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Chandra Bartholomeusz, M.D., Ph.D.

Department of Breast Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine

Present Title & Affiliation

Primary Appointment

Associate Professor, Department of Breast Medical Oncology - Research, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

Faculty Liaison for Summer Experience in Education and Training, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

Education & Training

Degree-Granting Education

2004	The University of Texas, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences - MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA, PHD, Cancer Biology - Molecular Biology
1986	University of Zambia, Lusaka, ZMB, MD, Medicine
1983	University of Zambia, Lusaka, ZMB, BS, Human Biology

Postgraduate Training

2008-2009	Postdoctoral Fellow, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Department of Breast Medical Oncology, Houston, TX
2004-2008	Postdoctoral Fellow, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Department of Stem Cell Transplantation, Houston
1993-1997	Graduate Teaching Assistant, Microbiology-Molecular Biology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
1986-1987	Rotating Clinical Internship, University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka

Experience & Service

Academic Appointments

Assistant Professor, Department of Breast Medical Oncology - Research, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2013 - 2019

Assistant Professor, Department of Breast Medical Oncology - Research, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2010 - 2013

Instructor, Department of Breast Medical Oncology - Research, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2009 - 2010

Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities

CoDirector -Summer Undergraduate Research Program, Outreach Program and Middle School Program, Department of Summer Undergraduate Research Program, MD Anderson cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2020 - Present

Chief Ad Interim for of the Section of Translational Breast Cancer Research, Department of Breast Medical Oncology - Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2017 - 2017

Honors & Awards

2019	AAMC Mid- Career Women Faculty Leadership Development Seminar selected Participant, Association of American Medical Colleges
2018 - 2022	American Cancer Society Research Scholar Award, American Cancer Society
2012	AAMC Early Career Women Faculty Professional Development Seminar selected Participant, Association of American Medical Colleges
2009	AACR –WICR (American Association of Cancer Research - Women In Cancer Research) Scholar-in-Training Award, American Association of Cancer Research
2009 - 2017	K99/ROO Pathway to Independence Award, NIH/NCI
2007	The Linda K. Manning Fellowship in Ovarian Cancer Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
2007	Bristol-Myers Squibb Award in Clinical Translational Research Poster Winner (1st place), Trainee Recognition Day, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
2006	The Diane Denson Tabola Fellowship in Ovarian Cancer Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
2006 - 2009	Postdoctoral Fellowship, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
2005	BettyAnn Asche-Murray Fellowship, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
2004	Scientific Excellence Award in the Post Candidacy Category First Place Winner (Abstract-Oral Presentation), Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences-Cancer Biology Retreat, University of Texas Health Science Center
2002	Honorable mention top 10% abstracts, Trainee Recognition Day, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
2002	Research Experience Fellowship in Summer Program for U.S. Graduate Students in Science and Engineering to conduct research in Japan, National Science Foundation of US/Ministry of Education, Ministry of Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan

Selected Publications

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Xie X, Chauhan GB, Edupuganti R, Kogawa T, Park J, Tacam M, Tan AW, Mughees M, Vidhu F, Liu DD, Taliaferro JM, Pitner MK, Browning LS, Lee JH, Shen Y, Wang J, Ueno NT, Krishnamurthy S, Hortobagyi GN, Tripathy D, Van Laere SJ, Bartholomeusz G, Dalby KN, Bartholomeusz C. Maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase is associated with metastasis in triple-negative breast cancer. Cancer Res Commun 3(6):1078-1092, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37377604.
Park J, Tacam MJ, Chauhan G, Cohen EN, Gagliardi M, Iles LR, Ueno NT, Battula VL, Sohn YK, Wang X, Kim HS, Krishnamurthy S, Fowlkes NW, Green MM, Bartholomeusz GA, Tripathy D, Reuben JM, Bartholomeusz C. Nonphosphorylatable PEA15 mutant inhibits epithelial-mesenchymal transition in triple-negative breast cancer partly through the regulation of IL-8 expression. Breast Cancer Res Treat 189(2):333-345, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34241740.
Xie X, Lee J, Liu H, Pearson T, Lu AY, Tripathy D, Devi GR, Bartholomeusz C, Ueno NT. Birinapant Enhances Gemcitabine's Anti-tumor Efficacy in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer by Inducing Intrinsic Pathway-Dependent Apoptosis. Mol Cancer Ther 20(2):296-306, 2021. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33323457.
Gagliardi M, Pitner MK, Park J, Xie X, Saso H, Larson RA, Sammons RM, Chen H, Wei C, Masuda H, Chauhan G, Kondo K, Tripathy D, Ueno NT, Dalby KN, Debeb BG, Bartholomeusz C. Differential functions of ERK1 and ERK2 in lung metastasis processes in triple-negative breast cancer. Sci Rep 10(1):8537, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32444778.
Dilruba S, Grondana A, Schiedel AC, Ueno NT, Bartholomeusz C, Cinatl J, McLaughlin KM, Wass MN, Michaelis M, Kalayda GV. Non-Phosphorylatable PEA-15 Sensitises SKOV-3 Ovarian Cancer Cells to Cisplatin. Cells 9(2), 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32102425.
Lee J, Lim B, Pearson T, Choi K, Fuson JA, Bartholomeusz C, Paradiso LJ, Myers T, Tripathy D, Ueno NT. Correction to: Anti-tumor and anti-metastasis efficacy of E6201, a MEK1 inhibitor, in preclinical models of triple-negative breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 176(1):251, 2019. PMID: 30982934.
Lee J, Lim B, Pearson T, Choi K, Fuson JA, Bartholomeusz C, Paradiso LJ, Myers T, Tripathy D, Ueno NT. Anti-tumor and anti-metastasis efficacy of E6201, a MEK1 inhibitor, in preclinical models of triple-negative breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 175(2):339-351, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 30826934.
Sammons RM, Perry NA, Li Y, Cho EJ, Piserchio A, Zamora-Olivares DP, Ghose R, Kaoud TS, Debevec G, Bartholomeusz C, Gurevich VV, Iverson TM, Giulianotti M, Houghten RA, Dalby KN. A Novel Class of Common Docking Domain Inhibitors That Prevent ERK2 Activation and Substrate Phosphorylation. ACS Chem Biol 14(6):1183-1194, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31058487.
Jose J, Tavares CDJ, Ebelt ND, Lodi A, Edupuganti R, Xie X, Devkota AK, Kaoud TS, Van Den Berg CL, Anslyn EV, Tiziani S, Bartholomeusz C, Dalby KN. Serotonin Analogues as Inhibitors of Breast Cancer Cell Growth. ACS Med Chem Lett 8(10):1072-1076, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 29057053.
Pitner MK, Taliaferro JM, Dalby KN, Bartholomeusz C. MELK: a potential novel therapeutic target for TNBC and other aggressive malignancies. Expert Opin Ther Targets 21(9):849-859, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28764577.
Wang X, Reyes ME, Zhang D, Funakoshi Y, Trape AP, Gong Y, Kogawa T, Eckhardt BL, Masuda H, Pirman DA, Yang P, Reuben JM, Woodward WA, Bartholomeusz C, Hortobagyi GN, Tripathy D, Ueno NT. EGFR signaling promotes inflammation and cancer stem-like activity in inflammatory breast cancer. Oncotarget 8(40):67904-67917, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28978083.
Battula VL, Nguyen K, Sun J, Pitner MK, Yuan B, Bartholomeusz C, Hail N, Andreeff M. IKK inhibition by BMS-345541 suppresses breast tumorigenesis and metastases by targeting GD2+ cancer stem cells. Oncotarget 8(23):36936-36949, 2017. PMID: 28415808.
Xie X, Kaoud TS, Edupuganti R, Zhang T, Kogawa T, Zhao Y, Chauhan GB, Giannoukos DN, Qi Y, Tripathy D, Wang J, Gray NS, Dalby KN, Bartholomeusz C, Ueno NT. c-Jun N-terminal kinase promotes stem cellphenotype in triple-negative breast cancer through up-regulation of Notch1 via activation of c-Jun. Oncogene 36(ISSN 0950-9232):2599-2608, 2017. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27941886.
Edupuganti R, Taliaferro JM, Wang Q, Xie X, Cho EJ, Vidhu F, Ren P, Anslyn EV, Bartholomeusz C, Dalby KN. Discovery of a Potent Inhibitor of MELK that inhibits Expression of the Anti-apoptotic Protein Mcl-1 and TNBC Cell Growth. Bioorg Med Chem 25(9):2609-2616, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28351607.
Bartholomeusz C, Xie X, Pitner MK, Kondo K, Dadbin A, Lee J, Saso H, Smith PD, Dalby KN, Ueno NT. MEK inhibitor selumetinib (AZD6244; ARRY-142886) prevents lung metastasis in a triple-negative breast cancer xenograft model. Mol Cancer Ther 14(12):2773-81, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26384399.
Kai K, Kondo K, Wang X, Xie X, Pitner MK, Reyes ME, Torres-Adorno AM, Masuda H, Hortobagyi GN, Bartholomeusz C, Saya H, Tripathy D, Sen S, Ueno NT. Antitumor Activity of KW-2450 Against Triple-Negative Breast Cancer by Inhibiting Aurora A and B Kinases. Mol Cancer Ther 14(12):2687-99, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26443806.
Boulbes DR, Chauhan GB, Jin Q, Bartholomeusz C, Esteva FJ. CD44 expression contributes to trastuzumab resistance in HER2-positive breast cancer cells. Breast Cancer Res Treat 151(3):501-13, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 25971596.
Boulbes DR, Arold ST, Chauhan GB, Blachno KV, Deng N, Chang WC, Jin Q, Huang TH, Hsu JM, Brady SW, Bartholomeusz C, Ladbury JE, Stone S, Yu D, Hung MC, Esteva FJ. HER family kinase domain mutations promote tumor progression and can predict response to treatment in human breast cancer. Mol Oncol 9(3):586-600, 2015. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 25435280.
Xie X, Tang H, Pengliu , Kong Y, Wu M, Xiao X, Yang L, Gao J, Wei W, Lee J, Bartholomeusz C, Ueno NT, Xie X. Development of PEA-15 using a potent non-viral vector for therapeutic application in breast cancer. Cancer Lett 356(2 Pt B):374-81, 2015. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 25304382.
Lee J, Galloway R, Grandjean G, Jacob J, Humphries J, Bartholomeusz C, Goodstal S, Lim B, Bartholomeusz G, Ueno NT, Rao A. Comprehensive Two- and Three-Dimensional RNAi Screening Identifies PI3K Inhibition as a Complement to MEK Inhibitor AS703026 for Combination Treatment of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer. J Cancer 6(12):1306-19, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26640591.
Lee J, Bartholomeusz C, Mansour O, Humphries J, Hortobagyi GN, Ordentlich P, Ueno NT. A class I histone deacetylase inhibitor, entinostat, enhances lapatinib efficacy in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells through FOXO3-mediated Bim1 expression. Breast Cancer Res Treat 146(2):259-72, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24916181.
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.
Kai K, Iwamoto T, Kobayashi T, Arima Y, Takamoto Y, Ohnishi N, Bartholomeusz C, Horii R, Akiyama F, Hortobagyi GN, Pusztai L, Saya H, Ueno NT. Ink4a/Arf-/- and HRAS(G12V) transform mouse mammary cells into triple-negative breast cancer containing tumorigenic CD49F- quiescent cells. Oncogene 33(4):440-8, 2014. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 23376849.
Xie X, Bartholomeusz C, Ahmed AA, Kazansky A, Diao L, Baggerly KA, Hortobagyi GN, Ueno NT. Bisphosphorylated PEA-15 sensitizes ovarian cancer cells to paclitaxel by impairing the microtubule-destabilizing effect of SCLIP. Mol Cancer Ther 12(6):1099-111, 2013. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 23543364.
Masuda H, Zhang D, Bartholomeusz C, Doihara H, Hortobagyi GN, Ueno NT. Role of epidermal growth factor receptor in breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 136(2):331-45, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 23073759.
Bartholomeusz,C, Lee, J, Ueno, NT. PEA15 (phosphoprotein enriched in astrocytes 15). Atlas of Genetics and Cytogenetics in Oncology and Hematology 16(10):732-735, 2012.
Bartholomeusz C, Oishi T, Saso H, Akar U, Liu P, Kondo K, Kazansky A, Krishnamurthy S, Lee J, Esteva FJ, Kigawa J, Ueno NT. MEK1/2 inhibitor selumetinib (AZD6244) inhibits growth of ovarian clear cell carcinoma in a PEA-15-dependent manner in a mouse xenograft model. Mol Cancer Ther 11(2):360-9, 2012. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 22144664.
Bartholomeusz C, Gonzalez-Angulo AM. Targeting the PI3K signaling pathway in cancer therapy. Expert Opin Ther Targets 16(1):121-30, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22239433.
Bartholomeusz C, Gonzalez-Angulo AM, Liu P, Hayashi N, Lluch A, Ferrer-Lozano J, Hortobágyi GN. High ERK protein expression levels correlate with shorter survival in triple-negative breast cancer patients. Oncologist 17(6):766-74, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22584435.
Lee J, Bartholomeusz C, Krishnamurthy S, Liu P, Saso H, Lafortune TA, Hortobagyi GN, Ueno NT. PEA-15 unphosphorylated at both serine 104 and serine 116 inhibits ovarian cancer cell tumorigenicity and progression through blocking β-catenin. Oncogenesis 1:e22, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 23552738.
Itamochi H, Yoshida T, Walker CL, Bartholomeusz C, Aoki D, Ishihara H, Suzuki N, Kigawa J, Terakawa N, Ueno NT. Novel mechanism of reduced proliferation in ovarian clear cell carcinoma cells: Cytoplasmic sequestration of CDK2 by p27. Gynecol Oncol 122(3):641-7, 2011. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 21652059.
Hayashi N, Iwamoto T, Gonzalez-Angulo AM, Ferrer-Lozano J, Lluch A, Niikura N, Bartholomeusz C, Nakamura S, Hortobagyi GN, Ueno NT. Prognostic impact of phosphorylated HER-2 in HER-2+ primary breast cancer. Oncologist 16(7):956-65, 2011. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 21712485.
Bartholomeusz C, Yamasaki F, Saso H, Kurisu K, Hortobagyi GN, Ueno NT. Gemcitabine Overcomes Erlotinib Resistance in EGFR-Overexpressing Cancer Cells through Downregulation of Akt. J Cancer 2:435-42, 2011. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 21850211.
Watanabe Y, Yamasaki F, Kajiwara Y, Saito T, Nishimoto T, Bartholomeusz C, Ueno NT, Sugiyama K, Kurisu K. Expression of phosphoprotein enriched in astrocytes 15 kDa (PEA-15) in astrocytic tumors: a novel approach of correlating malignancy grade and prognosis. J Neurooncol 100(3):449-57, 2010. e-Pub 2010. PMID: 20455002.
Bartholomeusz C, Gonzalez-Angulo AM, Kazansky A, Krishnamurthy S, Liu P, Yuan LX, Yamasaki F, Liu S, Hayashi N, Zhang D, Esteva FJ, Hortobagyi GN, Ueno NT. PEA-15 inhibits tumorigenesis in an MDA-MB-468 triple-negative breast cancer xenograft model through increased cytoplasmic localization of activated extracellular signal-regulated kinase. Clin Cancer Res 16(6):1802-11, 2010. e-Pub 2010. PMID: 20215547.
Bartholomeusz C, Rosen D, Wei C, Kazansky A, Yamasaki F, Takahashi T, Itamochi H, Kondo S, Liu J, Ueno NT. PEA-15 induces autophagy in human ovarian cancer cells and is associated with prolonged overall survival. Cancer Res 68(22):9302-10, 2008. PMID: 19010903.
Zhang D, Pal A, Bornmann WG, Yamasaki F, Esteva FJ, Hortobagyi GN, Bartholomeusz C, Ueno NT. Activity of lapatinib is independent of EGFR expression level in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells. Mol Cancer Ther 7(7):1846-50, 2008. PMID: 18644997.
Yamasaki F, Zhang D, Bartholomeusz C, Sudo T, Hortobagyi GN, Kurisu K, Ueno NT. Sensitivity of breast cancer cells to erlotinib depends on cyclin-dependent kinase 2 activity. Mol Cancer Ther 6(8):2168-77, 2007. e-Pub 2007. PMID: 17671085.
Yamasaki F, Johansen MJ, Zhang D, Krishnamurthy S, Felix E, Bartholomeusz C, Aguilar RJ, Kurisu K, Mills GB, Hortobagyi GN, Ueno NT. Acquired resistance to erlotinib in A-431 epidermoid cancer cells requires down-regulation of MMAC1/PTEN and up-regulation of phosphorylated Akt. Cancer Res 67(12):5779-88, 2007. PMID: 17575145.
Itamochi H, Kigawa J, Kanamori Y, Oishi T, Bartholomeusz C, Nahta R, Esteva FJ, Sneige N, Terakawa N, Ueno NT. Adenovirus type 5 E1A gene therapy for ovarian clear cell carcinoma: a potential treatment strategy. Mol Cancer Ther 6(1):227-35, 2007. e-Pub 2007. PMID: 17218636.
Sugimoto T, Bartholomeusz C, Tari AM, Ueno NT. Adenovirus type 5 E1A-induced apoptosis in COX-2-overexpressing breast cancer cells. Breast Cancer Res 9(4):R41, 2007. PMID: 17612393.
Itamochi H, Yamasaki F, Sudo T, Takahashi T, Bartholomeusz C, Das S, Terakawa N, Ueno NT. Reduction of radiation-induced apoptosis by specific expression of Bcl-2 in normal cells. Cancer Gene Ther 13(5):451-9, 2006. PMID: 16294215.
Bartholomeusz C, Itamochi H, Nitta M, Saya H, Ginsberg MH, Ueno NT. Antitumor effect of E1A in ovarian cancer by cytoplasmic sequestration of activated ERK by PEA15. Oncogene 25(1):79-90, 2006. PMID: 16170361.
Bartholomeusz C, Itamochi H, Yuan LX, Esteva FJ, Wood CG, Terakawa N, Hung MC, Ueno NT. Bcl-2 antisense oligonucleotide overcomes resistance to E1A gene therapy in a low HER2-expressing ovarian cancer xenograft model. Cancer Res 65(18):8406-13, 2005. PMID: 16166319.
Ueno NT, Bartholomeusz C, Xia W, Anklesaria P, Bruckheimer EM, Mebel E, Paul R, Li S, Yo GH, Huang L, Hung MC. Systemic gene therapy in human xenograft tumor models by liposomal delivery of the E1A gene. Cancer Res 62(22):6712-6, 2002. PMID: 12438271.
Hortobagyi GN, Ueno NT, Xia W, Zhang S, Wolf JK, Putnam JB, Weiden PL, Willey JS, Carey M, Branham DL, Payne JY, Tucker SD, Bartholomeusz C, Kilbourn RG, De Jager RL, Sneige N, Katz RL, Anklesaria P, Ibrahim NK, Murray JL, Theriault RL, Valero V, Gershenson DM, Bevers MW, Huang L, Lopez-Berestein G, Hung MC. Cationic liposome-mediated E1A gene transfer to human breast and ovarian cancer cells and its biologic effects: a phase I clinical trial. J Clin Oncol 19(14):3422-33, 2001. PMID: 11454891.
Ueno NT, Bartholomeusz C, Herrmann JL, Estrov Z, Shao R, Andreeff M, Price J, Paul RW, Anklesaria P, Yu D, Hung MC. E1A-mediated paclitaxel sensitization in HER-2/neu-overexpressing ovarian cancer SKOV3.ip1 through apoptosis involving the caspase-3 pathway. Clin Cancer Res 6(1):250-9, 2000. PMID: 10656456.