Sendurai A. Mani, Ph.D.
Department of Translational Molecular Pathology, Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Associate Professor, Department of Translational Molecular Pathology, Division of Pathology/Lab Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Co-Director, Center for Stem Cell & Developmental Biology, MDACC, Houston, TX
Co-Director, Metastasis Research Center, MDACC, Houston, TX
Member, The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, TX
Research Interests
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2000 | Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, IND, PHD, Molecular Biology |
Postgraduate Training
| 2000-2007 | Postdoc, Cancer Biology, Whitehead Institute/MIT, Cambridge, MA |
Experience & Service
Academic Appointments
Member, Keck Center for Interdisciplinary Bioscience Training Programs and GCC Research Consortia, Houston, TX, 2009 - Present
Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities
Co-Director, CCSG-Metastasis Research Program, MDACC, Houston, TX, 2012 - 2017
Honors & Awards
| 2012 | The American Cancer Society M. Patricia Alexander Research Scholar, American Cancer Society |
| 2012 | Career Development Award, MDACC Prostate Cancer SPORE |
| 2008 | Fellow, M. D. Anderson Research Trust, The University of TX, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2008 | V-Scholar, The Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research |
| 2008 | MD Anderson Faculty Development Award - CCSG, The University of TX, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2001 | Postdoctoral Fellowship, Breast Cancer Research Program, Department of Defense |
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Tian L, Goldstein A, Wang H, Ching Lo H, Sun Kim I, Welte T, Sheng K, Dobrolecki LE, Zhang X, Putluri N, Phung TL, Mani SA, Stossi F, Sreekumar A, Mancini MA, Decker WK, Zong C, Lewis MT, Zhang XH. Mutual regulation of tumour vessel normalization and immunostimulatory reprogramming. Nature 544(7649):250-254, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28371798.
- Pietilä M, Vijay GV, Soundararajan R, Yu X, Symmans WF, Sphyris N, Mani SA. FOXC2 regulates the G2/M transition of stem cell-rich breast cancer cells and sensitizes them to PLK1 inhibition. Sci Rep 6:23070, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27064522.
- Toneff MJ, Sreekumar A, Tinnirello A, Hollander PD, Habib S, Li S, Ellis MJ, Xin L, Mani SA, Rosen JM. The Z-cad dual fluorescent sensor detects dynamic changes between the epithelial and mesenchymal cellular states. BMC Biol 14(1):47, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27317311.
- Bhowmik SK, Ramirez-Peña E, Arnold JM, Putluri V, Sphyris N, Michailidis G, Putluri N, Ambs S, Sreekumar A, Mani SA. EMT-Induced Metabolite Signature Identifies Poor Clinical Outcome. Oncotarget 6(40):42651-60, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26315396.
- Soundararajan R, Paranjape AN, Barsan V, Chang JT, Mani SA. A novel embryonic plasticity gene signature that predicts metastatic competence and clinical outcome. Sci Rep 5:11766, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26123483.
- Hollier BG, Tinnirello AA, Werden SJ, Evans KW, Taube JH, Sarkar TR, Sphyris N, Shariati M, Kumar SV, Battula VL, Herschkowitz JI, Guerra R, Chang JT, Miura N, Rosen JM, Mani SA. FOXC2 expression links epithelial-mesenchymal transition and stem cell properties in breast cancer. Cancer Res 73(6):1981-92, 2013. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 23378344.
- Taube JH, Malouf GG, Lu E, Sphyris N, Vijay V, Ramachandran PP, Ueno KR, Gaur S, Nicoloso MS, Rossi S, Herschkowitz JI, Rosen JM, Issa JP, Calin GA, Chang JT, Mani SA. Epigenetic silencing of microRNA-203 is required for EMT and cancer stem cell properties. Sci Rep 3:2687, 2013. PMID: 24045437.
- Battula VL, Shi Y, Evans KW, Wang RY, Spaeth EL, Jacamo RO, Guerra R, Sahin AA, Marini FC, Hortobagyi G, Mani SA, Andreeff M. Ganglioside GD2 identifies breast cancer stem cells and promotes tumorigenesis. J Clin Invest 122(6):2066-78, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22585577.
- Guo W, Keckesova Z, Donaher JL, Shibue T, Tischler V, Reinhardt F, Itzkovitz S, Noske A, Zürrer-Härdi U, Bell G, Tam WL, Mani SA, van Oudenaarden A, Weinberg RA. Slug and sox9 cooperatively determine the mammary stem cell state. Cell 148(5):1015-28, 2012. PMID: 22385965.
- Mego M, Mani SA, Lee BN, Li C, Evans KW, Cohen EN, Gao H, Jackson SA, Giordano A, Hortobagyi GN, Cristofanilli M, Lucci A, Reuben JM. Expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition-inducing transcription factors in primary breast cancer: The effect of neoadjuvant therapy. Int J Cancer 130(4):808-16, 2012. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 21387303.
- Battula VL, Evans KW, Hollier BG, Shi Y, Marini FC, Ayyanan A, Wang RY, Brisken C, Guerra R, Andreeff M, Mani SA. Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition-Derived Cells Exhibit Multi-Lineage Differentiation Potential Similar to Mesenchymal Stem Cells. Stem Cells 28(8):1435-45, 2010. e-Pub 2010. PMID: 20572012.
- Taube JH, Herschkowitz JI, Komurov K, Zhou AY, Gupta S, Yang J, Hartwell K, Onder TT, Gupta PB, Evans KW, Hollier BG, Ram PT, Lander ES, Rosen JM, Weinberg RA, Mani SA. Core epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition interactome gene-expression signature is associated with claudin-low and metaplastic breast cancer subtypes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107(35):15449-54, 2010. e-Pub 2010. PMID: 20713713.
- Mani SA, Guo W, Liao MJ, Eaton EN, Ayyanan A, Zhou AY, Brooks M, Reinhard F, Zhang CC, Shipitsin M, Campbell LL, Polyak K, Brisken C, Yang J, Weinberg RA. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition generates cells with properties of stem cells. Cell 133(4):704-15, 2008. PMID: 18485877.
- Onder TT, Gupta PB, Mani SA, Yang J, Lander ES, Weinberg RA. Loss of E-cadherin promotes metastasis via multiple downstream transcriptional pathways. Cancer Res 68(10):3645-54, 2008. PMID: 18483246.
- Mani SA, Yang J, Brooks M, Schwaninger G, Zhou A, Miura N, Kutok JL, Hartwell K, Richardson AL, Weinberg RA. Mesenchyme Forkhead 1 (FOXC2) plays a key role in metastasis and is associated with aggressive basal-like breast cancers. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 104(24):10069-74, 2007. PMID: 17537911.
- Yang J, Mani SA, Donaher JL, Ramaswamy S, Itzykson RA, Come C, Savagner P, Gitelman I, Richardson A, Weinberg RA. Twist, a Master Regulator of Morphogenesis, Plays an Essential Role in Tumor Metastasis. Cell 117(7):927–939, 2004. PMID: 15210113.
- Werden SJ, Sphyris N, Sarkar TR, Paranjape AN, LaBaff AM, Taube JH, Hollier BG, Ramirez-Peña EQ, Soundararajan R, den Hollander P, Powell E, Echeverria GV, Miura N, Chang JT, Piwnica-Worms H, Rosen JM, Mani SA. Phosphorylation of serine 367 of FOXC2 by p38 regulates ZEB1 and breast cancer metastasis, without impacting primary tumor growth. Oncogene. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27292262.
- Paranjape AN, Soundararajan R, Werden SJ, Joseph R, Taube JH, Liu H, Rodriguez-Canales J, Sphyris N, Wistuba I, Miura N, Dhillon J, Mahajan N, Mahajan K, Chang JT, Ittmann M, Maity SN, Logothetis C, Tang DG, Mani SA. Inhibition of FOXC2 restores epithelial phenotype and drug sensitivity in prostate cancer cells with stem-cell properties. Oncogene. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 26804168.
- Sarkar TR, Battula VL, Werden SJ, Vijay GV, Ramirez-Peña EQ, Taube JH, Chang JT, Miura N, Porter W, Sphyris N, Andreeff M, Mani SA. GD3 synthase regulates epithelial-mesenchymal transition and metastasis in breast cancer. Oncogene 0. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 25109336.
- Malouf GG, Taube JH, Lu Y, Roysarkar T, Panjarian S, Estecio MR, Jelinek J, Yamazaki J, Raynal NJ, Long H, Tahara T, Tinnirello A, Ramachandran P, Zhang XY, Liang S, Mani SA, Issa JP. Architecture of epigenetic reprogramming following Twist1 mediated epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Genome Biol 14(12):R144. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 24367927.
Invited Articles
- Mego M, Mani SA, Cristofanilli M. Molecular mechanisms of metastasis in breast cancer-clinical applications. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 7(12):693-701, 2010. e-Pub 2010. PMID: 20956980.
- Hollier BG, Evans K, Mani SA. The Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition and Cancer Stem Cells: A Coalition Against Cancer Therapies. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia 14(1):29-43, 2009. e-Pub 2009. PMID: 19242781.
- Sphyris N, Mani, SA. The importance of the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Breast Cancer. Current Breast Cancer Reports 1:229-237, 2009. e-Pub 2009.
- Yang J, Mani SA, Weinberg RA. Exploring a new twist on tumor metastasis. Cancer Res 66(9):4549-52, 2006. PMID: 16651402.
- Pietilä M, Ivaska J, Mani SA. Whom to blame for metastasis, the epithelial-mesenchymal transition or the tumor microenvironment?. Cancer Lett. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 26791236.
- Chang JT, Mani SA. Sheep, wolf, or werewolf: Cancer stem cells and the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Cancer Lett 341(1):16-23. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 23499890.
- May CD, Sphyris N, Evans KW, Werden SJ, Guo W, Mani SA. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer stem cells: a dangerously dynamic duo in breast cancer progression. Breast Cancer Res 13(1):202. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 21392411.
Editorials
- Mani SA, Barton MC. HDAC3 at the Fulcrum of an Epithelial-Mesenchymal Balance. Mol Cell 43(5):697-698, 2011. PMID: 21884971.
- Sphyris N, Mani SA. pIgR: Frenemy of Inflammation, EMT, and HCC Progression. J Natl Cancer Inst. PMID: 22025623.
Book Chapters
- Taube, J., Mani, S.A.. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, stem cells, and cancer progression. In: Nova publishers book on "Stem Cell, Regenerative Medicine and Cancer". Nova, 2010.