Profile

Luigi Strizzi M.D., Ph.D.
	Children's Memorial Research Center, Research Assistant Professor, Member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine lstrizzi@childrensmemorial.org

Education
	2004 1994	Ph.D. Cancer Biology M.D.	"G. d'Annunzio" University, Italy "G. d'Annunzio" University, Italy

Work Experience
	Period	Position and Area of Research	Organization
	Nov 2007 - Present	Research Assistant Professor, Director Experimental Biomarker Studies - role of embryonic morphogens in cancer	Children's Memorial Research Center, Cancer Biology and Epigenomics Program.
	Jan 2002 - Nov 2007	Postdoctoral Fellow/Research Physiscian - breast cancer research	National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD
	May 2001 - Dec 2001	Fogarty Research Scholar - viruses and tumorigenesis	U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Rockville, MD
	1994 - 1999	Residency in Clinical Pathology - cancers of the lung and pleura	"G. d'Annunzio" University, Faculty of Medicine, Italy

Research Interests

Tumor recurrence and metastasis represent the major causes of cancer related deaths. Studies aimed at understanding how cancer cells spread can help identify novel anti-cancer targets. In the past, Dr. Strizzi has studied how biological mechanisms, such as remodeling of the extracellular matrix, angiogenesis and epithelial to mesenchymal transition are involved during the metastatic spread of cancers of the lung and pleura, breast and gastrointestinal tract. More recently, Dr. Strizzi has focused his work on the role of the EGF-like protein, Cripto-1 during tumorigenesis of the mammary epithelial cell. Cripto-1 is the co-receptor for the TGF-beta related growth factor and embryonic morphogen Nodal. Both Cripto-1 and Nodal are vital for proper development and have been shown to be expressed in different human cancers including melanoma and breast cancer. Here, at the Hendrix Lab, Dr. Strizzi is examining how regulation of Cripto-1 and Nodal signaling affect differentiation, migration and invasion of cancer cells. Most importantly, he is studying how these unique signaling components can be exploited as diagnostic and prognostic markers or as novel targets for anti-cancer therapy.

Selected Publications:

Strizzi L, Hardy KM, Kirsammer GT, Gerami P, Hendrix MJ. Embryonic signaling in melanoma: potential for diagnosis and therapy. Lab Invest. 2011 In press.

Hardy KM, Kirschmann DA, Seftor EA, Margaryan NV, Postovit LM, Strizzi L, Hendrix MJ. Regulation of the embryonic morphogen Nodal by Notch4 facilitates manifestation of the aggressive melanoma phenotype. Cancer Res. 2010; 70:10340-10350.

Watanabe K, Meyer M, Strizzi L, Lee J, Gonzales M, Bianco C, Nagaoka T, Farid SS, Maragaryan N, Hendrix MJ, Vonderhaar BK, Salomon DS. Cripto-1 is a cell-surface marker for a tumorigenic, undifferentiated subpopulation in human embryonal carcinoma cells. Stem Cells. 2010; 28:1303-1314.

Epigenetically Reprogramming Metastatic Tumor Cells with an Embryonic Microenvironment. Costa, Seftor EA, BischofJM, Kirschmann DA, Strizzi L, Arndt K, Bonaldo M, Soares MB, Hendrix MJC. Epigenomics. 2009; 1:387–398

Strizzi L, Postovit LM, Margaryan NV, Lipavsky A, Seftor REB, Seftor EA, Hendrix MJC. Nodal as a biomarker for melanoma progression and a new therapeutic target for clinical intervention. Expert Rev Dermatol. 2009; 4:67-78.

Bianco C, Cotton C, Lonardo E, Strizzi L, Baraty C, Mancino M, Gonzales M, Watanabe K, Nagaoka T, Berry C, Arai AE, Minchiotti G, Salomon DS. Cripto-1 Is Required for Hypoxia to Induce Cardiac Differentiation of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells. Am J Pathol 2009; 175:2140-2152.

Mancino M, Esposito C, Watanabe K, Nagaoka T, Gonzales M, Bianco C, Normanno N, Salomon DS, Strizzi L. Neuronal guidance protein Netrin-1 induces differentiation in human embryonal carcinoma cells. Cancer Res. 2009; 69:1717-21.

di Bari MG, Ginsburg E, Plant J, Strizzi L, Salomon DS, Vonderhaar BK. Msx2 induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition in mouse mammary epithelial cells through upregulation of Cripto-1. J Cell Physiol. 2009; 219:659-666.

Margaryan NV, Strizzi L, Abbott DE, Seftor EA, Sambasiva Rao M,Hendrix MJC, Hess AR. EphA2 as a promoter of melanoma tumorigenicity. Cancer Biology & Therapy 2009; 8: 275-284.

Raafat A, Lawson S, Bargo S, Klauzinska M, Strizzi L, Goldhar AS, Buono K, Salomon D, Vonderhaar BK, Callahan R. Rbpj conditional knockout reveals distinct functions of Notch4/Int3 in mammary gland development and tumorigenesis Oncogene. 2009; 28:219-230.

Watanabe K, Nagaoka T, Strizzi L, Mancino M, Gonzales M, Bianco C, Salomon DS. Characterization of the glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchor signal sequence of human Cryptic with a hydrophilic extension. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2008;1778(12):2671-81.

Strizzi L, Abbott DE, Salomon DS, Hendrix MJC Potential for Cripto-1 in defining stem cell-like characteristics in human malignant melanoma. Cell Cycle. 2008; 7:1931-5.

Hirota M, Watanabe K, Hamada S, Sun Y, Strizzi L, Mancino M, Nagaoka T, Gonzales M, Seno M, Bianco C, Salomon DS. Smad2 functions as a co-activator of canonical Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway independent of Smad4 through histone acetyltransferase activity of p300. Cell Signal. 2008; 20:1632-1641.

Strizzi L, Mancino M, Bianco C, Raafat A, Gonzales M, Booth BW, Watanabe K, Nagaoka T, Mack DL, Howard B, Callahan R, Smith GH, Salomon DS. Netrin-1 can affect morphogenesis and differentiation of the mouse mammary gland. J Cell Physiol. 2008; 216:824-34.

Bianco C, Strizzi L, Mancino M, Watanabe K, Gonzales M, Hamada S, Raafat A, Sahlah L, Chang C, Sotgia F, Normanno N, Lisanti M, Salomon DS. Regulation of cripto-1 signaling and biological activity by caveolin-1 in mammary epithelial cells. Am J Pathol. 2008; 172:345-57.

Lab Affiliations
	M.J.C. Hendrix Research Laboratory