Don L. Gibbons, MD, PhD
Department of Thoracic Head and Neck Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine
About Dr. Gibbons
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Associate Professor, Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Associate Professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, Division of Basic Science Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Research Interests
Dr. Gibbons maintains a large and active research laboratory. His lab team works in understanding the regulation of cancer cell invasion and metastasis by microRNAs (short molecules of genetic information that control the production of proteins in the cells) and the role of the tumor microenvironment (immune cells and extracellular matrix) in those same processes. In their studies the team uses human samples and clinical data, cell line models and mouse models. Recently, Dr. Gibbons demonstrated that for cancer cells to escape the primary lung tumor and colonize new organs, they need to suppress the immune system, a process that is mediated in part by suppression and exhaustion of T cell activity, which is coordinated by the protein PD-L1. Dr. Gibbons’ translational research suggests that immunotherapy may have anti-metastatic effects and has driven the development of new clinical trials, particularly in the area of primary resistance to immunotherapy.
Clinical Interests
As a physician, Dr. Gibbons provides expert and compassionate clinical care to patients suffering from thoracic malignancies. He offers his patients both standard of care and clinical trial opportunities when available. Dr. Gibbons’ major clinical goals are to prevent the development of metastasis in lung cancer patients, i.e. to reduce the risk of cancer cells leaving the lung tumor and starting new tumors outside the lung; and to develop new immunotherapy combinations for treatment of early-stage disease and metastatic disease following surgery for lung cancer. His work focuses on understanding the role of the immune cells and other non-cancer cells (support cells) that are present in tumors in regulating tumor invasion, metastasis and treatment resistance. Dr. Gibbons is currently leading several clinical trials testing immunotherapy (anti-PD-1/PD-L1) alone and in combination with targeted agents for patients diagnosed with lung cancer.
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2004 | Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA, PHD, Cell Biology |
| 2004 | Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA, MD, Medicine |
| 1999 | Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA, MS, Cell Biology |
| 1996 | The University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX, USA, MS, Biochemistry |
| 1993 | Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA, BA, Biochemistry |
Postgraduate Training
| 2007-2009 | Research Fellowship, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX |
| 2006-2009 | Clinical Fellowship, Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX |
| 2004-2006 | Clinical Residency, MeRIT Scholars Program, Internal Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX |
Board Certifications
| 2010 | Medical Oncology |
| 2007 | American Board of Internal Medicine |
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Sepesi B, Nelson DB, Mitchell KG, Gibbons DL, Heymach JV, Vaporciyan AA, Swisher SG, Roszik J. Prognostic Value of PD-L1 mRNA Sequencing Expression Profile in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Ann Thorac Surg 105(6):1621-1626, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29510096.
- Chen F, Zhang Y, Gibbons DL, Deneen B, Kwiatkowski DJ, Ittmann M, Creighton CJ. Pan-cancer molecular classes transcending tumor lineage across 32 cancer types, multiple data platforms, and over 10,000 cases. Clin Cancer Res 24(9):2182-2193, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29440175.
- Tan X, Banerjee P, Liu X, Yu J, Gibbons DL, Wu P, Scott KL, Diao L, Zheng X, Wang J, Jalali A, Suraokar M, Fujimoto J, Behrens C, Liu X, Liu CG, Creighton CJ, Wistuba II, Kurie JM. The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition activator ZEB1 initiates a prometastatic competing endogenous RNA network. J Clin Invest 128(4):1267-1282, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29324442.
- Gibbons DL, Creighton CJ. Pan-cancer survey of epithelial-mesenchymal transition markers across The Cancer Genome Atlas. Dev Dyn 247(3):555-564, 2018. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28073171.
- Yamauchi M, Barker TH, Gibbons DL, Kurie JM. The fibrotic tumor stroma. J Clin Invest 128(1):16-25, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29293090.
- Yan X, Wang L, Zhang R, Pu X, Wu S, Yu L, Meraz IM, Zhang X, Wang JF, Gibbons DL, Mehran RJ, Swisher SG, Roth JA, Fang B. Overcoming resistance to anti-PD immunotherapy in a syngeneic mouse lung cancer model using locoregional virotherapy. Oncoimmunology 7(1):e1376156, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 29296537.
- Lou Y, Diao L, Cuentas ER, Denning WL, Chen L, Fan YH, Byers LA, Wang J, Papadimitrakopoulou VA, Behrens C, Rodriguez JC, Hwu P, Wistuba II, Heymach JV, Gibbons DL. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition is associated with a distinct tumor microenvironment including elevation of inflammatory signals and multiple immune checkpoints in lung adenocarcinoma. Clin Cancer Res 22(14):3630-42, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 26851185.
- Zhang T, Guo L, Creighton CJ, Lu Q, Gibbons DL, Yi ES, Deng B, Molina JR, Sun Z, Yang P, Yang Y. A genetic cell context-dependent role for ZEB1 in lung cancer. Nat Commun 7:12231, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27456471.
- Mak MP, Tong P, Diao L, Cardnell RJ, Gibbons DL, William WN, Skoulidis F, Parra ER, Rodriguez-Canales J, Wistuba II, Heymach JV, Weinstein JN, Coombes KR, Wang J, Byers LA. A patient-derived, pan-cancer EMT signature identifies global molecular alterations and immune target enrichment following epithelial to mesenchymal transition. Clin Cancer Res 22(3):609-20, 2016. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26420858.
- Kundu ST, Byers LA, Peng DH, Roybal JD, Diao L, Wang J, Tong P, Creighton CJ, Gibbons DL. The miR-200 family and the miR-183~96~182 cluster target Foxf2 to inhibit invasion and metastasis in lung cancers. Oncogene 35(2):1-14, 2016. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 25798833.
- Ungewiss C, Rizvi ZH, Roybal JD, Peng DH, Gold KA, Shin DH, Creighton CJ, Gibbons DL. The microRNA-200/Zeb1 axis regulates ECM-dependent β1-integrin/FAK signaling, cancer cell invasion and metastasis through CRKL. Sci Rep 6:18652, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 26728244.
- Gibbons DL, Byers LA. A HER 1-2 Punch: Dual EGFR targeting deals resistance a deadly blow. Cancer Discov 4(9):991-4, 2014. PMID: 25185188.
- Yang Y, Ahn YH, Chen Y, Tan X, Guo L, Gibbons DL, Ungewiss C, Peng DH, Liu X, Lin SH, Thilaganathan N, Wistuba II, Rodriguez-Canales J, McLendon G, Creighton CJ, Kurie JM. ZEB1 sensitizes lung adenocarcinoma to metastasis suppression by PI3K antagonism. J Clin Invest 124(6):2696-708, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24762440.
- Chen L, Gibbons DL, Goswami S, Cortez MA, Ahn YH, Byers LA, Zhang X, Yi X, Dwyer D, Lin W, Diao L, Wang J, Roybal JD, Patel M, Ungewiss C, Peng D, Antonia S, Mediavilla-Varela M, Robertson G, Jones S, Suraokar M, Welsh JW, Erez B, Wistuba II, Chen L, Peng D, Wang S, Ullrich SE, Heymach JV, Kurie JM, Qin FX. Metastasis is regulated via microRNA-200/ZEB1 axis control of tumour cell PD-L1 expression and intratumoral immunosuppression. Nat Commun 5:5241, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 25348003.
- Gibbons DL, Byers LA, Kurie JM. Smoking, p53 mutation, and lung cancer. Mol Cancer Res 12(1):3-13, 2014. PMID: 24442106.
- Creighton CJ, Gibbons DL, Kurie JM. The role of epithelial-mesenchymal transition programming in invasion and metastasis: a clinical perspective. Cancer Manag Res 5:187-95, 2013. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 23986650.
- Gill BJ, Gibbons DL†, Roudsari LC, Saik JE, Rizvi ZH, Roybal JD, Kurie JM, West JL†. A synthetic matrix with independently tunable biochemistry and mechanical properties to study epithelial morphogenesis and EMT in a lung adenocarcinoma model. Cancer Res 72(22):6013-23, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22952217.
- Ahn YH, Gibbons DL, Chakravarti D, Creighton CJ, Rizvi ZH, Adams HP, Pertsemlidis A, Gregory PA, Wright JA, Goodall GJ, Flores ER, Kurie JM. ZEB1 drives prometastatic actin cytoskeletal remodeling by downregulating miR-34a expression. J Clin Invest 122(9):3170-83, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22850877.
- Schliekelman MJ, Gibbons DL, Faca VM, Creighton CJ, Rizvi ZH, Zhang Q, Wong CH, Wang H, Ungewiss C, Ahn YH, Shin DH, Kurie JM, Hanash SM. Targets of the tumor suppressor miR-200 in regulation of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition in cancer. Cancer Res 71(24):7670-82, 2011. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 21987723.
- Yang Y, Ahn YH, Gibbons DL*, Zang Y, Lin W, Thilaganathan N, Alvarez CA, Moreira DC, Creighton CJ, Gregory PA, Goodall GJ, Kurie JM. The notch ligand jagged 2 promotes tumor metastasis by activating a double-negative feedback loop involving GATA3 and microRNA-200. J Clin Invest 121(4):1373-85, 2011. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 21403400.
- Cataldo VD, Gibbons DL, Pérez-Soler R, Quintás-Cardama A. Treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer with Erlotinib or Gefitinib. N Engl J Med 364(10):947-55, 2011. PMID: 21388312.
- Gibbons DL, Lin W, Creighton CJ, Rizvi ZH, Gregory PA, Goodall GJ, Thilaganathan N, Du L, Zhang Y, Pertsemlidis A, Kurie JM. Contextual extracellular cues promote tumor cell EMT and metastasis by regulating miR-200 family expression. Genes Dev 23(18):2140-51, 2009. PMID: 19759262.