MEMBER PROFILE
| First Name | Austin |
| Last Name | Arrigo |
| University/Institution | University of Pittsburgh |
| Email ID | [email protected] |
| City | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Country | United States |
| State | Pennsylvania |
| Zip code | 15213 |
| Department | OB/GYN |
| Area of Research | Cancer biology |
| Area of Expertise |
Brief Description of Research Interest :
I am currently a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Pittsburgh, at Magee Women's Research Institute studying high grade serous ovarian cancer. Throughout my research career, my primary interests have been focused on novel pathway discovery and targeted therapy generation in cancer. During my PhD, I investigated the tumor suppressor TUSC2 in GBM, and how its loss promoted a more aggressive GBM phenotype. Our research led to a collaboration with the biotech comparny Genprex, where I tested their novel TUSC2 overexpression nanoparticle for the treatment of GBM in vitro. Currently, my work is focused on identifying novel mechanisms involved in ovarain cancer quiescent induction, chemoresistance and promotion of tumor recurrence. Through this work, we are aiming to identify a critical quiescence inducing and chemoresistance factor, and develop a novel targeted therapy against this factor to promote ovarian cancer chemosensitivity and improve patient outcomes.
Representative Publications:
1. Regua A.T., Doheny, D.L., Arrigo, A.B., and Lo, H. Trk Receptor Tyrosine Kinases in Metastasis and Cancer
Therapy. Discovery Medicine, 154, p195-203. 2019.
2. Sirkisoon, S.R., Carpenter, R.L., Rimkus, T., Doheny, D., Zhu, D., Aguayo, N.R., Xing, F., Chan, M., Ruiz, J.,
Metheny-Barlow, L.J., Strowd, R., Lin, J., Regua, A.T., Arrigo, A., Anguelov, M., Pasche, B., Debinski, W.,
Watabe, K., and Lo, H. TGLI1 transcription factor mediates breast cancer brain metastasis via activating
metastasis-initiating cancer stem cells and astrocytes in the tumor microenvironment. Oncogene, 39, p64-
78. 2020.
3. Doheny, D., Sirkisoon, S., Carpenter, R.L., Aguayo, N.R., Regua, A.T., Anguelov, M., Manore, S.G., Arrigo, A.,
Jalboush, S.A., Wong, G.L., Yu, Y., Wagner, C.J., Chan, M., Ruiz, Jimmy, Thomas, A., Strowd, R., Lin, J., and Lo,
H.W. Combined inhibition of JAK2-STAT3 and SMO-GLI1/tGLI1 pathways suppresses breast cancer stem
cells, tumor growth, and metastasis. Oncogene, 39, p6589-6605. 2020.
4. Regua, A.T., Aguayo, N.R., Jalboush, S.A., Doheny, D.L., Manore, S.G., Zhu, D., Wong, G.L., Arrigo, A.,
Wagner, C.J., Yu, Y., Thomas, A., Chan, M.D., Ruiz, J., Jin, G., Strowd, R., Sun, P., Lin, J., and Lo, H.W. 2021.
TrkA Interacts with and Phosphorylates STAT3 to Enhance Gene Transcription and Promote Breast Cancer
Stem Cells in Triple-Negative and HER2-Enriched Breast Cancers. Cancers, 13 (10), p2430-2450. 2021.
5. Regua, A.T., Arrigo, A., Doheny, D., Wong, G.L., and Lo, H.W. Transgenic mouse models of breast cancer.
Cancer Letters, 516, p73-83. 2021.
6. Rimkus, T.K.*, Arrigo, A.B.*, Zhu, D., Carpenter, R.L., Sirkisoon, S., Doheny, D., Regua, A.T., Wong, G.L.,
Manore, S., Wagner, C., Lin, H.K., Jin, G., Ruiz, J., Chan, M., Debinski, W., and Lo, H.W. NEDD4 degrades
TUSC2 to promote glioblastoma progression. Cancer Letters, 531, p124-135. 2022. (*co-first authors)
7. Sirkisoon, S.R., Wong, G.L., Aguayo, N.R., Doheny, D., Zhu, D., Regua, A.T., Arrigo, A., Manore, S.G., Wagner,
C., Thomas, A., Singh, R., Xing, F., Jin, G., Watabe, K., and Lo, H.W. Breast cancer extracellular vesiclesderived miR-1290 activates astrocytes in the brain metastatic microenvironment via the FOXA2→CNTF axis
to promote progression of brain metastases. Cancer Letters, In Press, 2022.
8. Arrigo, A., Regua, A.T., Najjar, M.K., and Lo, H-W. Tumor Suppressor Candidate 2 (TUSC2): Discovery,
Functions, and Cancer Therapy. Cancers, 15 (9), p2455-2472. 2023