Walter N. Hittelman, Ph.D.
Department of Experimental Therapeutics, Division of Cancer Medicine
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Professor, Department of Experimental Therapeutics, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Member of Faculty, The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, TX
Research Interests
Research activities in my laboratory revolve around 4 general themes. The first theme focuses on identifying genetic/phenotypic changes associated with human multistep tumorigenesis. These changes are translated into biomarkers and applied to tissue biopsy samples to determine individual cancer risk and response to chemopreventive intervention, especially in the aerodigestive and gastrointestinal tracts.
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 1972 | University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA, PHD, Biophysics |
| 1968 | University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA, MS, Nuclear Engineering |
| 1966 | University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA, BS, Mechanical Engineering |
Postgraduate Training
| 1972-1974 | Postdoctoral Fellowship, Cell Biology, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX |
Experience & Service
Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities
Chief, Section of Cellular Oncology, Department of Experimental Therapeutics, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 1991 - 2005
Endowed Positions
Sophie Caroline Steves Distinguished Professorship in Cancer Research, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 1992 - 2015
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Sarkar A, Stellrecht CM, Vangapandu HV, Ayres M, Kaipparettu BA, Park JH, Balakrishnan K, Burks JK, Pandita TK, Hittelman WN, Neelapu SS, Gandhi V. Ataxia telangiectasia mutated interacts with Parkin and induces mitophagy independent of kinase activity. Evidence from mantle cell lymphoma. Haematologica 106(2):495-512, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 32029507.
- Alvarez de Cienfuegos A, Cheung LH, Mohamedali KA, Whitsett TG, Winkles JA, Hittelman WN, Rosenblum MG. Therapeutic efficacy and safety of a human fusion construct targeting the TWEAK receptor Fn14 and containing a modified granzyme B. J Immunother Cancer 8(2), 2020. PMID: 32958685.
- Liu X, Jiang Y, Takata KI, Nowak B, Liu C, Wood RD, Hittelman WN, Plunkett W. CNDAC-Induced DNA Double-Strand Breaks Cause Aberrant Mitosis Prior to Cell Death. Mol Cancer Ther 18(12):2283-2295, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31501277.
- Lindemann A, Patel AA, Silver NL, Tang L, Liu Z, Wang L, Tanaka N, Rao X, Takahashi H, Maduka NK, Zhao M, Chen TC, Liu W, Gao M, Wang J, Frank SJ, Hittelman WN, Mills GB, Myers JN, Osman AA. COTI-2, A Novel Thiosemicarbazone Derivative, Exhibits Antitumor Activity in HNSCC through p53-dependent and -independent Mechanisms. Clin Cancer Res 25(18):5650-5662, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31308060.
- Cheung LH, Zhao Y, Alvarez-Cienfuegos A, Mohamedali KA, Cao YJ, Hittelman WN, Rosenblum MG. Development of a human immuno-oncology therapeutic agent targeting HER2: targeted delivery of granzyme B. J Exp Clin Cancer Res 38(1):332, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31362764.
- Wang L, Chen SR, Ma H, Chen H, Hittelman WN, Pan HL. Regulating nociceptive transmission by VGluT2-expressing spinal dorsal horn neurons. J Neurochem 147(4):526-540, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30203849.
- Gadhikar MA, Zhang J, Shen L, Rao X, Wang J, Zhao M, Kalu NN, Johnson FM, Byers LA, Heymach J, Hittelman WN, Udayakumar D, Pandita RK, Pandita TK, Pickering CR, Redwood AB, Piwnica-Worms H, Schlacher K, Frederick MJ, Myers JN. CDKN2A/p16 Deletion in Head and Neck Cancer Cells Is Associated with CDK2 Activation, Replication Stress, and Vulnerability to CHK1 Inhibition. Cancer Res 78(3):781-797, 2018. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 29229598.
- Tanaka N, Patel AA, Tang L, Silver NL, Lindemann A, Takahashi H, Jaksik R, Rao X, Kalu NN, Chen TC, Wang J, Frederick MJ, Johnson F, Gleber-Netto FO, Fu S, Kimmel M, Wang J, Hittelman WN, Pickering CR, Myers JN, Osman AA. Replication Stress Leading to Apoptosis within the S-phase Contributes to Synergism between Vorinostat and AZD1775 in HNSCC Harboring High-Risk TP53 Mutation. Clin Cancer Res 23(21):6541-6554, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28790110.
- Delgado M, Kothari A, Hittelman WN, Chambers TC. Preparation of Primary Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Cells in Different Cell Cycle Phases by Centrifugal Elutriation. J Vis Exp(129), 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 29155772.
- Mujoo K, Pandita RK, Tiwari A, Charaka V, Chakraborty S, Singh DK, Hambarde S, Hittelman WN, Horikoshi N, Hunt CR, Khanna KK, Kots AY, Butler EB, Murad F, Pandita TK. Differentiation of Human Induced Pluripotent or Embryonic Stem Cells Decreases the DNA Damage Repair by Homologous Recombination. Stem Cell Reports 9(5):1660-1674, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 29103969.
- Wolfe AR, Trenton NJ, Debeb BG, Larson R, Ruffell B, Chu K, Hittelman W, Diehl M, Reuben JM, Ueno NT, Woodward WA. Mesenchymal stem cells and macrophages interact through IL-6 to promote inflammatory breast cancer in pre-clinical models. Oncotarget 7(50):82482-82492, 2016. PMID: 27756885.
- Kothari A, Hittelman WN, Chambers TC. Cell cycle-dependent mechanisms underlie vincristine-induced death of primary acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells. Cancer Res 76(12):3553-3561, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27197148.
- Li L, Chen SR, Chen H, Wen L, Hittelman WN, Xie JD, Pan HL. Chloride Homeostasis Critically Regulates Synaptic NMDA Receptor Activity in Neuropathic Pain. Cell Rep 15(7):1376-83, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27160909.
- Wolfe AR, Debeb BG, Lacerda L, Larson R, Bambhroliya A, Huang X, Bertucci F, Finetti P, Birnbaum D, Van Laere S, Diagaradjan P, Ruffell B, Trenton NJ, Chu K, Hittelman W, Diehl M, Levental I, Ueno NT, Woodward WA. Simvastatin prevents triple-negative breast cancer metastasis in pre-clinical models through regulation of FOXO3a. Breast Cancer Res Treat 154(3):495-508, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26590814.
- Zhang Y, Laumet G, Chen SR, Hittelman WN, Pan HL. Pannexin-1 Up-regulation in the Dorsal Root Ganglion Contributes to Neuropathic Pain Development. J Biol Chem 290(23):14647-55, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 25925949.
- Zhou H, Mohamedali KA, Gonzalez-Angulo AM, Cao Y, Migliorini M, Cheung LH, LoBello J, Lei X, Qi Y, Hittelman WN, Winkles JA, Tran NL, Rosenblum MG. Development of Human Serine Protease-based Therapeutics Targeting Fn14 and Identification of Fn14 as a New Target Overexpressed in TNBC. Mol Cancer Ther 13(11):2688-705, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 25239934.
- Gupta A, Hunt CR, Hegde ML, Chakraborty S, Chakraborty S, Udayakumar D, Horikoshi N, Singh M, Ramnarain DB, Hittelman WN, Namjoshi S, Asaithamby A, Hazra TK, Ludwig T, Pandita RK, Tyler JK, Pandita TK. MOF Phosphorylation by ATM Regulates 53BP1-Mediated Double-Strand Break Repair Pathway Choice. Cell Rep 8(1):177-89, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24953651.
- Morales JC, Richard P, Rommel A, Fattah FJ, Motea EA, Patidar PL, Xiao L, Leskov K, Wu SY, Hittelman WN, Chiang CM, Manley JL, Boothman DA. Kub5-Hera, the human Rtt103 homolog, plays dual functional roles in transcription termination and DNA repair. Nucleic Acids Res 42(8):4996-5006, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24589584.
- Wen Y, Zand B, Ozpolat B, Szczepanski MJ, Lu C, Yuca E, Carroll AR, Alpay N, Bartholomeusz C, Tekedereli I, Kang Y, Rupaimoole R, Pecot CV, Dalton HJ, Hernandez A, Lokshin A, Lutgendorf SK, Liu J, Hittelman WN, Chen WY, Lopez-Berestein G, Szajnik M, Ueno NT, Coleman RL, Sood AK. Antagonism of tumoral prolactin receptor promotes autophagy-related cell death. Cell Rep 7(2):488-500, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24703838.
- Cao Y, Marks JW, Liu Z, Cheung LH, Hittelman WN, Rosenblum MG. Design optimization and characterization of Her2/neu-targeted immunotoxins: comparative in vitro and in vivo efficacy studies. Oncogene 33(4):429-39, 2014. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 23376850.
Grant & Contract Support
| Title: | Multiplexed Reiterative Immunofluorescence Analysis via Engineered DNA Circuitry |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Training of Academic Gynecologic Oncologists |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Mentor |
| Title: | The Houston Laboratory and Population Sciences Training Program in Gene-Environment Interaction |
| Funding Source: | Burroughs Wellcome Fund |
| Role: | Mentor |
| Title: | Advancing Clinical Proteomics Using DNA-Nanotechnologies |
| Funding Source: | Department of Defense (DOD) |
| Role: | Co-Director |
| Title: | Translational Cancer Diagnostics and Therapeutics Research for Bioengineers and Biophysicists |
| Funding Source: | Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) |
| Role: | Core Leader |
| Title: | Signs of inflammatory breast cancer are caused by stromal field effects |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Predicting and overcoming chemoradioresistance in p53-mutant head and neck cancer |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NIDCR |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Mechanisms and Consequences of NOTCH Dysfunction in Head and Neck Cancer |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Enhancing anti-EGFR therapeutic efficacy in inflammatory breast cancer |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Development of novel therapy by targeting tumor microenvironment in inflammatory breast cancer |
| Funding Source: | Breast Cancer Research Foundation |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified December 20, 2023