Research Summary

I am a pediatric oncologist and physician-scientist with a focus on examining new therapeutic strategies for sarcomas. Whether using genetic and biochemical tools for discovery, preclinical models for target and biomarker validation, or participating in the care of patients on clinical trials, my goal is to align my research and clinical practice to improve cure rates and quality of life for these patients.

Research Funding

  • July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2029 - Targeting mTORC1 translational control in FOXO1 fusion positive rhabdomyosarcoma , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA285680
  • July 16, 2018 - June 30, 2023 - Defining and targeting ER quality control dependence in rhabdomyosarcoma , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: K08CA218691

Education

Stanford University, Stanford CA, BS, 06/2003, Biological Sciences
Stanford University, Stanford CA, MS, 06/2003, Biological Sciences
Univ. of California San Francisco, MD, 05/2008, Medicine
Univ. of California San Francisco, Resident, 06/2011, Pediatrics
Univ. of California San Francisco, Fellow, 06/2014, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology

Honors & Awards

  • 2007
    American Society of Hematology Travel/Merit Award
  • 2007-2008
    UCSF Certificate of Graduate Curriculum in Biomedical Research
  • 2008
    Inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society
  • 2009
    UCSF Pediatrics Resident Teaching Award
  • 2011
    Lucy S. Crain Award for providing exceptional primary care to patients with special needs
  • 2012
    Accepted into AACR “Molecular Biology in Clinical Oncology” workshop
  • 2013
    Campini Foundation Fellowship in Pediatric Oncology Research
  • 2017
    2017 AACR-Aflac, Inc. Career Development Award for Pediatric Cancer Research
  • 2017
    Caroline Casey Award for Dignity and Worth of Persons

Selected Publications

  1. Pushpendra Kumar Sahu, Yue Pan, Kristen Kwong, Amit J. Sabnis. Abstract A014 INO80-complex N-terminal module resolves replication stress in PAX3-FOXO1 positive rhabdomyosarcoma and exposes therapeutic vulnerability. Cancer Research. 2024 Sep 5; 84(17_Supplement):a014-a014.  View on PubMed
  2. Vo KT, Sabnis AJ, Williams PM, Roy-Chowdhuri S, Patton DR, Coffey B, Reid JM, Piao J, Saguilig L, Alonzo TA, Berg SL, Jaju A, Fox E, Weigel BJ, Hawkins DS, Mooney MM, Takebe N, Tricoli JV, Janeway KA, Seibel NL, Parsons DW. Phase II Study of Ulixertinib in Children and Young Adults With Tumors Harboring Activating Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Pathway Alterations: APEC1621J of the National Cancer Institute-Children's Oncology Group Pediatric MATCH Trial. JCO Precis Oncol. 2024 Jun; 8:e2400103.  View on PubMed
  3. Amit J. Sabnis, Pushpendra K. Sahu, Yue Pan. Abstract 138: UCHL5 and PAX3-FOXO1 resolve replication stress in rhabdomyosarcoma. Cancer Research. 2024 Mar 22; 84(6_Supplement):138-138.  View on PubMed
  4. Henry J. Martell, Avanthi T. Shah, Alex G. Lee, Stanley G. Leung, Soo-Jin Cho, María Pons Ventura, Ana Golla, Amanda E. Marinoff, Elizabeth P. Young, Bogdan Tanasa, Inge Behroozfard, Heng-Yi Liu, Aviv Spillinger, Michelle L. Turski, Nicole Elzie-Tuttle, Carlos Espinosa-Mendez, Arun Rangaswami, Tabitha M. Cooney, Cassie Kline, Anurag Agrawal, Jennifer Michlisch, Elliot Stieglitz, Mignon Loh, Amit J. Sabnis, Kieuhoa T. Vo, Sheri Spunt, Norman Lacayo, Holly C. Beal, Florette K. Hazard, Sophie Salama, David Haussler, Olena M. Vaske, Marcus R. Breese, E. Alejandro Sweet-Cordero. Abstract 1759: Integrative longitudinal genomic analysis of therapy-resistant and metastatic pediatric cancers. Cancer Research. 2024 Mar 22; 84(6_Supplement):1759-1759.  View on PubMed
  5. Hannah Y. Comeau, Lorena Lazo De La Vega, Alanna J. Church, Luke D. Maese, Navin Pinto, Margaret E. Macy, Mark A. Applebaum, Amit J. Sabnis, AeRang Kim, Susan I. Colace, Filemon Dela Cruz, Steven G. DuBois, Natalie B. Collins, Katherine A. Janeway. Abstract 2862: Evolution of clinically relevant variants in advanced pediatric sarcomas. Cancer Research. 2024 Mar 22; 84(6_Supplement):2862-2862.  View on PubMed
  6. Allegakoen DV, Kwong K, Morales J, Bivona TG, Sabnis AJ. The essential chaperone DNAJC17 activates HSP70 to coordinate RNA splicing and G2-M progression. bioRxiv. 2023 Oct 26.  View on PubMed
  7. Marinoff AE, Spurr LF, Fong C, Li YY, Forrest SJ, Ward A, Doan D, Corson L, Mauguen A, Pinto N, Maese L, Colace S, Macy ME, Kim A, Sabnis AJ, Applebaum MA, Laetsch TW, Glade-Bender J, Weiser DA, Anderson M, Crompton BD, Meyers P, Zehir A, MacConaill L, Lindeman N, Nowak JA, Ladanyi M, Church AJ, Cherniack AD, Shukla N, Janeway KA. Clinical Targeted Next-Generation Panel Sequencing Reveals MYC Amplification Is a Poor Prognostic Factor in Osteosarcoma. JCO Precis Oncol. 2023 03; 7:e2200334.  View on PubMed
  8. Morales J, Allegakoen DV, Garcia JA, Kwong K, Sahu PK, Fajardo DA, Pan Y, Horlbeck MA, Weissman JS, Gustafson WC, Bivona TG, Sabnis AJ. GATOR2-dependent mTORC1 activity is a therapeutic vulnerability in FOXO1 fusion-positive rhabdomyosarcoma. JCI Insight. 2022 12 08; 7(23).  View on PubMed
  9. Lazo De La Vega L, Comeau H, Sallan S, Al-Ibraheemi A, Gupta H, Li YY, Tsai HK, Kang W, Ward A, Church AJ, Kim A, Pinto NR, Macy ME, Maese LD, Sabnis AJ, Cherniack AD, Lindeman NI, Anderson ME, Cooney TM, Yeo KK, Reaman GH, DuBois SG, Collins NB, Johnson BE, Janeway KA, Forrest SJ. Rare FGFR Oncogenic Alterations in Sequenced Pediatric Solid and Brain Tumors Suggest FGFR Is a Relevant Molecular Target in Childhood Cancer. JCO Precis Oncol. 2022 11; 6:e2200390.  View on PubMed
  10. Desai AV, Robinson GW, Gauvain K, Basu EM, Macy ME, Maese L, Whipple NS, Sabnis AJ, Foster JH, Shusterman S, Yoon J, Weiss BD, Abdelbaki MS, Armstrong AE, Cash T, Pratilas CA, Corradini N, Marshall LV, Farid-Kapadia M, Chohan S, Devlin C, Meneses-Lorente G, Cardenas A, Hutchinson KE, Bergthold G, Caron H, Chow Maneval E, Gajjar A, Fox E. Entrectinib in children and young adults with solid or primary CNS tumors harboring NTRK, ROS1, or ALK aberrations (STARTRK-NG). Neuro Oncol. 2022 10 03; 24(10):1776-1789.  View on PubMed
  11. Jacqueline Morales, Kristen Kwong, W. Clay Gustafson, Amit J. Sabnis. Abstract A015: Biochemical and preclinical anti-tumor activity of a bi-steric mTORC1-selective inhibitor in fusion positive rhabdomyosarcoma. Clinical Cancer Research. 2022 Sep 15; 28(18_Supplement):a015-a015.  View on PubMed
  12. Church AJ, Corson LB, Kao PC, Imamovic-Tuco A, Reidy D, Doan D, Kang W, Pinto N, Maese L, Laetsch TW, Kim A, Colace SI, Macy ME, Applebaum MA, Bagatell R, Sabnis AJ, Weiser DA, Glade-Bender JL, Homans AC, Hipps J, Harris H, Manning D, Al-Ibraheemi A, Li Y, Gupta H, Cherniack AD, Lo YC, Strand GR, Lee LA, Pinches RS, Lazo De La Vega L, Harden MV, Lennon NJ, Choi S, Comeau H, Harris MH, Forrest SJ, Clinton CM, Crompton BD, Kamihara J, MacConaill LE, Volchenboum SL, Lindeman NI, Van Allen E, DuBois SG, London WB, Janeway KA. Molecular profiling identifies targeted therapy opportunities in pediatric solid cancer. Nat Med. 2022 08; 28(8):1581-1589.  View on PubMed
  13. Karen S. Fernandez, Amit J. Sabnis, Ruetima Titapiwatanakun, Katherine Baker, Wendy Tcheng. Addition of chemo-immunotherapy to standard induction chemotherapy for high-risk neuroblastoma. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2022 Jun 1; 40(16_suppl):e22009-e22009.  View on PubMed
  14. Kieuhoa Tran Vo, Amit J. Sabnis, Paul M. Williams, Sinchita Roy-Chowdhuri, David R. Patton, Brent Coffey, Joel M. Reid, Jin Piao, Lauren Saguilig, Todd Allen Alonzo, Stacey L. Berg, Alok Jaju, Elizabeth Fox, Douglas S. Hawkins, Margaret M. Mooney, Naoko Takebe, James V. Tricoli, Katherine A. Janeway, Nita Seibel, Donald Williams Parsons. Ulixertinib in patients with tumors with MAPK pathway alterations: Results from NCI-COG Pediatric MATCH trial Arm J (APEC1621J). Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2022 Jun 1; 40(16_suppl):3009-3009.  View on PubMed
  15. Schienda J, Church AJ, Corson LB, Decker B, Clinton CM, Manning DK, Imamovic-Tuco A, Reidy D, Strand GR, Applebaum MA, Bagatell R, DuBois SG, Glade-Bender JL, Kang W, Kim A, Laetsch TW, Macy ME, Maese L, Pinto N, Sabnis AJ, Schiffman JD, Colace SI, Volchenboum SL, Weiser DA, Nowak JA, Lindeman NI, Janeway KA, Crompton BD, Kamihara J. Germline Sequencing Improves Tumor-Only Sequencing Interpretation in a Precision Genomic Study of Patients With Pediatric Solid Tumor. JCO Precis Oncol. 2021; 5.  View on PubMed
  16. Rees HD, Hills NK, Sabnis AJ, Tulpule AB, Shimotake TK, Goldsby RE. Clinical characteristics and outcomes of infants compared with children diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma: Analysis of surveillance, epidemiology and end results data from 2000 to 2016. Cancer Rep (Hoboken). 2022 05; 5(5):e1503.  View on PubMed
  17. Alanna J. Church, Laura Corson, Pei-Chi Kao, Alma Imamovic-Tuco, Wenjun Kang, Navin R. Pinto, Luke Maese, Theodore Willis Laetsch, AeRang Kim, Susan Colace, Margaret E Macy, Mark A. Applebaum, Rochelle Bagatell, Amit J. Sabnis, Daniel Weiser, Julia Lynne Glade Bender, Samuel Louis Volchenboum, Steven G. DuBois, Wendy B. London, Katherine A. Janeway. Clinical impact of molecular tumor profiling in pediatric, adolescent, and young adult patients with extra-cranial solid malignancies: An interim report from the GAIN/iCat2 study. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2021 May 20; 39(15_suppl):10005-10005.  View on PubMed
  18. Giles Robinson, Ami Desai, Ellen Basu, Jennifer Foster, Karen Gauvain, Amit Sabnis, Suzanne Shusterman, Margaret Macy, Luke Mease, Janet Yoon, Thomas Cash, Mohamed Abdelbaki, Kellie Nazemi, Christine Pratilas, Brian Weiss, Saibah Chohan, Alison Cardenas, Katherine Hutchinson, Guillaume Bergthold, Amar Gajjar. HGG-01. ENTRECTINIB IN RECURRENT OR REFRACTORY SOLID TUMORS INCLUDING PRIMARY CNS TUMORS: UPDATED DATA IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS. Neuro-Oncology. 2020 Dec 4; 22(Suppl 3):iii344-iii344.  View on PubMed
  19. Katherine Tarlock, Soheil Meshinchi, Jeffrey E. Rubnitz, Seth E. Karol, Barbara Spitzer, Amit J. Sabnis, Asif Pathan, Boo Messahel. Clinical Benefit and Tolerability of Crenolanib in Children with Relapsed Acute Myeloid Leukemia Harboring Treatment Resistant FLT3 ITD and Variant FLT3 TKD Mutations Treated on Compassionate Access. Blood. 2020 Nov 5; 136(Supplement 1):23-24.  View on PubMed
  20. J. Chew, S.A. Lloyd, R.A. Okimoto, A. Sabnis, E. Nakakura, C. Corvera, M.N. Zimel, A.E. Horvai, S.J. Cho, R.L. Wustrack, A.R. Gottschalk, R.J. O'Donnell, T.M. Jahan, S.E. Braunstein. Outcomes of Elderly Patients with Soft Tissue Sarcoma of the Extremities. International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics. 2020 Nov 1; 108(3):e6.  View on PubMed

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