Andrew Place, MD, PhD

Research Overview

Over the last several decades, there have been dramatic improvements in the treatment of the most common types of pediatric cancers. However, despite these successes, relapsed or refractory leukemia carry a dismal prognosis. For example, more children will succumb to relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia that any other type of pediatric malignancy. It is paramount that novel agents and treatment strategies are developed for these cancers that improve outcomes while limiting both the acute and long-term toxicities of therapy.

In order to achieve these goals, we are developing a robust translational program supported by our own world-class basic science laboratories, extensive collection of clinical samples and well-known expertise in clinical trial design and administration. By encouraging collaborations within academia and industry we foster pre-clinical evaluation of the most compelling novel therapies as a mechanism to stream line their introduction into early phase clinical trials.

About Andrew Place

Dr. Place received his PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology from Dartmouth College in 2004 and his MD from the Dartmouth Medical School in 2006. He completed his pediatric residency training in the Boston Combined Residency Program at Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center. He subsequently completed a fellowship in pediatric hematology-oncology at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In 2012, he became an attending physician in Pediatric Oncology at the Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center, where he currently participates in the development of early phase clinical trials in the Pediatric Hematologic Malignancy Service.

Key Publications

• Pandey P, Avraham S, Place A, Kumar V, Majumder PK, Cheng K, et al. Bcl-xL blocks activation of related adhesion focal tyrosine kinase/proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 and stress-activated protein kinase/c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase in the cellular response to methylmethane sulfonate. The Journal of biological chemistry. 1999;274(13):8618-23. Epub 1999/03/20. PubMed PMID: 10085098.

• Ito Y, Pandey P, Place A, Sporn MB, Gribble GW, Honda T, et al. The novel triterpenoid 2-cyano-3,12-dioxoolean-1,9-dien-28-oic acid induces apoptosis of human myeloid leukemia cells by a caspase-8-dependent mechanism. Cell growth & differentiation : the molecular biology journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. 2000;11(5):261-7. Epub 2000/06/14. PubMed PMID: 10845427.

• Honda T, Honda Y, Favaloro FG, Jr., Gribble GW, Suh N, Place AE, et al. A novel dicyanotriterpenoid, 2-cyano-3,12-dioxooleana-1,9(11)-dien-28-onitrile, active at picomolar concentrations for inhibition of nitric oxide production. Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry letters. 2002;12(7):1027-30. Epub 2002/03/23. PubMed PMID: 11909709.

• Place AE, Suh N, Williams CR, Risingsong R, Honda T, Honda Y, et al. The novel synthetic triterpenoid, CDDO-imidazolide, inhibits inflammatory response and tumor growth in vivo. Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. 2003;9(7):2798-806. Epub 2003/07/12. PubMed PMID: 12855660.

• Liby K, Hock T, Yore MM, Suh N, Place AE, Risingsong R, et al. The synthetic triterpenoids, CDDO and CDDO-imidazolide, are potent inducers of heme oxygenase-1 and Nrf2/ARE signaling. Cancer research. 2005;65(11):4789-98. Epub 2005/06/03. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-04-4539. PubMed PMID: 15930299.

• Place AE, Jin Huh S, Polyak K. The microenvironment in breast cancer progression: biology and implications for treatment. Breast cancer research : BCR. 2011;13(6):227. Epub 2011/11/15. doi: 10.1186/bcr2912. PubMed PMID: 22078026; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3326543.