS, Ghosh S, Cristofanilli, M. Molecular and pharmacological blockade of the EP4 receptor selectively inhibits both proliferation and invasion of human inflammatory breast cancer cells. J Exp Ther Oncol 7(4):299-312, 2008. PMID: 19227010.
21. Robertson FM, Mallery SR, Bergdall-Costell VK, Cheng M, Pei P, Prosperi JR, Ferrari M. Cyclooxygenase-2 directly induces MCF-7 breast tumor cells to develop into exponentially growing, highly angiogenic and regionally invasive human ductal carcinoma xenografts. Anticancer Res 27(2):719-27, 3/2007. PMID: 17465194.
22. Robertson FM, Ming-Cheng Cheng M, Prosperi JR, Gaspari M, Terracciano R, Green-Church KB, Vandre DD, Cuda G, Ferrari M. Nanochips for Mining the Serum and Tumor Proteome: Novel Nanochips for Sensitive and Reproducible Identification of the Low Molecular Weight Proteome in Serum Isolated from Mice Bearing Highly Invasive Human Breast Tumor Xenografts. Nanomedicine 2(4):715-728, 12/2006.
23. Prosperi JR, Robertson FM. Cyclooxygenase-2 directly regulates gene expression of P450 Cyp19 aromatase promoter regions pII, pI.3 and pI.7 and estradiol production in human breast tumor cells. Prostaglandins Other Lipid Mediat 81(1-2):55-70, 10/2006. PMID: 16997132.
24. Prosperi JR, Mallery SR, Kigerl KA, Erfurt AA, Robertson FM. Invasive and angiogenic phenotype of MCF-7 human breast tumor cells expressing human cyclooxygenase-2. Prostaglandins Other Lipid Mediat 73(3-4):249-64, 4/2004. PMID: 15290792.
25. Brueggemeier RW, Quinn AL, Sugimoto Y, Lin YC, Parrett ML, Joarder FS, Harris RE Robertson FM. Regulation of aromatase in breast cancer and correlation of aromatase and cyclooxygenase gene expression. Hormonal Carcinogenesis III:285-298, 1/2001.
26. Brueggemeier RW, Quinn AL, Parrett ML, Joarder FS, Harris RE, Robertson FM. Correlation of aromatase and cyclooxygenase gene expression in human breast cancer specimens. Cancer Lett 140(1-2):27-35, 6/1999. PMID: 10403538.
27. Parrett ML, Harris RE, Joarder FS, Ross MS, Clausen KP, Robertson FM. Cyclooxygenase-2 gene expression in human breast cancer. Intl J Oncology 10:503-507, 1997.
28. Robertson FM, Petricoin EF, Chu K, Mu Z, Jin J, Circo R, Fernandez S, Alpaugh RK, Zook M, Sun G, Wulfkuhle J, Liotta LA, Ye Z, Krishnamurthy S, Luo AZ, Liu H, Wright MC, Barsky SH, Cristofanilli M. Amplification of Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK) as a common genetic alteration in Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Cancer Discovery. Submitted.

Editorials
1. Robertson FM. High-Content Analysis--CHI's Seventh Annual Conference--Developments in HCA and Pathway Analysis. IDrugs 13(3):149-52, 3/2010. PMID: 20191427.
2. Robertson FM. Inflammatory Breast Cancer. The Encyclopedia of Cancer(3). e-Pub 2009.

Last updated: 1/28/2013