Alejandro Gutierrez, MD

Department	Hematology/Oncology
Hospital Title	Staff Physician and Principal Investigator
Academic Title	Assistant Professor in Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital Boston and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Phone	617-919-3242
Fax	617-730-0934
Email	Alejandro Gutierrez
Location	44 Binney Street Boston, MA 02115

Research Overview

The Gutierrez laboratory is focused on discovery of molecular oncogenesis and novel therapeutic targets for chemoresistant human cancers, including high-risk T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and treatment-resistant sarcomas. Our approach combines functional genetics, biochemistry and small molecule screens, leveraging the zebrafish models of these high-risk human cancers we have recently developed.

For more information, visit our lab website

About Dr. Alejandro Gutierrez

Dr. Gutierrez received an MD degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed a pediatrics residency at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, followed by a fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at Boston Children's Hospital/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. His postdoctoral research training was with Dr. A. Thomas Look at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Gutierrez is a Scholar of the American Society of Hematology-Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program and recipient of the 2010 Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.

Key Publications

• Gutierrez A, Sanda T, Grebliunaite R, Carracedo A, Salmena L, Ahn Y, Dahlberg S, Neuberg D, Moreau LA, Winter SS, Larson R, Zhang J, Protopopov A, Chin L, Pandolfi PP, Silverman LB, Hunger SP, Sallan SE, Look AT. High Frequency of PTEN, PI3K and AKT abnormalities in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Blood. 2009;114:647.

• Gutierrez A, Sanda T, Ma W, Zhang J, Grebliunaite R, Dahlberg S, Neuberg D, Protopopov A, Winter S, Larson R, Borowitz M, Silverman LB, Chin L, Hunger S, Jamieson C, Sallan SE, Look AT. Inactivation of LEF1 in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Blood. 2010;115:2845.

• Feng H, Stachura DL, White RM, Gutierrez A, Zhang L, Sanda T, Jette CA, Testa JR, Neuberg DS, Langenau DM, Kutok JL, Zon LI, Traver D, Fleming MD, Kanki JP, Look AT. T-lymphoblastic lymphoma cells express high levels of BCL2, S1P1 and ICAM1 leading to a blockade of tumor cell intravasation. Cancer Cell. 2010;18:353.

• Gutierrez A, Dahlberg SE, Neuberg DS, Zhang J, Grebliunaite R, Sanda T, Protopopov A, Kutok J, Larson RS, Borowitz MJ, Loh ML, Winter SS, Mullighan CG, Silverman LB, Chin L, Hunger SP, Sallan SE, Look AT. Absence of biallelic TCR? deletion predicts early treatment failure in pediatric T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. J ClinOncol. 2010;28:3816.

• Gutierrez A, Kentsis A, Sanda T, Holmfeldt L, Chen SC, Zhang J, Protopopov A, Chin L, Dahlberg SE, Neuberg DS, Silverman LB, Winter S, Hunger SP, Sallan SE, Zha S, Alt FW, Downing JR, Mullighan CG, Look AT. The BCL11B tumor suppressor is mutated across the major molecular subtypes of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Blood. 2011;118:4169.

• Gutierrez A, Snyder EL, Marino-Enriquez A, Zhang Y, Sioletic S, Kozakewich E, Grebliunate R, Ou WB, Sicinska E, Raut CP, Demetri GD, Perez-Atayde AR, Wagner AJ, Fletcher JA, Fletcher CDM, Look AT. Aberrant AKT activation drives well-differentiated liposarcoma. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011;108:16386.

• Gutierrez A, Grebliunaite R, Feng H, Kozakewich E, Zhu S, Guo F, Payne E, Mansour M, Dahlberg SE, Neuberg DS, den Hertog J, Prochownik EV, Testa JR, Harris M, Kanki JP, Look AT. Pten mediates Myc oncogene dependence in a conditional zebrafish model of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. J Exp Med. 2011;208:1595.