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 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 on 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 Feb 24. PMID: 39994467.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 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 - Published on 8/13/2024
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. bioRxiv. 2024 Aug 13. PMID: 39185148.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 7/22/2024
Arroyo-Ataz G, Yagüe AC, Breda JC, Mazzilli SA, Jones D. Transcriptional, developmental, and functional parallels of lymphatic and venous smooth muscle. bioRxiv. 2024 Jul 22. PMID: 39091770.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 6/10/2024
Steiner D, Sultan L, Sullivan T, Liu H, Zhang S, LeClerc A, Alekseyev YO, Liu G, Mazzilli SA, Zhang J, Rieger-Christ K, Burks EJ, Beane J, Lenburg ME. Identification of a gene expression signature of vascular invasion and recurrence in stage I lung adenocarcinoma via bulk and spatial transcriptomics. bioRxiv. 2024 Jun 10. PMID: 38915565.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 6/4/2024
Ysasi AB, Engler AE, Bawa PS, Wang F, Conrad RD, Yeung AK, Rock JR, Beane-Ebel J, Mazzilli SA, Franklin RA, Mizgerd JP, Murphy GJ. A specialized population of monocyte-derived tracheal macrophages promote airway epithelial regeneration through a CCR2-dependent mechanism. iScience. 2024 Jul 19; 27(7):110169. PMID: 38993668.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/14/2024
Cai L, Gao Y, DeBerardinis RJ, Acquaah-Mensah G, Aidinis V, Beane JE, Biswal S, Chen T, Concepcion-Crisol CP, Grüner BM, Jia D, Jones R, Kurie JM, Lee MG, Lindahl P, Lissanu Y, Lorz Lopez MC, Martinelli R, Mazur PK, Mazzilli SA, Mii S, Moll H, Moorehead R, Morrisey EE, Ng SR, Oser MG, Pandiri AR, Powell CA, Ramadori G, Santos Lafuente M, Snyder E, Sotillo R, Su KY, Taki T, Taparra K, Xia Y, van Veen E, Winslow MM, Xiao G, Rudin CM, Oliver TG, Xie Y, Minna JD. A Lung Cancer Mouse Model Database. bioRxiv. 2024 May 14. PMID: 38464291.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 4/6/2024
Gindra RH, Zheng Y, Green EJ, Reid ME, Mazzilli SA, Merrick DT, Burks EJ, Kolachalama VB, Beane JE. Graph Perceiver Network for Lung Tumor and Bronchial Premalignant Lesion Stratification from Histopathology. Am J Pathol. 2024 Jul; 194(7):1285-1293. PMID: 38588853.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/28/2024
Butler MLMD, Pervaiz N, Ypsilantis P, Wang Y, Cammasola Breda J, Mazzilli S, Nicks R, Spurlock E, Hefti MM, Huber BR, Alvarez VE, Stein TD, Campbell JD, McKee AC, Cherry JD. Repetitive head impacts induce neuronal loss and neuroinflammation in young athletes. bioRxiv. 2024 Mar 28. PMID: 38585925.
Read at: PubMed
View 19 more publications: View full profile at BUMC