Martin Peter Carroll, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine (Hematology-Oncology)
Department: Medicine
Graduate Group Affiliations
Contact information
Room 715, BRB II/III
421 Curie Blvd.
Philadelphia, PA 19104
421 Curie Blvd.
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: (215) 573-5217
Fax: (215) 573-7049
Fax: (215) 573-7049
Email:
carroll2@mail.med.upenn.edu
carroll2@mail.med.upenn.edu
Publications
Education
A.B. (English and American Literature)
Harvard College, Cambridge, MA, 1982.
M.D. (Medicine)
Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH, 1988.
Permanent linkA.B. (English and American Literature)
Harvard College, Cambridge, MA, 1982.
M.D. (Medicine)
Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH, 1988.
Description of Research Expertise
Research InterestsMolecular biology of leukemia
Key words: Leukemia, BCR/ABL, signal transduction, PI3 kinase.
Description of Research
My laboratory is broadly interested in the molecular biology of leukemia. There are two active areas of research in the laboratory. The first project focused on acute myeloid leukemia (AML). AML has been hypothesized to arise from a combination of oncogenic translocations that disrupt cellular disruption and dysregulation of cellular growth regulatory mechanisms. Although a number of translocations are identified which block differentiation in AML cells, the mechanism of increased cell growth is poorly understood. We are working to understand the signal transduction pathways activated in primary cells from patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We have recently found that over 80% of AML patient samples have activation of the PI3 kinase signaling pathway and that these cells require activation of the PI3 kinase pathway for survival. We are continuing to work on the PI3 kinase pathway in these primary patient cells in order to determine the exact role of the pathway in AML. Experiments are in progress to test the use of PI3 kinase pathway inhibitors in the therapy of AML using a NOD/SCID xenograft model of the disease. We are also working to develop improved culture conditions for primary AML cells in order to define the growth regulatory pathways that maintain the survival of these cells in patients.
A second project involves the role of genomic instability in progression of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) from the chronic phase to the terminal blast crisis phase of disease. CML arises because of the t(9;22) translocation which gives rise to the BCR/ABL oncogene. Extensive work has shown that BCR/ABL is a constitutively activated tyrosine kinase that leads to constitutive activation of signal transduction pathways in leukemic cells causing their aberrant growth. However, the role of BCR/ABL in progression to blast crisis is unknown. We have recently demonstrated that BCR/ABL alters the cellular response to DNA damage. After DNA damage, BCR/ABL translocates from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. In the nucleus, the oncogene associates with and disrupts the function of the ataxia-telangiectasia and rad 3 related (ATR) protein which regulates cell cycle checkpoints and DNA repair. We are actively working on trying to define the mechanism of translocation and association with ATR in order to better understand the role of BCR/ABL in progression of this disease.
Rotation Projects
1. Understanding the effects of hypoxia on growth of MDS cells.
2. Defining targets of mTOR signaling in AML.
3. Effects of BCR/ABL on genomic instability.
Lab personnel:
Jamil Dierov PhD, DS. - Staff Scientist
James Thompson, M.D. - Research Associate
Patty Sanchez, Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow
Xiiowei Yang, Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow
Beth Burke - Graduate Student
Kristin Brennan - Research Specialist
Description of Clinical Expertise
Leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromesSelected Publications
Kumar A, Hamane K, Duault C, Lima-Junior JR, Jung DH, Qin H, Salcido S, Huang M, Guo X, Taghi Khani A, Sanchez Ortiz A, Ghoda L, Marcucci G, Lacayo NJ, Sakamoto KM, Hurtz C, Carroll M, Tasian SK, Geng H, Ji L, Armenian S, Izraeli S, Wu X, Maecker HT, Swaminathan S.: Tumor-induced dendritic cell deregulation perturbs T cell proliferation and predicts clinical outcome in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Cell Rep Med Jul 2026.Cao Z, Yu S, Peng J, Barrett DR, Liu Y, Sussman JH, Chen C, Thadi A, Liu L, Alikarami F, Xu J, Carroll MP, Tan K, Bernt KM, Shi J.: CRISPR-based functional genomics for dissecting therapeutic dependency in primary acute myeloid leukemia samples. Mol Cell 86: 968-985, Mar 2026.
Neelamraju Y, Rapaport F, Gandara JA, Paudel BB, DeWolf S, Dunham N, Fan H, Lee T, Mayo MW, Othman J, Sheridan C, Sol-Church K, Solga MD, Wang L, Cripe LD, Dillon R, Kleppe M, Carroll M, Mason CE, Roboz GJ, Sun Z, Tallman MS, Zhang Y, Paietta E, Levine R, Melnick AM, Bekiranov S, Garrett-Bakelman FE.: Elevated levels of TNF and its targets characterize better-risk older acute myeloid leukemia patients. Leukemia 2026.
Buono R, Juarez D, Paul M, Skuli SJ, Wong IB, Tarnekar I, Ying Z, Le I, Wertheim G, Bakayoko A, Kruidenier M, Sebti SM, Konopleva M, Fleischman AG, Jang C, Carroll M, Fruman DA.: Pitavastatin counteracts venetoclax resistance mechanisms in acute myeloid leukemia by depleting geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate. bioRxiv Nov 2025.
Dunham N, Wang Z, Neelamraju Y, Guo Y, Paudel BB, Meydan C, Gandara JA, Abdelmalak FA, Fan H, Hardwick J, Layer JH, Lee T, Maier B, McDonald WH, Patnaik I, Prajapati S, Rapaport F, Sheridan C, Sheynkman G, Zumbo P, Becker MW, Bullinger L, Carroll MP, D'Andrea RJ, Dillon R, Levine RL, Mason CE, Melnick AM, Neuberg DS, Bekiranov S, Zang C, Davé UP, Garrett-Bakelman FE.: The LMO2-LDB1-TAL1 complex regulates transcription networks in acute myeloid leukemia. Blood Neoplasia 3: 100186, Nov 2025.
Mahdavi L, Alikarami F, Goodrow H, Lenard A, Riedel SS, Libbrecht C, Bowser I, Tasian SK, Falkenstein CD, Manning B, Skuli S, Carroll MP, Wertheim G, Cai SF, McGeehan G, Yu S, Shi J, Xie HM, Bernt KM.: Upfront Menin-inhibitor resistance in multiply pretreated leukemias. Exp Hematol Sep 2025.
Pottier A, Park S, Lee Y, Liccardo F, Yang H, Park J, Lorant A, Schnekenburger M, Brusa D, Li V, Valente S, Mai A, Skuli SJ, Carroll M, Boettcher S, Sarry JE, Cerella C, Morceau F, Diederich M.: TP53-agnostic lethality through combined pan-HDAC and CDK inhibition in acute myeloid leukemia. Cancer Lett 633: 218011, Sep 2025.
Prajapati SC, Meydan C, Neelamraju Y, Wang Z, Fan H, Dunham N, Dillon R, Gandara JA, Lee T, Sheridan C, Zumbo P, Becker MW, Bullinger L, Carroll MP, D'Andrea RJ, Levine RL, Mason C, Melnick AM, Zang C, Bekiranov S, Garrett-Bakelman FE.: CCAAT-enhancer binding protein delta functions as a tumor suppressor gene in acute myeloid leukemia. bioRxiv Aug 2025.
Skuli SJ, Bakayoko A, Kruidenier M, Manning B, Pammer P, Salimov A, Riley O, Brake-Sillá G, Dopkin D, Bowman M, Martinez-Gutierrez LN, Anderson CC, Reisz JA, Buono R, Paul M, Saland E, Liccardo F, DeVine A, Wong S, Xu JP, Nee E, Hausler R, Boettcher S, Sebti SM, Lai C, Maxwell KN, Sarry JE, Fruman DA, D'Alessandro A, Mesaros C, Keith B, Simon MC, Sung PJ, Wertheim G, Skuli N, Bowman RL, Matthews A, Carroll M.: Chemoresistance of TP53 mutant acute myeloid leukemia requires the mevalonate byproduct, geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate, for induction of an adaptive stress response. Leukemia Jul 2025.
Liu Y, Li Q, Alikarami F, Barrett DR, Mahdavi L, Li H, Tang S, Khan TA, Michino M, Hill C, Song L, Yang L, Li Y, Pokharel SP, Stamford AW, Liverton N, Renzetti LM, Taylor S, Watt GF, Ladduwahetty T, Kargman S, Meinke PT, Foley MA, Shi J, Li H, Carroll M, Chen CW, Gardini A, Maillard I, Huggins DJ, Bernt KM, Wan L.: Editor's Note: Small-Molecule Inhibition of the Acyl-Lysine Reader ENL as a Strategy against Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Cancer Discov 15: 1297-1298, Jun 2025.