Katherine L. Nathanson

faculty photo
Associate Professor of Medicine
Department: Medicine
Graduate Group Affiliations

Contact information
351 BRB II/III
421 Curie Blvd
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: 215-662-4740
Education:
B.A. (Biology)
Haverford College, Haverford, PA, 1987.
M.D.
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 1993.
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Description of Research Expertise

Dr. Nathanson’s research focuses on the genetics of human cancer, both germline changes which confer susceptibility to cancer and somatic genetic changes associated with outcome.

Her research projects fall into several areas:

1) Identification and characterization of germline genetic changes associated with breast cancer susceptibility. These projects utilize two sample sets, a large clinical database of high risk breast cancer patients and a case-control study of white and black patients with breast cancer. Currently the projects in the laboratory focus on resequencing of BRCA1-associated genes as candidate breast cancer susceptibility genes in patients with high risk breast cancer and studying copy number variation as associated with potential susceptibility to high risk breast cancer in families with multiple cases of breast cancer.

2) Identification of genetic changes associated with testicular cancer susceptibility in case-control sample set. Dr. Nathanson recently completed a successful genome wide association study in testicular cancer, and is in the process of designing and doing a number of follow-up studies.

3) Identification of somatic genetic markers in melanoma as determinants of response to therapy. The projects in the laboratory focus on several aspects of melanoma genetics including genotyping patients to determine targeted therapy selection, using genetics and genomics to sub-set melanomas, as well as understand response to therapy, and identify novel genes important in melanoma progression.

Selected Publications

Zheng Y, Ogundiran TO, Falusi AG, Nathanson KL, John EM, Hennis AJ, Ambs S, Domchek SM, Rebbeck TR, Simon MS, Nemesure B, Wu SY, Leske MC, Odetunde A, Niu Q, Zhang J, Afolabi C, Gamazon ER, Cox NJ, Olopade CO, Olopade OI, Huo D.: Fine mapping of breast cancer genome-wide association studies loci in women of African ancestry identifies novel susceptibility markers. Carcinogenesis 34(7): 1520-8, July 2013 Notes: Epub 2013 Mar 8.

Nathanson KL, Martin AM, Wubbenhorst B, Greshock J, Letrero R, D'Andrea K, O'Day S, Infante JR, Falchook GS, Arkenau HT, Millward M, Brown MP, Pavlick A, Davies MA, Ma B, Gagnon R, Curtis CM, Lebowitz PF, Kefford RF, Long GV.: Tumor genetic analyses of patients with metastatic melanoma treated with the BRAF inhibitor Dabrafenib (GSK2118436). Clin Cancer Res [Epub ahead of print] , July 2013.

Schumacher FR, Wang Z, Skotheim RI, Koster R, Chung CC, Hildebrandt MA, Kratz CP, Bakken AC, Timothy Bishop D, Cook MB, Erickson RL, Fosså SD, Greene MH, Jacobs KB, Kanetsky PA, Kolonel LN, Loud JT, Korde LA, Le Marchand L, Pablo Lewinger J, Lothe RA, Pike MC, Rahman N, Rubertone MV, Schwartz SM, Siegmund KD, Skinner EC, Turnbull C, Van Den Berg DJ, Wu X, Yeager M, Nathanson KL, Chanock SJ, Cortessis VK, McGlynn KA: Testicular germ cell tumor susceptibility associated with the UCK2 locus on chromosome 1q23. Hum Mol Genet 22(13): 2748-53, July 2013 Notes: Epub 2013 Mar 5.

COMPLEXO, Southey MC, Park DJ, Nguyen-Dumont T, Campbell I, Thompson E, Trainer AH, Chenevix-Trench G, Simard J, Dumont M, Soucy P, Thomassen M, Jønson L, Pedersen IS, Hansen TV, Nevanlinna H, Khan S, Sinilnikova O, Mazoyer S, Lesueur F, Damiola F, Schmutzler R, Meindl A, Hahnen E, Dufault MR, Chris Chan T, Kwong A, Barkardóttir R, Radice P, Peterlongo P, Devilee P, Hilbers F, Benitez J, Kvist A, Törngren T, Easton D, Hunter D, Lindstrom S, Kraft P, Zheng W, Gao YT, Long J, Ramus S, Feng BJ, Weitzel JN, Nathanson K, Offit K, Joseph V, Robson M, Schrader K, Wang SM, Kim YC, Lynch H, Snyder C, Tavtigian S, Neuhausen S, Couch FJ, Goldgar DE.: COMPLEXO: identifying the missing heritability of breast cancer via next generation collaboration. Breast Cancer Res 15(3): 402, June 2013.

Fishbein L, Merrill S, Fraker DL, Cohen DL, Nathanson KL.: Inherited mutations in pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma: why all patients should be offered genetic testing. Ann Surg Oncol 20(5): 1444-50, May 2013.

Chung CC, Kanetsky PA, Wang Z, Hildebrandt MA, Koster R, Skotheim RI, Kratz CP, Turnbull C, Cortessis VK, Bakken AC, Bishop DT, Cook MB, Erickson RL, Fosså SD, Jacobs KB, Korde LA, Kraggerud SM, Lothe RA, Loud JT, Rahman N, Skinner EC, Thomas DC, Wu X, Yeager M, Schumacher FR, Greene MH, Schwartz SM, McGlynn KA, Chanock SJ, Nathanson KL.: Meta-analysis identifies four new loci associated with testicular germ cell tumor. Nat Genet 45(6): 680-5, May 2013 Notes: Epub May 12, 2013.

Vultur A, Villanueva J, Krepler C, Rajan G, Chen Q, Xiao M, Li L, Gimotty PA, Wilson M, Hayden J, Keeney F, Nathanson KL, Herlyn M.: MEK inhibition affects STAT3 signaling and invasion in human melanoma cell lines. Oncogene [Epub ahead of print], April 2013.

Sabbaghian N, Bahubeshi A, Shuen AY, Kanetsky PA, Tischkowitz MD, Nathanson KL, Foulkes WD.: Germ-line DICER1 mutations do not make a major contribution to the etiology of familial testicular germ cell tumours. BMC Res Notes 1(6): 127, April 2013.

Monda KL, Chen GK, Taylor KC, Palmer C, Edwards TL, Lange LA, Ng MC, Adeyemo AA, Allison MA, Bielak LF, Chen G, Graff M, Irvin MR, Rhie SK, Li G, Liu Y, Liu Y, Lu Y, Nalls MA, Sun YV, Wojczynski MK, Yanek LR, Aldrich MC, Ademola A, Amos CI, Bandera EV, Bock CH, Britton A, Broeckel U, Cai Q, Caporaso NE, Carlson CS, Carpten J, Casey G, Chen WM, Chen F, Chen YD, Chiang CW, Coetzee GA, Demerath E, Deming-Halverson SL, Driver RW, Dubbert P, Feitosa MF, Feng Y, Freedman BI, Gillanders EM, Gottesman O, Guo X, Haritunians T, Harris T, Harris CC, Hennis AJ, Hernandez DG, McNeill LH, Howard TD, Howard BV, Howard VJ, Johnson KC, Kang SJ, Keating BJ, Kolb S, Kuller LH, Kutlar A, Langefeld CD, Lettre G, Lohman K, Lotay V, Lyon H, Manson JE, Maixner W, Meng YA, Monroe KR, Morhason-Bello I, Murphy AB, Mychaleckyj JC, Nadukuru R, Nathanson KL, Nayak U, N'diaye A, Nemesure B, Wu SY, Leske MC, Neslund-Dudas C, Neuhouser M, Nyante S, Ochs-Balcom H, Ogunniyi A, Ogundiran TO, Ojengbede O, Olopade OI, Palmer JR, Ruiz-Narvaez EA, Palmer ND, Press MF, Rampersaud E, Rasmussen-Torvik LJ, Rodriguez-Gil JL, Salako B, Schadt EE, Schwartz AG, Shriner DA, Siscovick D, Smith SB, Wassertheil-Smoller S, Speliotes EK, Spitz MR, Sucheston L, Taylor H, Tayo BO, Tucker MA, Van Den Berg DJ, Edwards DR, Wang Z, Wiencke JK, Winkler TW, Witte JS, Wrensch M, Wu X, Yang JJ, Levin AM, Young TR, Zakai NA, Cushman M, Zanetti KA, Zhao JH, Zhao W, Zheng Y, Zhou J, Ziegler RG, Zmuda JM, Fernandes JK, Gilkeson GS, Kamen DL, Hunt KJ, Spruill IJ, Ambrosone CB, Ambs S, Arnett DK, Atwood L, Becker DM, Berndt SI, Bernstein L, Blot WJ, Borecki IB, Bottinger EP, Bowden DW, Burke G, Chanock SJ, Cooper RS, Ding J, Duggan D, Evans MK, Fox C, Garvey WT, Bradfield JP, Hakonarson H, Grant SF, Hsing A, Chu L, Hu JJ, Huo D, Ingles SA, John EM, Jordan JM, Kabagambe EK, Kardia SL, Kittles RA, Goodman PJ, Klein EA, Kolonel LN, Le Marchand L, Liu S, McKnight B, Millikan RC, Mosley TH, Padhukasahasram B, Williams LK, Patel SR, Peters U, Pettaway CA, Peyser PA, Psaty BM, Redline S, Rotimi CN, Rybicki BA, Sale MM, Schreiner PJ, Signorello LB, Singleton AB, Stanford JL, Strom SS, Thun MJ, Vitolins M, Zheng W, Moore JH, Williams SM, Ketkar S, Zhu X, Zonderman AB; NABEC Consortium; UKBEC Consortium; BioBank Japan Project; AGEN Consortium, Kooperberg C, Papanicolaou GJ, Henderson BE, Reiner AP, Hirschhorn JN, Loos RJ, North KE, Haiman CA.: A meta-analysis identifies new loci associated with body mass index in individuals of African ancestry. Nat Genet 45(6): 690-6, April 2013 Notes: Epub 2013 Apr 14.

Krepler C, Chunduru SK, Halloran MB, He X, Xiao M, Vultur A, Villanueva J, Mitsuuchi Y, Neiman EM, Benetatos C, Nathanson KL, Amaravadi RK, Pehamberger H, McKinlay M, Herlyn M.: The novel SMAC mimetic birinapant exhibits potent activity against human melanoma cells. Clin Cancer Res 19(7): 1784-94, April 2013.

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Last updated: 07/18/2013
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