The Dolan lab is focused on improving the quality of life of cancer patients through the identification of genetic variants associated with risk for severe and persistent toxicities following chemotherapy (i.e. peripheral neuropathy, ototoxicity, tinnitus), particularly in children and young adults whose adverse sequelae could persist throughout their lifetimes. To this end, they perform clinical genome wide association studies to identify genetic variants associated with toxicity in patients following chemotherapy and determine whether there is shared genetic architecture with idiopathic forms of these traits. They develop preclinical models to elucidate the biochemical and cellular impact of genes identified in clinical studies of chemotherapeutic toxicity. Their approach integrates multiple large datasets including: genetic variation, gene expression, miRNA, modified cytosine, transcription factor levels and chemotherapeutic induced pharmacologic traits. Her laboratory made the seminal observation that chemotherapeutic-induced cytotoxicity is a heritable trait and that pharmacologic SNPs, identified through GWAS, are enriched in expression quantitative trait loci. More recently, her laboratory has developed an induced pluripotent stem cell derived neuronal cell model to evaluate genes contributing to chemotherapeutic-induced neuropathy, a common adverse event of multiple chemotherapeutic agents. They are creating a resource of human induced pluripotent stem cell derived neurons from well-phenotyped cancer survivors following treatment with paclitaxel, vincristine or cisplatin to be used to identify an in vitro toxicity readout that parallels the clinical phenotype. The models they are developing will have broad applicability for gaining insight on druggable targets to treat or prevent this devastating side effect of chemotherapy and providing an understanding of the genetic components and genes contributing to severe toxicity.
Pennsylvania College of Medicine
Hershey, PA
Post Doc - Biochemical Pharmacology
1986
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN
PHD - Medicinal Chemistry
1983
University of Dayton
Dayton, OH
BS - Chemistry
1979
Clinical and genetic risk factors for radiation-associated ototoxicity: A report from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study and the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort.
Trendowski MR, Baedke JL, Sapkota Y, Travis LB, Zhang X, El Charif O, Wheeler HE, Leisenring WM, Robison LL, Hudson MM, Morton LM, Oeffinger KC, Howell RM, Armstrong GT, Bhatia S, Dolan ME. Clinical and genetic risk factors for radiation-associated ototoxicity: A report from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study and the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort. Cancer. 2021 Nov 01; 127(21):4091-4102.
PMID: 34286861
Identification of small molecules that mitigate vincristine-induced neurotoxicity while sensitizing leukemia cells to vincristine.
Diouf B, Wing C, Panetta JC, Eddins D, Lin W, Yang W, Fan Y, Pei D, Cheng C, Delaney SM, Zhang W, Bonten EJ, Crews KR, Paugh SW, Li L, Freeman BB, Autry RJ, Beard JA, Ferguson DC, Janke LJ, Ness KK, Chen T, Zakharenko SS, Jeha S, Pui CH, Relling MV, Eileen Dolan M, Evans WE. Identification of small molecules that mitigate vincristine-induced neurotoxicity while sensitizing leukemia cells to vincristine. Clin Transl Sci. 2021 Jul; 14(4):1490-1504.
PMID: 33742760
Genetically regulated expression underlies cellular sensitivity to chemotherapy in diverse populations.
Mulford AJ, Wing C, Dolan ME, Wheeler HE. Genetically regulated expression underlies cellular sensitivity to chemotherapy in diverse populations. Hum Mol Genet. 2021 04 26; 30(3-4):305-317.
PMID: 33575800
Clinical and Genome-Wide Analysis of Multiple Severe Cisplatin-Induced Neurotoxicities in Adult-Onset Cancer Survivors.
Trendowski MR, Wheeler HE, El-Charif O, Feldman DR, Hamilton RJ, Vaughn DJ, Fung C, Kollmannsberger C, Einhorn LH, Travis LB, Dolan ME. Clinical and Genome-Wide Analysis of Multiple Severe Cisplatin-Induced Neurotoxicities in Adult-Onset Cancer Survivors. Clin Cancer Res. 2020 12 15; 26(24):6550-6558.
PMID: 32998964
Predictors of pressure injury development in critically ill adults: A retrospective cohort study.
Sala JJ, Mayampurath A, Solmos S, Vonderheid SC, Banas M, D'Souza A, LaFond C. Predictors of pressure injury development in critically ill adults: A retrospective cohort study. Intensive Crit Care Nurs. 2021 Feb; 62:102924.
PMID: 18496134
Clinical evaluation of germline polymorphisms associated with capecitabine toxicity in breast cancer: TBCRC-015.
O'Donnell PH, Trubetskoy V, Nurhussein-Patterson A, Hall JP, Nath A, Huo D, Fleming GF, Ingle JN, Abramson VG, Morrow PK, Storniolo AM, Forero A, Van Poznak C, Liu MC, Chang JC, Merkel DE, Peppercorn JM, Rugo HS, Dees EC, Hahn OM, Hoffman PC, Rosner GL, Huang RS, Ratain MJ, Cox N, Olopade OI, Wolff AC, Dolan ME, Nanda R. Clinical evaluation of germline polymorphisms associated with capecitabine toxicity in breast cancer: TBCRC-015. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2020 Jun; 181(3):623-633.
PMID: 32378051
Genomic Variants of Cytarabine Sensitivity Associated with Treatment-Related Mortality in Pediatric AML: A Report from the Children's Oncology Group.
Phillips CL, Lane A, Gerbing RB, Alonzo TA, Wilkey A, Radloff G, Lange B, Gamazon ER, Dolan ME, Davies SM. Genomic Variants of Cytarabine Sensitivity Associated with Treatment-Related Mortality in Pediatric AML: A Report from the Children's Oncology Group. Clin Cancer Res. 2020 06 15; 26(12):2891-2897.
PMID: 32122921
Clinical and Genome-Wide Analysis of Serum Platinum Levels after Cisplatin-Based Chemotherapy.
Trendowski MR, El-Charif O, Ratain MJ, Monahan P, Mu Z, Wheeler HE, Dinh PC, Feldman DR, Ardeshir-Rouhani-Fard S, Hamilton RJ, Vaughn DJ, Fung C, Kollmannsberger C, Mushiroda T, Kubo M, Hannigan R, Strathmann F, Einhorn LH, Fossa SD, Travis LB, Dolan ME. Clinical and Genome-Wide Analysis of Serum Platinum Levels after Cisplatin-Based Chemotherapy. Clin Cancer Res. 2019 10 01; 25(19):5913-5924.
PMID: 31296530
Adverse Health Outcomes in Relationship to Hypogonadism After Chemotherapy: A Multicenter Study of Testicular Cancer Survivors.
Abu Zaid M, Dinh PC, Monahan PO, Fung C, El-Charif O, Feldman DR, Hamilton RJ, Vaughn DJ, Beard CJ, Cook R, Althouse S, Ardeshir-Rouhani-Fard S, Sesso HD, Huddart R, Mushiroda T, Kubo M, Dolan ME, Einhorn LH, Fossa SD, Travis LB. Adverse Health Outcomes in Relationship to Hypogonadism After Chemotherapy: A Multicenter Study of Testicular Cancer Survivors. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2019 05 01; 17(5):459-468.
PMID: 31085753
Clinical and Genome-wide Analysis of Cisplatin-induced Tinnitus Implicates Novel Ototoxic Mechanisms.
El Charif O, Mapes B, Trendowski MR, Wheeler HE, Wing C, Dinh PC, Frisina RD, Feldman DR, Hamilton RJ, Vaughn DJ, Fung C, Kollmannsberger C, Mushiroda T, Kubo M, Gamazon ER, Cox NJ, Huddart R, Ardeshir-Rouhani-Fard S, Monahan P, Fossa SD, Einhorn LH, Travis LB, Dolan ME. Clinical and Genome-wide Analysis of Cisplatin-induced Tinnitus Implicates Novel Ototoxic Mechanisms. Clin Cancer Res. 2019 07 01; 25(13):4104-4116.
PMID: 30952644
Biological Sciences Division Distinguished Educator/Mentor
University of Chicago
2016
Distinguished Women Scholars Award
Purdue University
2011
School of Pharmacy Distinguished Alumni Award
Purdue University
2010
Distinguished Alumni Award
University of Dayton
2006
Ambassador of Hope
American Cancer Society
2006
Presidential Award for Volunteer Contributions to Research
American Cancer Society, IL Division
2005