Department:
Program in Oncology and Department of Pathology
UMGCC Research Program:
Hormone Responsive Cancers Program
Education/Training:
College Degree:
B.A., University of Kansas
Medical Degree:
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin
Fellowship:
University of British Columbia
Contact
Information:
Mailing Address:
Dept. of Pathology
10 S. Pine St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
Email:
afulton@umaryland.edu
Phone:
410-706-6479
Fax:
410-706-8414
Research Interests:
My laboratory is interested in identifying the mechanisms by which breast cancers grow and metastasize and in developing therapeutic strategies against breast cancer. Our studies show that overexpression of cyclooxygenase-2 is an indicator of aggressive disease and preclinical studies indicate that cyclooxygenase inhibitors may limit tumor growth and spread. We are investigating a new strategy to inhibit COX-2 signaling by antagonizing prostaglandin E (EP) receptors. We have shown that antagonizing the EP4 receptor inhibits metastasis. Current studies examine mechanisms by which cyclooxygenase inhibitors enhance anti-tumor immunity. We are also investigating how cytokines and chemokines and their specific receptors modify tumor behavior. We have identified therapeutic activities for several cytokines. We have also identified a pharmacologic antagonist of one chemokine receptor and shown that this agent inhibits tumor metastasis.
Publications:
Kundu, N. and Fulton, A.M. Selective Cox-1 and Cox-2 inhibitors control metastatic disease in a murine model of breast cancer. Cancer Research 62:2343-2346, 2002.
Dorsey, R., Kundu, N., Yang, Q., Tannenbaum, C.S., Sun, H., Hamilton, T.A. and Fulton, A.M. Immunotherapy with IL-10 depends on the CXC chemokines IP-10 and MIG. Cancer Research 62:2606-2610, 2002.
Kundu, N., Smyth, M., Samsel, L. and Fulton, A.M. Cyclooxygenase inhibitors block cell growth, increase ceramide and inhibit cell cycle in breast cancer cells. Breast Cancer Res. Treatment 76:57-64, 2002.
Ma, X., Yang, Q., Wilson, K.T., Kundu, N., Meltzer, S.J. and Fulton, A.M. Promoter methylation regulates cyclooxygenase (COX-2) expression in breast cancer. Breast Cancer Research 6:R316-321, 2004.
Selaru, F.M., Yin, J., Olaru, A., Mori, Y., Xu, Y., Epstein, S., Sato, F., Deacu, E., Wang, S., Sterian, A., Fulton, A.M., Abraham, J.M., Shibata, D., Baquet, C., Stass, S.A. and Meltzer, S.J. An unsupervised approach to identify molecular phenotypic components influencing breast cancer features. Cancer Research 64:1584-1588, 2004.
Walser, T.C. and Fulton, A.M. The role of chemokines in the biology and therapy of breast cancer. Breast Dis. 20:137-143, 2004.
Kundu, N., Walser, T.C., Ma, X. and Fulton, A.M. Cyclooxygenase inhibitors modulate NK activities that control metastatic disease. Cancer Immunol. Immunother. 54:981-987, 2005.
Hahn, T., Alvarez, I., Kobie, J.J., Ramanathauram, L., Dial, S., Fulton, A.M., Besselsen, D., Walker, E., and Akporiaye, E.T. dietary celecoxib enhances the efficacy of tumor lysate-pulsed dendritic cell vaccines in treating murine breast cancer. Int. J. Cancer 118:2220-2231, 2006.
Ma, X., Kundu, N., Rifat, S., Walser, T. and Fulton, A.M> Prostaglandin E receptor EP4 antagonism inhibits breast cancer metastasis. Cancer Res. 66:2923-2927, 2006.
Walser, T.C., Rifat, S., Ma, X., Kundu, N., Ward, C., Goloubeva, O., Johnson, M.G., Medina, J.C., Collins, T.L. and Fulton, A.M. Antagonism of CXCR3 inhibits lung metastasis in a murine model of metastatic breast cancer. Cancer Res. (in press), 2006.
