Sarah A. Mazzilli, PhD

Assistant Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Investigating the molecular events associated with the progression of premalignant squamous lung lesions for targeted chemoprevention.

Lung cancer kills more individuals in the United States annually than breast, colon and prostate cancers combined. Reduction of lung cancer mortality may be achieved by identification of those at the high risk of developing cancer, in addition to finding effective agents in which to intervene in the process. There has been limited success of candidate chemopreventive agents in lung cancer as most have selected based on work in pre-clinical models that do not adequately represent the precancerous and early stage lesions that are the focus in clinical chemoprevention trials for lung cancer. The interests of our laboratory involve developing models to aid in the understanding of the epithelial and immune modulations that are involved in the progression and regression of premalignant squamous lesions to frank lung squamous cell carcinoma with a particular focus on identifying and testing targeted agents on appropriate models that allow for translation to clinical intervention studies. To do this the our lab utilized novel single cell and multiplex imaging technologies to characterize the immune and epithelial alterations enabling lung carcinogenesis and study mechanisms to intercept this process. Our lab also works closely with members of the section of Computational Biomedicine as well as national and international collaborators on the Pre-Cancer Genome Atlas (PCGA) and the NCI- Human Tumor Atlas leading the effort to further understand the molecular underpinnings of lung cancer development to advance early detection and intervention.

Publications

  • Published 5/15/2025

    Arroyo-Ataz G, Yagüe AC, Breda JC, Mazzilli SA, Jones D. Single-Cell Transcriptomics and Lineage Tracing Unveil Parallels in Lymphatic Muscle and Venous Smooth Muscle Development, Identity, and Function. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2025 May 15. PMID: 40371470.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 5/15/2025

    Cai L, Wu F, Zhou Q, Gao Y, Yao B, DeBerardinis RJ, Acquaah-Mensah GK, Aidinis V, Beane JE, Biswal S, Chen T, Concepcion-Crisol CP, Grüner BM, Jia D, Jones RA, Kurie JM, Lee MG, Lindahl P, Lissanu Y, Lorz C, MacPherson D, Martinelli R, Mazur PK, Mazzilli SA, Mii S, Moll HP, Moorehead RA, Morrisey EE, Ng SR, Oser MG, Pandiri AR, Powell CA, Ramadori G, Santos M, Snyder EL, Sotillo R, Su KY, Taki T, Taparra K, Tran PT, Xia Y, van Veen JE, Winslow MM, Xiao G, Rudin CM, Oliver TG, Xie Y, Minna JD. The Lung Cancer Autochthonous Model Gene Expression Database Enables Cross-Study Comparisons of the Transcriptomic Landscapes Across Mouse Models. Cancer Res. 2025 May 15; 85(10):1769-1783. PMID: 40298430.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 3/3/2025

    Snyder M, Wang Z, Lara B, Fimbres J, Pichardo T, Mazzilli S, Khan MM, Duggineni VK, Monti S, Sherr DH. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor controls IFN-?-induced immune checkpoints PD-L1 and IDO via the JAK/STAT pathway in lung adenocarcinoma. J Immunol. 2025 Mar 03. PMID: 40073102.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 2/24/2025

    Mazzilli SA, Rahal Z, Rouhani MJ, Janes SM, Kadara H, Dubinett SM, Spira AE. Translating premalignant biology to accelerate non-small-cell lung cancer interception. Nat Rev Cancer. 2025 May; 25(5):379-392. PMID: 39994467.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 2/5/2025

    Ning B, Chiu DJ, Pfefferkorn RM, Kefella Y, Kane E, Reyes-Ortiz V, Liu G, Zhang S, Liu H, Sultan L, Green E, Constant M, Spira AE, Campbell JD, Reid ME, Varelas X, Burks EJ, Lenburg ME, Mazzilli SA, Beane JE. Epithelial miR-149-5p up-regulation is associated with immune evasion in progressive bronchial premalignant lesions. bioRxiv. 2025 Feb 05. PMID: 39975222.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 31 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Other Positions

  • Member, Genome Science Institute
    Boston University
  • Member, BU-BMC Cancer Center
    Boston University
  • Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research
    Boston University

Websites

Education

  • University at Buffalo, PhD
  • University at Buffalo, MS
  • Bridgewater State University, BS

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