PitarresiLab
@pitarresilab.bsky.social
Jason R. Pitarresi PhD
Father. Assistant Professor @umasschan.bsky.social
Studying pancreatic cancer, cellular plasticity/metastasis, and tumor-host interactions.
www.PitarresiLab.com
Father. Assistant Professor @umasschan.bsky.social
Studying pancreatic cancer, cellular plasticity/metastasis, and tumor-host interactions.
www.PitarresiLab.com
Congrats to @calvinjohnsonio.bsky.social in the lab for being selected to give a talk at our cancer center retreat. You did a fantastic job!!
October 8, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Congrats to @calvinjohnsonio.bsky.social in the lab for being selected to give a talk at our cancer center retreat. You did a fantastic job!!
Congrats to postdoc @nikitab.bsky.social for being awarded an AACR Scholar-in-Training award for this year's #AACRPan25 conference.
Be sure to check out her poster # B049 today from 6-9pm!
Be sure to check out her poster # B049 today from 6-9pm!
September 30, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Congrats to postdoc @nikitab.bsky.social for being awarded an AACR Scholar-in-Training award for this year's #AACRPan25 conference.
Be sure to check out her poster # B049 today from 6-9pm!
Be sure to check out her poster # B049 today from 6-9pm!
Excited for my talk tomorrow at the 8th Cancer Cachexia Conference meeting, where I will present our work showing that tumor derived PTHrP is a new driver of pancreatic cancer cachexia.
Check out our preprint for the full story:
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@cancercachexia.bsky.social
Check out our preprint for the full story:
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@cancercachexia.bsky.social
September 24, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Excited for my talk tomorrow at the 8th Cancer Cachexia Conference meeting, where I will present our work showing that tumor derived PTHrP is a new driver of pancreatic cancer cachexia.
Check out our preprint for the full story:
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@cancercachexia.bsky.social
Check out our preprint for the full story:
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@cancercachexia.bsky.social
Congrats to postdoc @nikitab.bsky.social for winning the Margaret Foti @theaacr.bsky.social Scholar-in-Training Award for next month's Pancreatic AACR conference!
If you see her at the conference, be sure to ask her about her work on PDAC cachexia, bioRxiv link below!
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
If you see her at the conference, be sure to ask her about her work on PDAC cachexia, bioRxiv link below!
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
August 15, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Congrats to postdoc @nikitab.bsky.social for winning the Margaret Foti @theaacr.bsky.social Scholar-in-Training Award for next month's Pancreatic AACR conference!
If you see her at the conference, be sure to ask her about her work on PDAC cachexia, bioRxiv link below!
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
If you see her at the conference, be sure to ask her about her work on PDAC cachexia, bioRxiv link below!
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Congrats to @calvinjohnsonio.bsky.social in the lab for being awarded a competitive slot on the Innate Immunity T32 @umasschan.bsky.social!
In addition to being an amazing scientist, Calvin is also an elite Cat 2 cyclist. He is the one in black, attacking the breakaway group below!
In addition to being an amazing scientist, Calvin is also an elite Cat 2 cyclist. He is the one in black, attacking the breakaway group below!
August 5, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Congrats to @calvinjohnsonio.bsky.social in the lab for being awarded a competitive slot on the Innate Immunity T32 @umasschan.bsky.social!
In addition to being an amazing scientist, Calvin is also an elite Cat 2 cyclist. He is the one in black, attacking the breakaway group below!
In addition to being an amazing scientist, Calvin is also an elite Cat 2 cyclist. He is the one in black, attacking the breakaway group below!
Officially welcoming our 2 new PhD students to the lab today!
Head over to our lab website to check out some fun facts about Paula (co-mentored with the Spinelli lab) and Ethan @ethanhcchang.bsky.social. Excited to have you both on board and watch the team grow...
www.pitarresilab.com/team
Head over to our lab website to check out some fun facts about Paula (co-mentored with the Spinelli lab) and Ethan @ethanhcchang.bsky.social. Excited to have you both on board and watch the team grow...
www.pitarresilab.com/team
June 17, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Officially welcoming our 2 new PhD students to the lab today!
Head over to our lab website to check out some fun facts about Paula (co-mentored with the Spinelli lab) and Ethan @ethanhcchang.bsky.social. Excited to have you both on board and watch the team grow...
www.pitarresilab.com/team
Head over to our lab website to check out some fun facts about Paula (co-mentored with the Spinelli lab) and Ethan @ethanhcchang.bsky.social. Excited to have you both on board and watch the team grow...
www.pitarresilab.com/team
To wrap this story up, we treated KPCY animals with a monoclonal neutralizing antibody against PTHrP (🙏 Richard Kremer), which was able to block wasting and restore DNL. We are hoping this will be a new therapeutic option for patients suffering from cancer cachexia in the near future
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June 7, 2025 at 5:23 PM
To wrap this story up, we treated KPCY animals with a monoclonal neutralizing antibody against PTHrP (🙏 Richard Kremer), which was able to block wasting and restore DNL. We are hoping this will be a new therapeutic option for patients suffering from cancer cachexia in the near future
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This is where we relied on our adipose tissue expert collaborators (Dave Guertin, Mike Czech, Adilson Guilherme labs), who helped us delete Fasn, a key enzyme in the DNL pathway, in adipocytes. When we injected a non-cachectic cell line into these mice, we found that it became cachectic!
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June 7, 2025 at 5:23 PM
This is where we relied on our adipose tissue expert collaborators (Dave Guertin, Mike Czech, Adilson Guilherme labs), who helped us delete Fasn, a key enzyme in the DNL pathway, in adipocytes. When we injected a non-cachectic cell line into these mice, we found that it became cachectic!
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To figure out how PTHrP mediates adipose tissue wasting, we performed RNA-seq on cachectic iWAT and found the usual players being upregulated (TNF, IL6, etc.), but were surprised to also see a dramatic downregulation of de novo lipogenesis (DNL) in the adipose of cachectic mice
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June 7, 2025 at 5:23 PM
To figure out how PTHrP mediates adipose tissue wasting, we performed RNA-seq on cachectic iWAT and found the usual players being upregulated (TNF, IL6, etc.), but were surprised to also see a dramatic downregulation of de novo lipogenesis (DNL) in the adipose of cachectic mice
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We knew that adipocytes have high levels of the PTHrP receptor, PTH1R. We deleted Pth1r in adipose and injected our highly cachectic PTHrP-OE cell line. This not only blocked adipose tissue wasting, but also muscle wasting, suggesting that adipose wasting may fuel muscle wasting in this model
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June 7, 2025 at 5:23 PM
We knew that adipocytes have high levels of the PTHrP receptor, PTH1R. We deleted Pth1r in adipose and injected our highly cachectic PTHrP-OE cell line. This not only blocked adipose tissue wasting, but also muscle wasting, suggesting that adipose wasting may fuel muscle wasting in this model
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We weren’t sure if PTHrP alone was driving this, so we injected WT animals with recombinant PTHrP and, to our surprise, they started to lose their adipose tissue. This is where things started to get really interesting
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June 7, 2025 at 5:23 PM
We weren’t sure if PTHrP alone was driving this, so we injected WT animals with recombinant PTHrP and, to our surprise, they started to lose their adipose tissue. This is where things started to get really interesting
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Next, we wanted to establish that PTHrP is sufficient for wasting, so we overexpressed Pthlh in a non-cachectic KPC line with low endogenous Pthlh. This effectively converted the non-cachectic cell line into a cachectic one, which dramatically reduced overall survival
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June 7, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Next, we wanted to establish that PTHrP is sufficient for wasting, so we overexpressed Pthlh in a non-cachectic KPC line with low endogenous Pthlh. This effectively converted the non-cachectic cell line into a cachectic one, which dramatically reduced overall survival
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We saw big differences in adipose and muscle wasting phenotypes in Pthlh-deleted KPCY mice and noted that cachectic PDAC patients had higher tumor cell PTHrP expression in their primary tumors
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June 7, 2025 at 5:23 PM
We saw big differences in adipose and muscle wasting phenotypes in Pthlh-deleted KPCY mice and noted that cachectic PDAC patients had higher tumor cell PTHrP expression in their primary tumors
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It is known clinically that PDAC patients with high PTHrP serum are more cachectic, so we dug a little deeper and found that Pthlh-deleted KPCY mice were resistant to PDAC-associated weight loss. So, it looks like PTHrP is necessary for cachectic wasting in KPC mice
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June 7, 2025 at 5:23 PM
It is known clinically that PDAC patients with high PTHrP serum are more cachectic, so we dug a little deeper and found that Pthlh-deleted KPCY mice were resistant to PDAC-associated weight loss. So, it looks like PTHrP is necessary for cachectic wasting in KPC mice
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It started a few years ago when we had this exciting data showing that Pthlh (the gene encoding PTHrP) deletion in KPCY mice dramatically extended survival. We attributed this to a decrease in metastasis in a prior paper, but upon closer examination, we found they were also less cachectic
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June 7, 2025 at 5:23 PM
It started a few years ago when we had this exciting data showing that Pthlh (the gene encoding PTHrP) deletion in KPCY mice dramatically extended survival. We attributed this to a decrease in metastasis in a prior paper, but upon closer examination, we found they were also less cachectic
...🧵
...🧵
I'm excited to share the lab’s new paper on PDAC-associated cachexia on bioRxiv today, led by star postdoc @nikitab.bsky.social
“Pancreatic cancer cachexia is mediated by PTHrP-driven disruption of adipose de novo lipogenesis”
A 🧵 below, if you are interested...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
“Pancreatic cancer cachexia is mediated by PTHrP-driven disruption of adipose de novo lipogenesis”
A 🧵 below, if you are interested...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
June 7, 2025 at 5:23 PM
I'm excited to share the lab’s new paper on PDAC-associated cachexia on bioRxiv today, led by star postdoc @nikitab.bsky.social
“Pancreatic cancer cachexia is mediated by PTHrP-driven disruption of adipose de novo lipogenesis”
A 🧵 below, if you are interested...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
“Pancreatic cancer cachexia is mediated by PTHrP-driven disruption of adipose de novo lipogenesis”
A 🧵 below, if you are interested...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
I'm not sure I will ever experience this again as a PI, but THREE trainees in the lab gave invited talks today at the UMass Chan GI Research Day. Congrats to @nikitab.bsky.social @calvinjohnsonio.bsky.social @jessicapeura.bsky.social! Cahexia-Metastasis-Immunosuppression....we do it all!
May 23, 2025 at 5:10 PM
I'm not sure I will ever experience this again as a PI, but THREE trainees in the lab gave invited talks today at the UMass Chan GI Research Day. Congrats to @nikitab.bsky.social @calvinjohnsonio.bsky.social @jessicapeura.bsky.social! Cahexia-Metastasis-Immunosuppression....we do it all!
My trainee just sent me this notification from the NIH about a pending F31 application.
We knew it was likely to come, but it still hurt to read the words.
We knew it was likely to come, but it still hurt to read the words.
May 6, 2025 at 5:09 PM
My trainee just sent me this notification from the NIH about a pending F31 application.
We knew it was likely to come, but it still hurt to read the words.
We knew it was likely to come, but it still hurt to read the words.
Congrats to grad student @calvinjohnsonio.bsky.social for being chosen for an oral presentation at the Immunology Microbiology Program (IMP) retreat!
April 18, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Congrats to grad student @calvinjohnsonio.bsky.social for being chosen for an oral presentation at the Immunology Microbiology Program (IMP) retreat!
Congrats to @nikitab.bsky.social for being selected to give a talk at the Cancer Cachexia Society meeting today!
She did a great job representing the lab and showcasing her exciting project on the role of PTHrP in mediating PDAC-associated cancer cachexia.
She did a great job representing the lab and showcasing her exciting project on the role of PTHrP in mediating PDAC-associated cancer cachexia.
April 9, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Congrats to @nikitab.bsky.social for being selected to give a talk at the Cancer Cachexia Society meeting today!
She did a great job representing the lab and showcasing her exciting project on the role of PTHrP in mediating PDAC-associated cancer cachexia.
She did a great job representing the lab and showcasing her exciting project on the role of PTHrP in mediating PDAC-associated cancer cachexia.
It feels weird to celebrate in this current climate, but really proud of my group for our paper getting accepted at Cell Reports, in collaboration with the Foskett lab at Penn!
Congrats @jessicapeura.bsky.social @calvinjohnsonio.bsky.social @nikitab.bsky.social
Congrats @jessicapeura.bsky.social @calvinjohnsonio.bsky.social @nikitab.bsky.social
March 13, 2025 at 9:19 PM
It feels weird to celebrate in this current climate, but really proud of my group for our paper getting accepted at Cell Reports, in collaboration with the Foskett lab at Penn!
Congrats @jessicapeura.bsky.social @calvinjohnsonio.bsky.social @nikitab.bsky.social
Congrats @jessicapeura.bsky.social @calvinjohnsonio.bsky.social @nikitab.bsky.social
Congrats to postdoc in the lab @nikitab.bsky.social for being awarded a Pancreatic Cancer Alliance Postdoc Fellowship!!
January 28, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Congrats to postdoc in the lab @nikitab.bsky.social for being awarded a Pancreatic Cancer Alliance Postdoc Fellowship!!
Welcome to the lab our 2 new rotation students, Ethan Chang @ethanhcchang.bsky.social and Janhavi Sawant @janhaviysawant.bsky.social . Head over to pitarresilab.com/team to learn more about them!
January 15, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Welcome to the lab our 2 new rotation students, Ethan Chang @ethanhcchang.bsky.social and Janhavi Sawant @janhaviysawant.bsky.social . Head over to pitarresilab.com/team to learn more about them!
Welcome Suheera Haq, our new undergrad from UConn, to the team! Head over to www.pitarresilab.com/team to learn more about her, her love for exploring national parks, and her passion for the NYT games!
January 3, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Welcome Suheera Haq, our new undergrad from UConn, to the team! Head over to www.pitarresilab.com/team to learn more about her, her love for exploring national parks, and her passion for the NYT games!
Postdoc from the lab, @nikitab.bsky.social, did an amazing job presenting her work on PDAC-associated cachexia at the APA annual meeting. Congrats Nikita!
December 12, 2024 at 6:36 PM
Postdoc from the lab, @nikitab.bsky.social, did an amazing job presenting her work on PDAC-associated cachexia at the APA annual meeting. Congrats Nikita!