Research Summary

Donna Peehl, PhD, is an adjunct Professor in the Body Research Interest Group in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at the University of California, San Francisco. She received her undergraduate degree in biology at Stanford University in California and completed her PhD in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado in Boulder. During postdoctoral fellowship research at the University of California in Irvine and San Francisco, she investigated tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes in cancer. Prior to joining UCSF, Dr. Peehl became Professor Emerita at Stanford University, California, after 35 years as a basic scientist in the Department of Urology. She is widely recognized for her work in developing realistic and representative preclinical cell and tissue models of prostate and kidney cancer.

Dr. Peehl’s current studies focus on developing novel therapeutics for prostate and kidney cancer. In collaboration with investigators at UCSF and Stanford, she is testing novel inhibitors of the tyrosine kinase AXL and of the scaffold protein, IQGAP, for their anti-cancer activity in her patient-derived models of kidney cancer. Another project uses tissue slice cultures to investigate cancer-associated glycosylation as a novel immunotherapy target. Under the auspices of a new NIH U01 grant, Dr. Peehl is collaborating with Dr. John Kurhanewicz and others at UCSF to compare metabolism of four types of kidney cancer preclinical models by hyperpolarized molecular imaging.

Dr. Peehl has been the recipient of numerous grants from the NIH and Department of Defense (DoD) Prostate Cancer Research Program, and has received awards from the Prostate Cancer Foundation (formerly CaP CURE) to support her research. She has served as chair or scientist reviewer for many NIH and grant review panels and has reviewed or served on the editorial board for a large number of scientific journals. Her peer-reviews include over 200 articles and publications.

Expertise:
Urology

Specialty:
Prostate cancer, kidney cancer, molecular and cellular biology

Professional Interests:
Patient-derived xenografts, tissue slice cultures, primary cultures, spheroid cultures, preclinical drug testing, biomarkers, metabolism, cancer biology, translational science

Research Funding

  • September 7, 2020 - August 31, 2025 - Co-Clinical Quantitative Imaging of Small Cell Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer Using Hyperpolarized 13C MRI , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: U24CA253377
  • September 1, 2017 - July 31, 2022 - Metabolic imaging comparisons of patient-derived models of renal cell carcinoma , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: U01CA217456
  • August 28, 2006 - July 31, 2013 - A Serum Marker for Aggressive Prostate Cancer , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA121460
  • September 30, 1993 - August 31, 1996 - GROWTH FACTORS IN THE PROSTATE: AN IN VITRO MODEL , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01DK047551

Education

Undergraduate, - Biology, Stanford University, California
Postdoctoral Fellow, - Tumor Suppressors, University of California, Irvine
Postdoctoral Fellow, - Oncogenes, University of California, San Francisco
Doctor of Philosophy, - Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder

Honors & Awards

  • Award for Excellence in Urologic Research, SWIU/SBUR, 2016

Selected Publications

  1. Peehl DM, Badea CT, Chenevert TL, Daldrup-Link HE, Ding L, Dobrolecki LE, Houghton AM, Kinahan PE, Kurhanewicz J, Lewis MT, Li S, Luker GD, Ma CX, Manning HC, Mowery YM, O'Dwyer PJ, Pautler RG, Rosen MA, Roudi R, Ross BD, Shoghi KI, Sriram R, Talpaz M, Wahl RL, Zhou R. Animal Models and Their Role in Imaging-Assisted Co-Clinical Trials. Tomography. 2023 03 16; 9(2):657-680.  View on PubMed
  2. Agudelo JP, Upadhyay D, Zhang D, Zhao H, Nolley R, Sun J, Agarwal S, Bok RA, Vigneron DB, Brooks JD, Kurhanewicz J, Peehl DM, Sriram R. Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Metabolic Characterization of Patient-Derived Xenograft Models of Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma. Metabolites. 2022 Nov 15; 12(11).  View on PubMed
  3. Zhang D, Wornow S, Peehl DM, Rankin EB, Brooks JD. The controversial role and therapeutic development of the m6A demethylase FTO in renal cell carcinoma. Transl Oncol. 2022 Nov; 25:101518.  View on PubMed
  4. Rice MA, Kumar V, Tailor D, Garcia-Marques FJ, Hsu EC, Liu S, Bermudez A, Kanchustambham V, Shankar V, Inde Z, Alabi BR, Muruganantham A, Shen M, Pandrala M, Nolley R, Aslan M, Ghoochani A, Agarwal A, Buckup M, Kumar M, Going CC, Peehl DM, Dixon SJ, Zare RN, Brooks JD, Pitteri SJ, Malhotra SV, Stoyanova T. SU086, an inhibitor of HSP90, impairs glycolysis and represents a treatment strategy for advanced prostate cancer. Cell Rep Med. 2022 02 15; 3(2):100502.  View on PubMed
  5. Jillson LK, Rider LC, Rodrigues LU, Romero L, Karimpour-Fard A, Nieto C, Gillette C, Torkko K, Danis E, Smith EE, Nolley R, Peehl DM, Lucia MS, Costello JC, Cramer SD. MAP3K7 Loss Drives Enhanced Androgen Signaling and Independently Confers Risk of Recurrence in Prostate Cancer with Joint Loss of CHD1. Mol Cancer Res. 2021 07; 19(7):1123-1136.  View on PubMed
  6. Sun J, Bok RA, DeLos Santos J, Upadhyay D, DeLos Santos R, Agarwal S, Van Criekinge M, Vigneron DB, Aggarwal R, Peehl DM, Kurhanewicz J, Sriram R. Resistance to Androgen Deprivation Leads to Altered Metabolism in Human and Murine Prostate Cancer Cell and Tumor Models. Metabolites. 2021 Feb 26; 11(3).  View on PubMed
  7. Xiao Y, Thakkar KN, Zhao H, Broughton J, Li Y, Seoane JA, Diep AN, Metzner TJ, von Eyben R, Dill DL, Brooks JD, Curtis C, Leppert JT, Ye J, Peehl DM, Giaccia AJ, Sinha S, Rankin EB. The m6A RNA demethylase FTO is a HIF-independent synthetic lethal partner with the VHL tumor suppressor. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 09 01; 117(35):21441-21449.  View on PubMed
  8. Sriram R, Van Criekinge M, DeLos Santos J, Ahamed F, Qin H, Nolley R, Santos RD, Tabatabai ZL, Bok RA, Keshari KR, Vigneron DB, Peehl DM, Kurhanewicz J. Elevated Tumor Lactate and Efflux in High-grade Prostate Cancer demonstrated by Hyperpolarized 13C Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of Prostate Tissue Slice Cultures. Cancers (Basel). 2020 Feb 26; 12(3).  View on PubMed
  9. Hsu EC, Rice MA, Bermudez A, Marques FJG, Aslan M, Liu S, Ghoochani A, Zhang CA, Chen YS, Zlitni A, Kumar S, Nolley R, Habte F, Shen M, Koul K, Peehl DM, Zoubeidi A, Gambhir SS, Kunder CA, Pitteri SJ, Brooks JD, Stoyanova T. Trop2 is a driver of metastatic prostate cancer with neuroendocrine phenotype via PARP1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 01 28; 117(4):2032-2042.  View on PubMed
  10. Xiao Y, Zhao H, Tian L, Nolley R, Diep AN, Ernst A, Fuh KC, Miao YR, von Eyben R, Leppert JT, Brooks JD, Peehl DM, Giaccia AJ, Rankin EB. S100A10 Is a Critical Mediator of GAS6/AXL-Induced Angiogenesis in Renal Cell Carcinoma. Cancer Res. 2019 11 15; 79(22):5758-5768.  View on PubMed
  11. Gong X, Zhao H, Saar M, Peehl DM, Brooks JD. miR-22 Regulates Invasion, Gene Expression and Predicts Overall Survival in Patients with Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma. Kidney Cancer. 2019 Aug 07; 3(2):119-132.  View on PubMed
  12. Bancroft Brown J, Sriram R, VanCriekinge M, Delos Santos R, Sun J, Delos Santos J, Tabatabai ZL, Shinohara K, Nguyen H, Peehl DM, Kurhanewicz J. NMR quantification of lactate production and efflux and glutamate fractional enrichment in living human prostate biopsies cultured with [1,6-13 C2 ]glucose. Magn Reson Med. 2019 08; 82(2):566-576.  View on PubMed
  13. Spiciarich DR, Nolley R, Maund SL, Purcell SC, Herschel J, Iavarone AT, Peehl DM, Bertozzi CR. Bioorthogonal Labeling of Human Prostate Cancer Tissue Slice Cultures for Glycoproteomics. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2017 07 24; 56(31):8992-8997.  View on PubMed
  14. Zhao H, Ning S, Nolley R, Scicinski J, Oronsky B, Knox SJ, Peehl DM. The immunomodulatory anticancer agent, RRx-001, induces an interferon response through epigenetic induction of viral mimicry. Clin Epigenetics. 2017; 9:4.  View on PubMed
  15. Oronsky B, Paulmurugan R, Foygel K, Scicinski J, Knox SJ, Peehl D, Zhao H, Ning S, Cabrales P, Summers TA, Reid TR, Fitch WL, Kim MM, Trepel JB, Lee MJ, Kesari S, Abrouk ND, Day RM, Oronsky A, Ray CM, Carter CA. RRx-001: a systemically non-toxic M2-to-M1 macrophage stimulating and prosensitizing agent in Phase II clinical trials. Expert Opin Investig Drugs. 2017 01; 26(1):109-119.  View on PubMed
  16. Zhao H, Nolley R, Chan AMW, Rankin EB, Peehl DM. Cabozantinib inhibits tumor growth and metastasis of a patient-derived xenograft model of papillary renal cell carcinoma with MET mutation. Cancer Biol Ther. 2017 Nov 02; 18(11):863-871.  View on PubMed
  17. Türkcan S, Naczynski DJ, Nolley R, Sasportas LS, Peehl DM, Pratx G. Endoscopic detection of cancer with lensless radioluminescence imaging and machine vision. Sci Rep. 2016 08 01; 6:30737.  View on PubMed
  18. Sriram R, Van Criekinge M, DeLos Santos J, Keshari KR, Wilson DM, Peehl D, Kurhanewicz J, Wang ZJ. Non-invasive differentiation of benign renal tumors from clear cell renal cell carcinomas using clinically translatable hyperpolarized 13C pyruvate magnetic resonance. Tomography. 2016 Mar; 2(1):35-42.  View on PubMed
  19. Valta MP, Zhao H, Saar M, Tuomela J, Nolley R, Linxweiler J, Sandholm J, Lehtimäki J, Härkönen P, Coleman I, Nelson PS, Corey E, Peehl DM. Spheroid culture of LuCaP 136 patient-derived xenograft enables versatile preclinical models of prostate cancer. Clin Exp Metastasis. 2016 Apr; 33(4):325-37.  View on PubMed
  20. Zhao H, Leppert JT, Peehl DM. A Protective Role for Androgen Receptor in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma Based on Mining TCGA Data. PLoS One. 2016; 11(1):e0146505.  View on PubMed

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