Zoila Areli Lopez-Bujanda

MS Molecular Biosciences, University of Sonora, Mexico, 2009

PhD Pathobiology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 2020

I initially focused my research efforts on projects whose immediate goals were to further patient care. This led me to develop a highly sensitive biomarker-based test (cMethDNA) for the diagnosis and monitoring of breast cancer in liquid biopsies, and most recently to elucidate a tumor-intrinsic mechanism that mediates immunological tolerance to checkpoint blockade in prostate cancer. I am delighted that both of these projects have advanced to clinical trials and may be on their way to improve outcomes for breast and prostate cancer patients.

In the Littman lab, I am interested in researching fundamental questions about the role of gut bacteria in shaping neuro-immune interactions. The idea of external factors (such as bacterial-derived components) shaping gut-innervating neurons and the consequent immune responses is fascinating to me not only because of how little is known about neuro-immune interactions in general, but also because of the potential therapeutic avenues that could emerge from understanding these interactions.

 
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Publications:

  1. Lopez-Bujanda Z.A., Haffner M.C., Chaimowitz M.G., Chowdhury N., Venturini N.J., Patel R.A., Obradovic A.Z., Hansen C., Jackow J., Maynard J.P., Sfanos K.S., Abate-Shen C., Bieberich C.J., Hurley P.J., Selby M.J., Korman A.J., Christiano A.M., DeMarzo A.M., and Drake C.G. “Castration-mediated IL-8 Promotes Myeloid Infiltration and Prostate Cancer Progression.” Nature Cancer, July 2021.

  2. Lopez-Bujanda Z.A., Obradovic A., Nirschl T.R., O’Donnell T., Laserson U., Macedo-Gonzales R.J., Reshef R., Yuan T., Soni M.K., Antonarakis E.S., Larman H.B., Muranski P., and Drake C.G. “TGM4: An Immunogenic Prostate-Restricted Antigen.” Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, June 2021.

  3. Lopez-Bujanda Z.A., Chaimowitz M.G., Armstrong T.D., Foote J.B., Emens L.A., and Drake C.G. “Robust Antigen-Specific CD8 T Cell Tolerance to a Model Prostate Cancer Neoantigen.” OncoImmunology, September 2020.

  4. Aggen D.H., Ager C.R., Obradovic A.Z., Chowdhury N., Ghasemzadeh A., Mao W., Chaimowitz M.G., Lopez-Bujanda Z.A., Spina C.S., Hawley J.E., Dallos M.C., Zhang C., Wang V., Li H., Guo X.V., and Drake C.G. “Blocking IL1 Beta Promotes Tumor Regression and Remodeling of the Myeloid Compartment in a Renal Cell Carcinoma Model: Multidimensional Analyses.” Clinical Cancer Research, January 2021.

  5. Gonda T.A., Fang J., Salas M., Do C., Hsu E., Zhukovskaya A., Siegel A., Takahashi R., Lopez-Bujanda Z.A., Drake C.G., Manji G.A., Wang T.C., Olive K.P., and Tycko B. “A DNA hypomethylating drug alters the tumor microenvironment and improves the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors in a mouse model of pancreatic cancer” Cancer Research, August 2020.

  6. Hawley J.E., Pan S., Figg W.D., Lopez-Bujanda Z.A., Strope J.D., Aggen D.H., Dallos M.C., Lim E.A., Stein M.N., Hu J., Drake C.G. “Association between immunosuppressive cytokines and PSA progression in biochemically recurrent prostate cancer treated with hormonal therapy.” Prostate, January 2020.

  7. LeMagnen C., Virk R., Dutta A., Kim J.Y., Panja S., Lopez-Bujanda Z.A., Califano A. Drake C.G., Mitrofanova A., and Abate-Shen C. “Cooperation of Loss NKX3.1 and Inflammation in Prostate Cancer Initiation.” Disease Models and Mechanisms, September 2018.

  8. Shen, Y.C., Ghasemzadeh, A., Kochel C.M., Nirschl T.R., Francica B.J., Lopez-Bujanda Z.A., Carrera-Haro M.A., Tam A., Anders R.A., Selby M.J., Korman A.J., and Drake C.G. “Combining Intratumoral Treg Depletion with Androgen Deprivation Therapy (ADT): Preclinical Activity in the Myc-CaP Model.” Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases, April 2018.

  9. Lopez-Bujanda Z.A. and Drake C.G. “Myeloid-derived Cells in Prostate Cancer Progression: Phenotype and Prospective Therapies.” Journal of Leukocyte Biology, May 2017.

  10. Muroyama Y., Nirschl, T.R., Kochel C.M., Lopez-Bujanda Z.A., Theodros D., Mao W., Carrera-Haro M.A., Ghasemzadeh, A., Marciscano A.E., Velarde E., Tam A.J., Thoburn C.J., Uddin M., Meeker A.K., Anders R.A., Pardoll D.M., and Drake C.G. “Stereotactic Radiotherapy Increases Functionally Suppressive Regulatory T Cells in the Tumor Microenvironment.” Cancer Immunology Research, November 2017.

  11. Visvanathan K., Fackler, M.J., Zhang Z., Lopez-Bujanda Z.A. e, Jeter S.C., Sokoll L.J., Garrett-Mayer E., Cope L.M, Umbricht C.B., Euhus D.M., Forero A., Storniolo A.M., Nanda R., Lin N.U. Carey L.A. Ingle J.N. Sukumar S., and Wolff A.C. “Monitoring of Serum DNA Methylation as an Early Independent Marker of Response and Survival in Metastatic Breast Cancer: TBCRC 005 Prospective Biomarker Study.” Journal of Clinical Oncology, March 2017.

  12. Stearns, V., Fackler, M.J., Hafeez S., Lopez-Bujanda Z.A., Chatterton R.T., Jacobs L.K., Khouri N.F., Ivancic D., Kenney K., Shehata C., Jeter S.C., Wolfman J.A., Zalles C.M., Huang P., Khan S.A., and Sukumar S. “Gene Methylation and Cytological Atypia in Random Fine Needle Aspirates for Assessment of Breast Cancer Risk.” Cancer Prevention Research, June 2016.

  13. Ávila-Moreno, F., Armas López, L., Alvarez-Moran A.M., Lopez-Bujanda Z.A., Ortiz-Quintero B., Hidalgo-Miranda A., Urrea-Ramirez F., Rivera-Rosales R.M., Vazquez-Manriquez E., Peña-Mirabal E., Morales-Gomez J., Vazquez-Minero J.C., Tellez-Becerra J.L., Ramirez-Mendoza R., Avalos-Bracho A., de Alba E.G., Vazquez-Santillan K., Maldonado-Lagunas V., Santillan-Doherty P., Peña-Sanchez P., and Zuñiga-Ramos J. “Overexpression of MEOX2 and TWIST1 is Associated with H3K27me3 Levels and Determines Lung Cancer Chemoresistance and Prognosis.” PLoS One, December 2014.

  14. Cope L.M., Fackler, M.J., Lopez-Bujanda Z.A., Wolff A.C., Visvanathan K., Gray J.W., Sukumar S., and Umbricht C.B. “Do Breast Cancer Cell Lines Provide a Relevant Model of the Patient Tumor Methylome?” PLoS One, August 2014.

  15. Fackler, M.J., Lopez-Bujanda Z.A., Umbricht C.B., Teo W.W., Cho S., Zhang Z., Visvanathan K., Jeter S., Argani P., Wang C., Lyman J.P., de Brot M., Ingle J.N., Boughey J., McGuire K., King T.A., Carey L.A., Cope L., Wolff A.C., and Sukumar S. “Novel Methylated Biomarkers and a Robust Assay to Detect Circulating Tumor DNA in Metastatic Breast Cancer.” Cancer Research, April 2014.

  16. Choudhury, S., Almendro, V., Merino V.F., Wu Z., Maruyama R., Su Y., Martins F.C., Fackler M.J., Bessarabova M., Kowalczyk A., Conway T., Beresford-Smith B., Macintyre G., Cheng Y.K., Lopez-Bujanda Z.A., Kaspi A., Hu R., Robens J., Nikolskaya T., Haakensen V.D., Schnitt S.J., Argani P., Ethington G., Panos L., Grant M., Clark J., Herlihy W., Lin S.J., Chew G., Thompson E.W., Greene-Colozzi A., Richardson A.L., Rosson G.D., Pike M., Garber J.E., Nikolsky Y., Blum J.L. Au A., Hwang E.S., Tamimi R.M., Michor F., Haviv I., Liu X.S., Sukumar S., and Polyak K. “Molecular Profiling of Human Mammary Gland Links Breast Cancer Risk to a p27(+) Cell Population with Progenitor Characteristics.” Cell Stem Cell, July 2013.

  17. Martínez, M.L., Gutierrez-Millan, L.E., Bondy M., Daneri-Navarro A., Meza-Montenegro M.M., Anduro-Corona I., Aramburo-Rubio M.I., Balderas-Peña L.M.A., Barragan-Ruiz J.A., Brewster A., Caire-Juvera G., Castro-Cervantes J.M., Chavez-Zamudio M.A., Cruz G., Del Toro-Arreola A., Edgerton M.E., Flores-Marquez M.R., Franco-Topete R.A., Garcia H., Gutierrez-Rubio S.A., Hahn K., Jimenez-Perez L.M., Komenaka I.K., Lopez-Bujanda Z.A., Lu D., Morgan-Villela G., Murray J.L., Nodora J.N., Oceguera-Villanueva A., Ortiz-Martinez M.A., Perez Michel L., Quintero-Ramos A., Sahin A., Shim J.Y., Stewart M., Vazquez-Camacho G., Wertheim B., Zenuk R., and Thompson P. “Comparative Study of Breast Cancer in Mexican and Mexican-American Women.” Health, September 2010.