Cory Abate-Shen, PhD

Professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Professor of Urologic Sciences (in Urology)
Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology and of Systems Biology (in the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Institute for Cancer Genetics)
Robert Sonneborn Professor of Medicine

Overview

Dr. Abate-Shen began her independent career as an Assistant Professor at Rutgers Medical School in 1991, where she rose quickly through the ranks, becoming Professor, Chief of the Division of Research in the Department of Medicine, and co-leader of the Prostate Program for The Cancer Institute of New Jersey. In 2007, Dr. Abate-Shen was recruited to the faculty of Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons as the Michael and Stella Chernow Professor of Urological Oncology, at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC), with appointments in the Departments of Urology, Pathology & Cell Biology, Medicine, Systems Biology, and the Institute of Cancer Genetics. In 2008, she was appointed Associate Director at the HICCC, and served as its Interim Director in 2012 as well as in 2017-2018. In 2019, she was appointed as Chair of the Department of Pharmacology, and the Robert Sonneborn Professor of Pharmacology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

Dr. Abate-Shen is an internationally-recognized leader in genitourinary malignancies. Her innovative studies of genetically-engineered mouse models for these cancers have led to the discovery of new biomarkers for early detection, as well as advances in cancer prevention and treatment. In recognition of her achievements, Dr. Abate-Shen has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a Sinsheimer Scholar Award, an NSF Young Investigator Award, and an American Cancer Society Research Professorship, the first to be awarded at Columbia University Medical Center. She has served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Cancer Institute, as well as on its Blue Ribbon Panel Working Group for the Cancer Moonshot Initiative. Dr. Abate-Shen has served in various leadership roles in the American Association for Cancer Research including a member of its Board of Directors. Dr. Abate-Shen has also participated extensively in national grant review sections including as the chair of the NIH Molecular Oncology Study Section. Recently, she has been elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Academic Appointments

Professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Professor of Urologic Sciences (in Urology)
Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology and of Systems Biology (in the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Institute for Cancer Genetics)
Robert Sonneborn Professor of Medicine

Research

Dr. Abate-Shen’s research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of cancer development. She has a longstanding commitment to the generation of mouse models of cancer and their effective use for translational research. Her major research interests are in the area of genitourological cancer. Most notably, her laboratory has developed novel models of prostate and bladder cancer, which have been utilized for investigating the molecular basis of the disease as well as preclinical models for evaluating new therapies.

Research Interests

Genitourinary cancer development
Molecular mechanisms of cancer development

Selected Publications

Park, S., Rong, L., Owczarek, T.B., Di Bernardo, M., Shoulson, R.L., Wai Chua, C., Kim, J.Y. Lankarani, A., Chakrapani, P., Syed, T., McKiernan, J.M., Solit, D.B., Shen, M.M., Al-Ahmadie, H., and Abate-Shen, C. (2021). Novel mouse models of bladder cancer identify a prognostic signature associated with risk of disease progression. Cancer Research. DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-21-1254.
Papachristodoulou, A., Rodriguez-Calero, A., Panja, S., Margolskee, E., Virk, R. K., Milner, T. A., Pina Martina, L., Kim, J. Y., Di Bernardo, M., Williams, A. B., Maliza, E. A., Caputo, J. M., Haas, C., Wang, V., De Castro, G. J., Wenske, S., Hibshoosh, H., McKiernan, J. M., Shen, M. M., Rubin, M. A., Mitrofanova, A., Dutta, A., and Abate-Shen, C. (2021). NKX3.1 localization to mitochondria suppresses prostate cancer initiation. Cancer Discov. 2021 Sep;11(9):2316-2333. PMID: 33893149.
Arriaga, J. M., Panja, S., Alshalalfa, M., Zhao, J., Zou, M., Giacobbe, A., Madubata, C. J., Kim, J. Y., Rodriguez, A., Coleman, I., Virk, R., Hibshoosh, H., Ertunc, O., Oznek, B., Fountain, J., Karnes, R. J., Luo, J., Antonarakis, E. S., Nelson, P., Feng, F. Y., Rubin, M. A., De Marzo, A. M., Rabadan, R., Sims, P. A., Mitrofanova, A., and Abate-Shen, C.(2020). A MYC and RAS co-activation signature in localized prostate cancer drives bone metastasis and castration resistance. Nature Cancer. PMCID: PMC8171279.
Aytes, A., Giacobbe, A., Mitrofanova, A., Ruggero, K., Cyrta, J., Arriaga, J., Palomero, L., Farran-Matas, S., Rubin, M.A., Shen, M.M., Califano, C., and Abate-Shen, C. (2018). NSD2 is a conserved driver of metastatic prostate cancer progression. Nature Communications, 9:5201-5215. PMCID: PMC6281610.
Zou, M., Toivanen, R., Mitrofanova, A. Floch, N., Hayati, S., Sun, S., Le Magnen, C., Chester, D., Mostaghel, E.A., Califano A, Rubin, M.A., Shen, M.M.*, and Abate-Shen, C.* (2017) Transdifferentiation as a mechanism of treatment resistance in a mouse model of castration-resistant prostate cancer. Cancer Discovery, 7: 736-749. (*co-corresponding) PMCID: PMC5501744.
Le Magnen, C., Virk, R.K, Dutta, A., Kim, J.Y., Panja, S., Lopez-Bujanda, Z.A., Califano, A., Drake, C.G., Mitrofanova, A., and Abate-Shen, C. (2018.) Cooperation of loss of NKX3.1 and inflammation in prostate cancer initiation. Disease Models and Mechanisms, Epub 2018/09/30. PMID: 30266798.
Dutta, A., Panja,S., Virk, R.K., Kim, J.Y., Zott, R., Cremers, S., Golombos, D. M., Liu, D., Mosquera, J.M., Mostaghel, E.A., Barbieri, C.E., Mitrofanova, A.M., and Abate-Shen, C. (2017) Co-clinical analysis of a genetically-engineered mouse model and human prostate cancer reveals significance of NKX3.1 expression for response to 5α-reductase inhibition. European Urology, 72: 499-506. PMCID: PMC5600823.
Owczarek, T. B., Kobayashi, T., Ramirez, R., Rong, L., Puzio-Kuter, A. M., Iyer, G., Teo, M. Y., Sánchez-Vega, F., Wang, J., Schultz, J., Zheng, T., Solit, D. B., Al-Ahmadie, H. A., and Abate-Shen, C. (2017) ARF confers a context-dependent response to chemotherapy in muscle invasive bladder cancer. Cancer Res. 77:1035-1046. PMCID: PMC5313321
Dutta, A., Le Magnen, C., Mitrofanova, A., Ouyang, X., Califano, A., and Abate-Shen, C. (2016) Identification of an NKX3.1-G9a-UTY transcriptional regulatory network that controls prostate differentiation. Science 352: 1576-1580. PMCID: PMC5507586

Selected Reviews and Commentaries

Giacobbe, A. and Abate-Shen, C. (2021). Modeling metastasis in mice: a closer look. Trends in Cancer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trecan.2021.06.010.
Arriaga, J.M. and Abate-Shen, C. (2018). Genetically-engineered mouse models of prostate cancer in the post-genomic era. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med, in press. Epub 2018/04/18. PMID: 29661807.
Le Magnen, C. Shen, MM, and Abate-Shen, C. (2018). Lineage plasticity in cancer progression and treatment. Annual Review of Cancer Biology. 2: 271-289. PMCID: PMC5942183.
Le Magnen, C., Dutta, A., and Abate-Shen, C. (2016). Optimizing mouse models for precision cancer prevention. Nat. Rev. Cancer 16: 187-196. PMCID: PMC5517771
Kobayashi, T., Owczarek, T.B., McKiernan, J.M., and Abate-Shen, C. (2015). Modeling bladder cancer in mice: opportunities and challenges. Nat. Rev. Cancer 15: 42-54. PMCID: PMC4386904.
Shen, M.M., and Abate-Shen, C. (2010). Molecular genetics of prostate cancer: new prospects for old challenges.Genes Dev. 24:1967-2000. PMCID: PMC2939361.
Abate-Shen, C., and Shen, M. (2000). Molecular genetics of prostate cancer. Genes Dev. 14:2410-2434. PMID: 11018010. PMID: 11018010.

Complete List of Published Work

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/cory.abate-shen.1/bibliography/public/