Research
Rodriguez-Blanco’s laboratory studies the biology of pediatric brain tumors. The main projects of the lab are:
Identifying less toxic targeted therapeutics for medulloblastoma patients.
Studying the efficacy of novel regulators of the growth and propagation of very high-risk forms of pediatric brain tumors.
Targeting the medulloblastoma stem cells to prevent cancer relapse.
Highlighted Publications:
Rodriguez-Blanco J*, Salvador AD, Suter RK, Swiderska-Syn M, Palomo-Caturla I, Kliebe V, Sahini P, Peterson K, Vieira ME, Wynn DT, Metts Nienhius A, Yang F, Ban Y, McCrea HJ, Zindy F, Danis EP, Martin V, Coss CC, Harris BT, Barnoud T, de Cubas A, Chen SX, Roussel MF, Ayad NG, Robbins DJ. Triptolide and its pro-drug, Minnelide, exhibit therapeutic potential against high-risk MYC-amplified medulloblastoma. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 134(15):e171136. (2024) *Corresponding author.
Peterson K, Turos-Cabal M, Salvador AD, Palomo-Caturla I, Howell AJ, Vieira ME, Greiner SM, Barnoud T, Rodriguez-Blanco J*. Mechanistic insights into medulloblastoma relapse. Pharmacol Ther. 260:108673. (2024). *Corresponding author.
Ferretti GDS, Quaas CE, Bertolini I, Zuccotti A, Saatci O, Kashatus JA, Sharmin S, Lu DY, Poli ANR, Quesnelle AF, Rodriguez-Blanco J, de Cubas AA, Hobbs GA, Liu Q, O'Bryan JP, Salvino JM, Kashatus DF, Sahin O, Barnoud T. HSP70-mediated mitochondrial dynamics and autophagy represent a novel vulnerability in pancreatic cancer. Cell Death Differ. 31(7):881-896. (2024)
Swiderska-Syn M, Mir-Pedrol J, Oles A, Schleuger O, Salvador AD, Greiner SM, Seward C, Yang F, Babcock BR, Shen C, Wynn DT, Sanchez-Mejias A, Gershon TR, Martin V, McCrea HJ, Lindsey KG, Krieg C, Rodriguez-Blanco J*. Noncanonical activation of GLI signaling in SOX2+ cells drives medulloblastoma relapse. Science Advances 8(29):eabj9138. (2022) *Corresponding author.
Yang F†, Rodriguez-Blanco J†, Long J, Swiderska-Syn M, Wynn DT, Li B, Shen C, Ban Y, Sun X, Suter RK, McCrea HJ, Capobianco AJ, Ayad NG, and Robbins DJ. A druggable GLI complex containing UHRF1 and DNMT1 regulates Sonic hedgehog subgroup medulloblastoma growth. Molecular Cancer Research MCR-22-0182. (2022) † Equal author contribution.
Wynn DT, Rodriguez-Blanco J, Long J, Yang F, Shen C, Fei D, Tang HY, Hanson D, and Robbins DJ. Protein arginine methyltransferase 5 regulates SHH-subgroup medulloblastoma progression. Neuro-Oncology Advances, vdac144. (2022)
Suter RK, Rodriguez-Blanco J, Ayad NG. Epigenetic pathways and plasticity in brain tumors. Neurobiol Dis. 145:105060 Review article. (2020)
Penas C, Maloof ME, Stathias V, Long J, Kiat S, Tan, Mier J, Fang Y, Valdes C, Rodriguez-Blanco J, Chiang CM, Robbins DJ, Liebl D, Lee JK, Hatten ME, Clarke J, Ayad NG. Time-series Modeling of Cell Cycle Exit Identifies Brd4-dependent Regulation of Cerebellar Neurogenesis. Nature Com. 10(1):3028. (2019)
Rodriguez-Blanco J, Li, B Long J, Shen C, Fan Y, Orton D, Collins S, Kasahara N, Ayad N, McCrea HJ, Roussel MF, Weiss WA, Capobianco AJ, Robbins DJ. A CK1a activator penetrates the brain, and shows efficacy against drug-resistant metastatic medulloblastoma. Clinical Cancer Research. 25(4):1379-1388. (2019)
Rodriguez-Blanco J, Pednekar L, Penas C, Li B, Martin V, Long J, Lee E, Weiss WA, Rodriguez C, Mehrdad N, Nguyen DM, Ayad NG, Rai P, Capobianco AJ, Robbins DJ. Inhibition of WNT signaling attenuates self-renewal of SHH-subgroup medulloblastoma. Oncogene. 36(45):6306-6314. (2017)
Rodriguez-Blanco J†, Schilling NS†, Tokhunts R, Giambelli C, Long J, Liang Fei D, Singh S, Black KE, Wang Z, Galimberti F, Bejarano PA, Elliot S, Glassberg MK, Nguyen DM, Lockwood WW, Lam WL, Dmitrovsky E, Capobianco AJ, Robbins DJ. "The Hedgehog processing pathway is required for NSCLC growth and survival”. Oncogene 2; 32(18): 2335-45. (2013) † Equal author contribution.
Rodriguez-Blanco J, Martin V, Garcia-Santos G, Herrera F, Casado-Zapico S, Antolin I, Rodriguez C. “Cooperative action of JNK and AKT/mTOR in MPP+ induced autophagy of neuronal PC12 cells”. J Neurosci Res. 90(9): 1850-60. (2012)
Rodriguez-Blanco J, Martín V, Herrera F, García-Santos G, Antolín I, Rodriguez C. “Intracellular signalling pathways involved in post-mitotic dopaminergic PC12 cell death induced by 6-hydroxydopamine”. J Neurochem 107(1): 127-40. (2008)
Complete NCBI list: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1RSl37m_VqtQVS/bibliography/public/
