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J. Thomas Parsons

J. Thomas Parsons

Professor, Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology

Primary Location
PO Box 800734
Jordan Hall, 2025
Primary Phone Number
434.924.5395
Email
[email protected]

Bio & Overview

Growth Factor and Adhesion Signaling. For the past 25 years my laboratory has been interested in how the activation of protein tyrosine kinases contributes to cancer progression and metastasis. In 1991 we identified Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) as an integrin regulated tyrosine protein kinase and in the ensuing years identified and characterized the signaling pathways regulated by adhesion to the extracellular matrix. Our studies have helped to define the role of FAK in tumor initiation, progression and metastasis and have laid ground work for efforts to develop small molecule inhibitors to FAK. We have helped to characterize one such inhibitor that has gone on to phase I trials in cancer patients. In the past 10 years my laboratory has focused on how receptor and non-receptor tyrosine kinase signaling contributes to tumor growth and metabolism and response to therapies, with particular interest in the tumor microenvironment. This interest has manifested itself in a highly productive and interactive collaboration with Todd Bauer, Associate Professor of Surgery and led to the establishment of patient-derived xenografts of pancreatic cancer as a model to develop effective combinatorial therapies for pancreatic adenocarcinomas. We have further developed mouse models that recapitulate the steps in the metastatic outgrowth of pancreas cancers in the liver. We are using these models to identify novel therapies for patients with recurrent metastatic disease.

Academic Information

Department
Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology

Primary Education

  • BA, Chemistry, Depauw University, 1964
  • PhD, Biochemistry, Duke University, 1968
  • Postdoc, DNA Tumor Virology, St. Louis University, St Louis, MO, 1970
  • Postdoc, RNA Tumor Virology, Universitat Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, 1973

Other Appointments

  • Professor, MII
  • Professor, BMBG
  • Professor, MCDB

Other Affiliations

  • Program Co-Leader, Cancer Cell Signaling Program
  • Professor, BIMS

Research Interests

Adhesion Signaling in Normal, Cardiovascular and Cancer Cells

Selected Publications

Walters DM, Lindberg JM, Adair SJ, Newhook TE, Cowan CR, Stokes JB, Borgman CA, Stelow EB, Lowrey BT, Chopivsky ME, Gilmer TM, Parsons JT, Bauer TW, Inhibition of the growth of patient-derived pancreatic cancer xenografts with the MEK inhibitor trametinib is augmented by combined treatment with the epidermal growth factor receptor/HER2 inhibitor lapatinib., 2013; Neoplasia (New York, N.Y.). 15(2) 143-55. PMID: 23441129 | PMCID: PMC3579317

Walters DM, Stokes JB, Adair SJ, Stelow EB, Borgman CA, Lowrey BT, Xin W, Blais EM, Lee JK, Papin JA, Parsons JT, Bauer TW, Clinical, molecular and genetic validation of a murine orthotopic xenograft model of pancreatic adenocarcinoma using fresh human specimens., 2013; PloS one. 8(10) e77065. PMID: 24204737 | PMCID: PMC3799939

Reynolds AB, Kanner SB, Bouton AH, Schaller MD, Weed SA, Flynn DC, Parsons JT, SRChing for the substrates of Src., 2013; Oncogene. () . PMID: 24121272

Guerrero MS, Parsons JT, Bouton AH, Cas and NEDD9 Contribute to Tumor Progression through Dynamic Regulation of the Cytoskeleton., 2012; Genes & cancer. 3(5) 371-81. PMID: 23226575 | PMCID: PMC3513795

Grigera PR, Ma L, Borgman CA, Pinto AF, Sherman NE, Parsons JT, Fox JW, Mass spectrometric analysis identifies a cortactin-RCC2/TD60 interaction in mitotic cells., 2012; Journal of proteomics. 75(7) 2153-9. PMID: 22282019 | PMCID: PMC3312979

Tilghman RW, Blais EM, Cowan CR, Sherman NE, Grigera PR, Jeffery ED, Fox JW, Blackman BR, Tschumperlin DJ, Papin JA, Parsons JT, Matrix rigidity regulates cancer cell growth by modulating cellular metabolism and protein synthesis., 2012; PloS one. 7(5) e37231. PMID: 22623999 | PMCID: PMC3356407

Stokes JB, Adair SJ, Slack-Davis JK, Walters DM, Tilghman RW, Hershey ED, Lowrey B, Thomas KS, Bouton AH, Hwang RF, Stelow EB, Parsons JT, Bauer TW, Inhibition of focal adhesion kinase by PF-562,271 inhibits the growth and metastasis of pancreatic cancer concomitant with altering the tumor microenvironment., 2011; Molecular cancer therapeutics. 10(11) 2135-45. PMID: 21903606 | PMCID: PMC3213273

Tilghman RW, Cowan CR, Mih JD, Koryakina Y, Gioeli D, Slack-Davis JK, Blackman BR, Tschumperlin DJ, Parsons JT, Matrix rigidity regulates cancer cell growth and cellular phenotype., 2010; PloS one. 5(9) e12905. PMID: 20886123 | PMCID: PMC2944843

Parsons JT, Horwitz AR, Schwartz MA, Cell adhesion: integrating cytoskeletal dynamics and cellular tension., 2010; Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology. 11(9) 633-43. PMID: 20729930 | PMCID: PMC2992881

Bernaciak TM, Zareno J, Parsons JT, Silva CM, A novel role for signal transducer and activator of transcription 5b (STAT5b) in beta1-integrin-mediated human breast cancer cell migration., 2009; Breast cancer research : BCR. 11(4) R52. PMID: 19630967 | PMCID: PMC2750113

Iwanicki MP, Vomastek T, Tilghman RW, Martin KH, Banerjee J, Wedegaertner PB, Parsons JT, FAK, PDZ-RhoGEF and ROCKII cooperate to regulate adhesion movement and trailing-edge retraction in fibroblasts., 2008; Journal of cell science. 121(0) 895-905. PMID: 18303050

Parsons JT, Slack-Davis J, Tilghman R, Roberts WG, Focal adhesion kinase: targeting adhesion signaling pathways for therapeutic intervention., 2008; Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. 14(3) 627-32. PMID: 18245520

Owen KA, Pixley FJ, Thomas KS, Vicente-Manzanares M, Ray BJ, Horwitz AF, Parsons JT, Beggs HE, Stanley ER, Bouton AH, Regulation of lamellipodial persistence, adhesion turnover, and motility in macrophages by focal adhesion kinase., 2007; The Journal of cell biology. 179(6) 1275-87. PMID: 18070912 | PMCID: PMC2140030

Hayasaka H, Martin KH, Hershey ED, Parsons JT, Disruption of FRNK expression by gene targeting of the intronic promoter within the focal adhesion kinase gene., 2007; Journal of cellular biochemistry. 102(4) 947-54. PMID: 17440961

Vomastek T, Iwanicki MP, Schaeffer HJ, Tarcsafalvi A, Parsons JT, Weber MJ, RACK1 targets the extracellular signal-regulated kinase/mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway to link integrin engagement with focal adhesion disassembly and cell motility., 2007; Molecular and cellular biology. 27(23) 8296-305. PMID: 17908799 | PMCID: PMC2169169

Slack-Davis JK, Martin KH, Tilghman RW, Iwanicki M, Ung EJ, Autry C, Luzzio MJ, Cooper B, Kath JC, Roberts WG, Parsons JT, Cellular characterization of a novel focal adhesion kinase inhibitor., 2007; The Journal of biological chemistry. 282(20) 14845-52. PMID: 17395594

Mayhew MW, Jeffery ED, Sherman NE, Nelson K, Polefrone JM, Pratt SJ, Shabanowitz J, Parsons JT, Fox JW, Hunt DF, Horwitz AF, Identification of phosphorylation sites in betaPIX and PAK1., 2007; Journal of cell science. 120(0) 3911-8. PMID: 17989089

Martin KH, Jeffery ED, Grigera PR, Shabanowitz J, Hunt DF, Parsons JT, Cortactin phosphorylation sites mapped by mass spectrometry., 2006; Journal of cell science. 119(0) 2851-3. PMID: 16825425

Webb DJ, Donais K, Whitmore LA, Thomas SM, Turner CE, Parsons JT, Horwitz AF, FAK-Src signalling through paxillin, ERK and MLCK regulates adhesion disassembly., 2004; Nature cell biology. 6(2) 154-61. PMID: 14743221

Ridley AJ, Schwartz MA, Burridge K, Firtel RA, Ginsberg MH, Borisy G, Parsons JT, Horwitz AR, Cell migration: integrating signals from front to back., 2003; Science (New York, N.Y.). 302(5651) 1704-9. PMID: 14657486