Brittany Allen-Petersen

Protein phosphatases predominantly function as gatekeepers to kinase signaling, providing the necessary “off-switch” to prevent uncontrolled growth. Cancer cells, however, can develop mechanisms that suppress phosphatase function. My research program focuses on understanding the phosphatase-dependent signaling events that contribute to cellular plasticity and the impact of these signals on pancreatic cancer initiation and progression. Currently, there are two main areas of research in my lab: 1) Determining the consequence of phosphatase deregulation on cancer cell fate and therapeutic resistance and 2) Exploring the therapeutic potential of phosphatase activators in complex tumor models. These studies utilize a variety of cellular- and molecular- biology techniques, including 3D culture and in vivo cancer models.

1. Allen-Petersen BL and Sears RC. Mission Possible: Advances in MYC Therapeutic Targeting in Cancer. BioDrugs 2019 Aug 7. doi: 10.1007/s40259-019-00370-5

2. Allen-Petersen BL and Sears RC. The use of protein phosphatase 2A activators in combination therapies for pancreas cancer. Oncotarget 2019;10(21):2008-2009 doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.26772

3. Langer EM*, Allen-Petersen BL*, King SM, Kendsersky ND, Turnidge MA, Kuziel GM, Riggers R, Samatham R, Amery TS, Jacques SL, Sheppard BC, Korkola JE, Muschler JL, Thibault T, Chang YH, Gray JW, Presnell SC, Nguyen DG, Sears RC. Modeling tumor phenotypes in vitro with three-dimensional bioprinting. Cell Rep. 2019 Jan 15;26(3):608-623.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.12.090 *Equal Contribution

4. Allen-Petersen BL, Risom T, Feng Z, Wang Z, Jenny ZP, Morton JP, Sansom OJ, Lopez CD, Sheppard BC, Christensen DJ, Ohlmeyer M, Narla G, and Sears RC. PP2A activation and mTOR inhibition synergistically reduce MYC signaling and decrease tumor growth in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Cancer Res. 2019 Jan1;79(1):209-219. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-18-0717

5. Farrell AS*, Joly MM*, Allen-Petersen BL, Worth PJ, Lanciault C, Sauer D, Link J, Pelz C, Heiser LM, Morton JP, Muthalagu N, Hoffman MT, Manning SL, Pratt ED, Kendsersky ND, Egbukichi N, Amery TS, Thoma MC, Jenny ZP, Rhim AD, Murphy DJ, Sansom OJ, Crawford HC, Sheppard BC, Sears RC. MYC regulates ductal-neuroendocrine lineage plasticity in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma associated with poor outcome and chemoresistance. Nat Commun. 2017;8(1):1728. *Equal Contribution

6. Janghorban M, Farrell AS, Allen-Petersen BL, Pelz C, Daniel CJ, Oddo J, Langer EM, Christensen DJ, Sears RC. Targeting c-Myc by antagonizing PP2A inhibitors in breast cancer. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2014 Jun 24; 111(25):9157-62

7. Farrell AS, Allen-Petersen BL, Daniel CJ, Wang X, Wang Z, Rodriguez S, Impey S, Oddo J, Vitek MP, Lopez CD, Christensen DJ, Sheppard BC, Sears RC. Targeting Inhibitors of the Tumor Suppressor Protein Phosphatase 2A for the Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer. Mol Cancer Res. 2014 Jun; 12(6):924-39

8. Allen-Petersen BL, Carter CJ, Ohm AM, Reyland ME. Protein kinase Cδ is required for ErbB2-driven mammary gland tumorigenesis and negatively correlates with prognosis in human breast cancer. Oncogene. 2013 doi:10.1038/onc.2013.59

9. Allen-Petersen BL*, Miller MR*, Neville MC, Anderson SM, Nakayama KI and Reyland ME. Loss of protein kinase C delta alters mammary gland development and apoptosis. Cell Death Dis. 2010 Jan;1(1):e17 * Equal Contribution