Sarah Anne Mazzilli, PhD
Assistant Professor, 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.
Other Positions
- Member, Genome Science Institute, Boston University
- Member, BU-BMC Cancer Center, Boston University
- Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research, Boston University
Education
- University at Buffalo, PhD
- University at Buffalo, MS
- Bridgewater State University, BS
Publications
- Published on 10/2/2023
Yanagawa J, Tran LM, Salehi-Rad R, Lim RJ, Dumitras C, Fung E, Wallace WD, Prosper AE, Fishbein G, Shea C, Hong R, Kahangi B, Deng JJ, Gower AC, Liu B, Campbell JD, Mazzilli SA, Beane JE, Kadara H, Lenburg ME, Spira AE, Aberle DR, Krysan K, Dubinett SM. Single-Cell Characterization of Pulmonary Nodules Implicates Suppression of Immunosurveillance across Early Stages of Lung Adenocarcinoma. Cancer Res. 2023 Oct 02; 83(19):3305-3319. PMID: 37477508.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/14/2023
Banerji R, Grifno GN, Shi L, Smolen D, LeBourdais R, Muhvich J, Eberman C, Hiller BE, Lee J, Regan K, Zheng S, Zhang S, Jiang J, Raslan AA, Breda JC, Pihl R, Traber K, Mazzilli S, Ligresti G, Mizgerd JP, Suki B, Nia HT. Crystal ribcage: a platform for probing real-time lung function at cellular resolution. Nat Methods. 2023 Nov; 20(11):1790-1801. PMID: 37710017.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 7/27/2023
Bruhm DC, Mathios D, Foda ZH, Annapragada AV, Medina JE, Adleff V, Chiao EJ, Ferreira L, Cristiano S, White JR, Mazzilli SA, Billatos E, Spira A, Zaidi AH, Mueller J, Kim AK, Anagnostou V, Phallen J, Scharpf RB, Velculescu VE. Single-molecule genome-wide mutation profiles of cell-free DNA for non-invasive detection of cancer. Nat Genet. 2023 Aug; 55(8):1301-1310. PMID: 37500728.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/8/2023
Ning B, Tilston-Lunel AM, Simonetti J, Hicks-Berthet J, Matschulat A, Pfefferkorn R, Spira A, Edwards M, Mazzilli S, Lenburg ME, Beane JE, Varelas X. Convergence of YAP/TAZ, TEAD and TP63 activity is associated with bronchial premalignant severity and progression. J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2023 May 08; 42(1):116. PMID: 37150829.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/28/2022
Xu K, Shi X, Husted C, Hong R, Wang Y, Ning B, Sullivan TB, Rieger-Christ KM, Duan F, Marques H, Gower AC, Xiao X, Liu H, Liu G, Duclos G, Platt M, Spira AE, Mazzilli SA, Billatos E, Lenburg ME, Campbell JD, Beane JE. Smoking modulates different secretory subpopulations expressing SARS-CoV-2 entry genes in the nasal and bronchial airways. Sci Rep. 2022 Oct 28; 12(1):18168. PMID: 36307504.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/28/2021
Xu K, Shi X, Husted C, Hong R, Wang Y, Ning B, Sullivan T, Rieger-Christ K, Duan F, Marques H, Gower A, Xiao X, Liu H, Liu G, Duclos G, Platt M, Spira A, Mazzilli S, Billatos E, Lenburg M, Campbell J, Beane J. Smoking Modulates Different Secretory Subpopulations Expressing SARS-CoV-2 Entry Genes in the Nasal and Bronchial Airways. Res Sq. 2021 Oct 28. PMID: 34729557.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/1/2021
Maoz A, Merenstein C, Koga Y, Potter A, Gower AC, Liu G, Zhang S, Liu H, Stevenson C, Spira A, Reid ME, Campbell JD, Mazzilli SA, Lenburg ME, Beane J. Elevated T cell repertoire diversity is associated with progression of lung squamous cell premalignant lesions. J Immunother Cancer. 2021 09; 9(9). PMID: 34580161.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 6/15/2021
Jaleel Z, Blasberg E, Troiano C, Montanaro P, Mazzilli S, Gertje HP, Crossland NA, Platt M, Spiegel J. Association of vaping with decreased vascular endothelial growth factor expression and decreased microvessel density in cutaneous wound healing tissue in rats. Wound Repair Regen. 2021 11; 29(6):1024-1034. PMID: 34129265.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/4/2021
Tilston-Lunel A, Mazzilli S, Kingston NM, Szymaniak AD, Hicks-Berthet J, Kern JG, Abo K, Reid ME, Perdomo C, Wilson AA, Spira A, Beane J, Varelas X. Aberrant epithelial polarity cues drive the development of precancerous airway lesions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 05 04; 118(18). PMID: 33903236.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/29/2020
Engler AE, Ysasi AB, Pihl RMF, Villacorta-Martin C, Heston HM, Richardson HMK, Thapa BR, Moniz NR, Belkina AC, Mazzilli SA, Rock JR. Airway-Associated Macrophages in Homeostasis and Repair. Cell Rep. 2020 12 29; 33(13):108553. PMID: 33378665.
Read at: PubMed
View 9 more publications: View full profile at BUMC