Dr. Ignatoski has a variety of research interests. She is engaged in pre-clinical testing of a new combination of a small molecule IGFR inhibitor with a small molecule mTOR inhibitor for treatment of adrenal cortical carcinoma through a collaboration with Drs. Gary Hammer, Gerard Doherty, and Frank Worden. Adrenal cancer is almost uniformly fatal and requires new therapies to reverse its effects. Dr. Ignatoski also has an interest in bladder cancer progression markers in serum and is actively engaged in the bladder cancer interest group headed by Drs. Cheryl Lee and Monica Liebert. Bladder cancer, when caught early is a low grade disease, but if allowed to progress, bladder cancer is almost 100% fatal.

From previous laboratory work, Dr. Ignatoski is interested in the roles of erbB family receptor tyrosine kinases in both breast and prostate cancer bone metastases. Bone metastasis occurs frequently in breast and prostate cancer patients, with 70% of breast cancer and 80% of prostate cancer patients having bone metastases upon autopsy. Bone metastases weaken the bone and cause fractures and nerve entrapment, significantly decreasing the cancer patients' quality of life. Dr. Ignatoski has shown that HER-2 negative primary breast tumors convert to HER-2 positive metastases in bone in the laboratory. With human studies, these data could translate into increased indications for the efficacious anti-HER-2 therapeutics. In prostate cancer, Dr. Ignatoski's research has shown that the species of EGFR ligand that is present at the site of bone metastasis increases the cancer's ability to survive and remodel bone.

Dr. Ignatoski also has an interest in parathyroid gland development and in vitro differentiation of stem cells into parathyroid cells. Dr. Ignatoski is investigating the molecular nature of parathyroid development utilizing a technique called "Oncomine Concepts Mapping". Analysis of the activation sequence of molecular events during parathyroid development in mice will provide a road map for in vitro differentiation of hES cells into parathyroid. Our laboratory's goal is to take parathyroid stem cells from patients, differentiate them in culture, and use the differentiated cells to replace lost parathyroid function in patients.

Selected publications:

1. Woods Ignatoski, K.M., LaPointe, A.J., Radany, E.H., and Ethier, S.P. (1999). erbB-2 overexpression in human mammary epithelial cells confers growth factor-independence. Endocrinology. 140:3615-3622.
2. Woods Ignatoski, K.M., Escara-Wilke, J.F., Dai, J-L, Lui, A., Daignault, S., Day, M.L., Sargent, E.E., and Keller, E.T. (2008). Soluble RANK is an effective adjuvant with docetaxel for prostate cancer bone metastases. The Prostate. 68(8): 820-829.
3. Kathleen M. Woods Ignatoski, Judah Freeman, June Escara-Wilke, Xiaohua Zhang, Stephanie Daignault, Rod Dunn, David Smith, and Evan T. Keller. (2009). Change in Markers of Bone Metabolism with Chemotherapy for Advanced Prostate Cancer: Interleukin-6 Response is a Potential Early Indicator of Response to Therapy. Journal of Interferon and Cytokine Research. 29(2):32-37.
4. Alyse M. DeHaan, Natalie M. Wolters, Evan T. Keller, and Kathleen M. Woods Ignatoski (2009). EGFR ligand switch in late stage prostate cancer contributes to changes in cell signaling and bone remodeling. The Prostate. 69(5):528-37
5. Bingham, E., Cheng, S-P, Ignatoski, K.M.W., and Doherty, G.M. (2009). Parathyroid gland regeneration: use of hES cells as a model system. Accepted by Stem Cells and Development. Nov 24, 2008. [Epub ahead of print]