Alexander Cicala

Alexander Cicala

Education:

B.S. University of Wisconsin, Madison (2020)

Current Position:

2nd Year MSTP

2nd Year Medical Student

Advisor:

TBA

Graduate Program:

TBA

Research Interests:

I am interested in studying the tumor stroma's role in tumor progression, immune infiltration - more specifically, conventional dendritic cells (cDC1 and cDC2) - and immunotherapeutic efficacy. I aim to understand why current immunotherapies are not effective against some tumors, as well as develop additional immunotherapeutic approaches.

Publications:

Deb G, Cicala A, Papadas A, Asimakopoulos F. Matrix Proteoglycans in Tumor Inflammation and Immunity. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2022 Jul 25. doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.00023.2022. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35876288.

Papadas A, Cicala A, Kraus S G., Arouz G, Deb G, Tong A, Deming D, Asimakopoulos F. (2022). Versican in Tumor Progression, Tumor–Host Interactions, and Cancer Immunotherapy. In: Kovalszky, I., Franchi, M., Alaniz, L.D. (eds) The Extracellular Matrix and the Tumor Microenvironment. Biology of Extracellular Matrix, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99708-3_5

Athanasios Papadas, Gauri Deb, Alexander Cicala, Adam Officer, Chelsea Hope, Adam Pagenkopf, Evan Flietner, Zachary T. Morrow, Philip Emmerich, Joshua Wiesner, Garrett Arauz, Varun Bansal, Karla Esbona, Christian M. Capitini, Kristina A. Matkowskyj, Dustin A. Deming, Katerina Politi, Scott I. Abrams, Olivier Harismendy, Fotis Asimakopoulos. Stromal remodeling regulates dendritic cell abundance and activity in the tumor microenvironment. Cell Reports. Volume 40, Issue 7, 2022, 111201, ISSN 2211-1247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111201.

Wen Z, Rajagopalan A, Flietner ED, Yun G, Chesi M, Furumo Q, Burns RT, Papadas A, Ranheim EA, Pagenkopf AC, Morrow ZT, Finn R, Zhou Y, Li S, You X, Jensen J, Yu M, Cicala A, Menting J, Mitsiades CS, Callander NS, Bergsagel PL, Wang D, Asimakopoulos F, Zhang J. Expression of NrasQ61R and MYC transgene in germinal center B cells induces a highly malignant multiple myeloma in mice. Blood. 2021 Jan 7;137(1):61-74. doi: 10.1182/blood.2020007156. PMID: 32640012; PMCID: PMC7808014.

Papadas A, Arauz G, Cicala A, Wiesner J, Asimakopoulos F. Versican and Versican-matrikines in Cancer Progression, Inflammation, and Immunity. J Histochem Cytochem. 2020 Dec;68(12):871-885. doi: 10.1369/0022155420937098. Epub 2020 Jul 6. PMID: 32623942; PMCID: PMC7711242.

Conference Posters/Presentations:

Papadas A, Cicala A, Rizo A, et al 981 Peritumoral stromal remodeling licenses cDC1 through CD40 to elicit T-cell inflammation.  Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer 2022;10:doi: 10.1136/jitc-2022-SITC2022.0981

Papadas, A., Deb, G., Officer, A., Hope, C., Emmerich, P., Cicala, A., Wiesner J, Arauz G, Pagenkopf A, Matkowskyj K, Deming D, Politi K, Abrams S I., Harismendy O, and Asimakopoulos, F. (2021). 936 Stromal remodeling regulates dendritic cell abundance in the tumor microenvironment. Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer, 9, A982. doi:https://doi.org/10.1136/jitc-2021-SITC2021.936

Papadas A, Flietner E, Morrow Z, Wiesner J, Cicala A, Pagenkopf A, Hope C, Rajagopalan A, Wen Z, Emmerich P, Deming DA, Miyamoto S, Hematti P, Callander N, Rakhmilevich AL, Otto M, Capitini CM, Zhang J and Asimakopoulos F; Abstract 5733: Versican proteolytic fragments (matrikines) synergize with STING agonists to elicit robust anti-tumor CD8+ T cell responses. Cancer Res 15 August 2020; 80 (16_Supplement): 5733. https://doi.org/10.1158/1538-7445.AM2020-5733

Papadas A, Flietner E, Morrow Z, Wiesner J, Cicala A, Pagenkopf A, Hope C L., Rajagopalan A, Wen Z, Emmerich P, Deming D, Miyamoto S, Hematti P, Callander N S., Rakhmilevich A, Otto M, Capitini C M., Zhang J and Asimakopoulos F. Versican Proteolytic Fragments (Matrikines) Regulate the Intratumoral Dendritic Cell Milieu In Vivo: Implications for in Situ Tumor Vaccination. Blood. Volume 134, Supplement 1, 2019. Page 1210. ISSN 0006-4971, https://doi.org/10.1182/blood-2019-131582

Papadas A, Flietner E, Morrow Z, Wiesner J, Cicala A, Pagenkopf A, Hope C L., Rajagopalan A, Wen Z, Emmerich P, Deming D, Miyamoto S, Hematti P, Callander N S., Rakhmilevich A, Otto M, Capitini C M., Zhang J and Asimakopoulos F. Reconstructing the Clonal and Mutational Architecture of Myeloma through Avian Leukosis Virus (ALV)-Mediated Genome Editing. Blood. Volume 132, Supplement 1, 2018. Page 4480. ISSN 0006-4971,https://doi.org/10.1182/blood-2018-99-115288