Heather Cunliffe, PhD

Investigator - Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen)

Research Assistant Professor, Department of Basic Medical Sciences - The University of Arizona College of Medicine—Phoenix in partnership with Arizona State University

Email: hcunliffe@tgen.org
Website: http://www.tgen.org/research/index.cfm?pageid=77&peopleid=62

Education:

Post-Doctoral: Investigating breast cancer progression using molecular genomic and cellular technology; National Human Genome Research Insitiute (1999-2003), University of Otago (1997-1999); 1997-2003

PhD; University of Otago; 1996

Background:

Dr. Cunliffe received her Ph.D. from the Department of Biochemistry at University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. She completed her postdoctoral training in the Cancer Genetics Branch of the National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH, in Bethesda, MD. Her research as a postdoctoral fellow focused on the role of hormones and growth factors on the development and progression of breast cancer. Dr. Cunliffe joined TGen in 2004 to head the Breast and Ovarian Cancer Research Unit, where she employs functional genomics approaches to elucidate molecular drivers of disease progression. Dr. Cunliffe holds an adjunct faculty appointment in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Maricopa County YWCA

Research Interests:

In the United States, Breast Cancer is the leading cause of cancer related death in non-smoking women and Ovarian Cancer is the leading cause of cancer related death from gynecologic malignancies.

The extensive heterogeneity of breast and ovarian tumors underscores the significant challenge associated with predicting response to therapy, metastatic potential and development of treatment refractory disease. Fortunately, data generated through genomic research has shed significant light on tumor cell complexity, revealing the presence of more homogeneous molecular subtypes. The shared characteristics of identifiable tumor subtypes indicate a degree of similarity of activated oncogenic signaling pathways, and have more predictable responses to selected therapies. These observations are paving the way to development of personalized treatment strategies targeted through measurable disease biology.

Research in our laboratory is focused on dissecting and understanding oncogenic disease progression mechanisms operating in identifiable biological contexts of breast and ovarian cancers.

The overarching goals of the BOCRU are the discovery and validation of:

  • More accurate diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers
  • Predictors of clinical and pathologic response
  • Molecular therapeutic targets

PubMed Link:

Search PubMed for a complete listing of Dr. Cunliffe's publications

Selected Publications:

  1. Lewis-Wambi JS, Cunliffe HE, Kim HR, Willis AL, Jordan VC. Overexpression of CEACAM6 promotes migration and invasion of oestrogen-deprived breast cancer cells. Eur J Cancer., 44(12):1770-9. 2008.
  2. Willis A.L., N.L. Tran, J.M. Chatigny, N. Charlton, H. Vu, S.A.N. Brown, M. Black, W.S. McDonough, S.P. Fortin, J.R. Niska, J.A. Winkles, HE Cunliffe. The Fn14 receptor is highly expressed in HER2-positive breast tumors and regulates breast cancer cell invasive capacity. Molecular Cancer Res, 6(5):725-34. 2008
  3. Jordan V.C., E.A. Ariazi J.S. Lewis-Wambi, R.R. Swaby, H.E. Cunliffe, A.T. Riegel. Oestrogen is bad for patients with breast cancer?. Breast Cancer Res, In Press. 2008.
  4. Jeffrey A. Winkles, Nhan L. Tran, Sharron A.N. Brown, Nichole Stains, Heather E. Cunliffe, Michael E. Berens. Role of TWEAK and Fn14 in tumor biology. Frontiers in Bioscience, 12, 2761-2771. 2007
  5. Gruvberger-Saal S.K., H.E. Cunliffe, K.M. Carr and I.A. Hedenfalk. Microarrays in breast cancer research and clinical practice – the future lies ahead. Endocr-Relat Cancer, 13(4):1017-31. 2006
  6. Tran N.L., W.S. McDonough, B.A. Savitch, S.P. Fortin, J.A. Winkles, M. Symons, M. Nakada, H.E. Cunliffe, G. Hostetter, D.B. Hoelzinger, J.L. Rennert, J.S. Michaelson, L.C. Burkly, C.A. Lipinski, J.C. Loftus, L. Mariani, M.E. Berens. Fn14 receptor activation induces Fn14 expression and malignant glioma progression via Rac1 and NF-κB. Cancer Res, 66(19):9535-42. 2006
  7. Cunliffe HE, Ringner M, Bilke S, Walker RL, Cheung JM, Chen Y, Meltzer PS.. The gene expression response of breast cancer to growth regulators: patterns and correlation with tumor expression profiles. Cancer Res., Nov 1;63(21):7158-66. 2003
  8. Azorsa, D. O., Cunliffe, H. E., and Meltzer, P. S.. Association of steroid receptor coactivator AIB1 with estrogen receptor- alpha in breast cancer cells. Breast Cancer Res Treat, 70, 89-101. 2001
  9. Scherr, M., LeBon, J., Castanotto, D., Cunliffe, H. E., Meltzer, P. S., Ganser, A., Riggs, A. D., and Rossi, J. J.. Detection of antisense and ribozyme accessible sites on native mRNAs: application to NCOA3 mRNA. Mol Ther, 4, 454-460. 2001.