Rolf Brekken, Ph.D. - Faculty Profile

Biography

Dr. Rolf Brekken received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa and his PhD from UT Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. His graduate research was focused in the use of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) as a target for the therapy of solid tumors. He completed his postdoctoral training in the Department of Vascular Biology at the Hope Heart Institute in Seattle, Washington.

His laboratory investigates the microenvironment of pancreatic, breast and lung tumors with a particular emphasis on pathways that drive epithelial plasticity and immune suppression.

Dr. Brekken is currently the Effie Marie Cain Research Scholar in Angiogenesis Research and is a principal investigator in the Hamon Center for Therapeutic Oncology Research.

Education

Undergraduate: Luther College (1991), Molecular & Cell Biology
Graduate School: Univ of Tx Southwestern Med Ct (1999), Biology

Research Interest

Angiogenesis & ECM signaling
Cancer Therapy
Immune therapy
Metastasis
Tumor Microenvironment

Publications

Featured Publications

Does Axl have potential as a therapeutic target in pancreatic cancer?: Du W, Brekken RA Expert Opin. Ther. Targets 2018 Sep
Loss of Tbk1 kinase activity protects mice from diet-induced metabolic dysfunction.: Cruz VH, Arner EN, Wynne KW, Scherer PE, Brekken RA Mol Metab 2018 Jun
Antibody targeting of phosphatidylserine for the detection and immunotherapy of cancer.: Belzile O, Huang X, Gong J, Carlson J, Schroit AJ, Brekken RA, Freimark BD Immunotargets Ther 2018 7 7-14
Small molecule inhibition of Axl targets tumor immune suppression and enhances chemotherapy in pancreatic cancer.: Ludwig KF, Du W, Sorrelle N, Wnuk-Lipinska K, Topalovski M, Toombs JE, Cruz VH, Yabuuchi S, Rajeshkumar NV, Maitra A, Lorens JB, Brekken RA Cancer Res. 2017 Nov
Inhibition of discoidin domain receptor 1 reduces collagen-mediated tumorigenicity in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.: Aguilera KY, Huang H, Du W, Hagopian MM, Wang Z, Hinz S, Hwang TH, Wang H, Fleming JB, Castrillon DH, Ren X, Ding K, Brekken RA Mol. Cancer Ther. 2017 Sep
From top to bottom: midkine and pleiotrophin as emerging players in immune regulation.: Sorrelle N, Dominguez AT, Brekken RA J. Leukoc. Biol. 2017 Mar
Warfarin blocks Gas6-mediated Axl activation required for pancreatic cancer epithelial plasticity and metastasis.: Kirane A, Ludwig KF, Sorrelle N, Haaland G, Sandal T, Ranaweera R, Toombs JE, Wang M, Dineen SP, Micklem D, Dellinger MT, Lorens JB, Brekken RA Cancer Res. 2015 Jul
Neutralizing murine TGF?R2 promotes a differentiated tumor cell phenotype and inhibits pancreatic cancer metastasis.: Ostapoff KT, Kutluk Cenik B, Wang M, Ye R, Xu X, Nugent D, Hagopian MM, Topalovski M, Rivera LB, Carroll KD, Brekken RA Cancer Res. 2014 Jul
SPARC promotes pericyte recruitment via inhibition of endoglin-dependent TGF-{beta}1 activity.: Rivera LB, Brekken RA J. Cell Biol. 2011 Jun 193 7 1305-19
Cyclooxygenase-2 inhibition potentiates the efficacy of vascular endothelial growth factor blockade and promotes an immune stimulatory microenvironment in preclinical models of pancreatic cancer.: Zhang Y, Kirane A, Huang H, Sorrelle NB, Burrows FJ, Dellinger MT, Brekken RA Mol. Cancer Res. 2018 Oct

Honors & Awards

Kavlie Fellow
(2009)
Effie Marie Cain Research Scholar
Endowment for Angiogenesis Research - UTSW (2002)
Junior Investigator Award
Funded by the American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant and the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center (2002)
Postdoctoral Fellowship
NIH National Research Service Award, F32 - HL10352 (2000)

Professional Associations/Affiliations

American Association for Cancer Research
American Association for the Advancement of Science (1992)
American Society for Matrix Biology
North American Vascular Biology Association
Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine