Publications in Refereed Journals | Book Chapters | Other Publications | Manuscripts Submitted

Publications in Refereed Journals

Ghajar CM, Blevins KS, Hughes CC, George SC, Putnam and AK. "Mesenchymal stem cells enhance angiogenesis in mechanically viable prevascularized tissues via early matrix metalloproteinase upregulation." Tissue Engineering 12 (10): 2875- 2888, 2006 (cover article). [original work]

Peyton SR, Ghajar CM, Khatiwala CB, and Putnam AJ. "The emergence of ECM mechanics and cytoskeletal tension as important regulators of cell function." Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics 47 (2): 300-320, 2007. [original work]

Ghajar CM, Suresh V, Peyton SR, Raub CB, Meyskens FL, Jr., George SC, and Putnam AJ. "A novel three-dimensional model to quantify metastatic melanoma invasion." Molecular Cancer Therapeutics 6 (2): 552-561, 2007. [original work]

* Ghajar CM, Chen X, Harris JW, Suresh V, Jeon NL, Putnam AJ, and George SC. "The effect of matrix density on the regulation of 3-D capillary morphogenesis." Biophysical Journal 94 (5): 1930-1941, 2008. [original work]

Peyton SR, Kim PD, Ghajar CM, Seliktar D, and Putnam AJ. "The effects of matrix stiffness and RhoA on the phenotypic plasticity of smooth muscle cells in a 3-D biosynthetic hydrogel system." Biomaterials 29 (17): 2597-2607, 2008. [original work]

Ghajar CM, George SC, Putnam AJ. "Matrix metalloproteinase control of capillary morphogenesis." Critical Reviews in Eukaryotic Gene Expression 18 (3): 251-278, 2008. [review]

Ghajar CM and Bissell MJ. "Extracellular matrix control of mammary gland morphogenesis and tumorigenesis: Insights from imaging." Histochemistry and Cell Biology 130 (6): 1105-1118, 2008. [review]

Ghajar CM, Meier R, and Bissell MJ. "Quis custodiet ipsos custodies: Who watches the watchmen?" The American Journal of Pathology 174 (6): 1996-1999, 2009. [commentary]

Chen X, Aledia A, Ghajar CM, Griffith CK, Putnam AJ, Hughes CCW, and George SC. "Prevascularization of an engineered tissue construct accelerates the formation of functional anastamosis with host vasculature." Tissue Engineering Part A 15 (6): 1363-1371. [original work]

Chen A, Cuevas I, Kenny P, Miyake H, Mace K, Ghajar C, Boudreau A, Bissell M, Boudreau N. "Endothelial cell migration and vascular endothelial growth factor expression are the result of loss of breast tissue polarity." Cancer Research 69 (16): 6721-6729, 2009. [original work]

Ghajar CM, Kachgal S, Kniazeva E, Mori H, Costes S, George SC, and Putnam AJ. "Mesenchymal cells stimulate angiogenesis via distinct proteolytic mechanisms." Experimental Cell Research 316 (5): 813-825, 2010. [original work]

Ghajar CM ^§ and Bissell MJ ^§. "Tumor engineering; The other face of Tissue engineering." Tissue Engineering 16 (7): 2153-2156, 2010. [commentary]

Carrion B, Huang CP, Ghajar CM, Kachgal S, Kniazeva E, Jeon NL, and Putnam AJ. "Recreating the perivascular niche ex vivo using a microfluidic approach." Biotechnology and Bioengineering 107 (6): 1020-28, 2010 (cover article).  [original work]

Matei I*, Ghajar CM*, Lyden DC. "A TeNaCious foundation for the metastatic niche." Cancer Cell 20 (2): 139-41, 2011.  [commentary]

Alcaraz J, Mori H, Ghajar CM, Brownfield D, Bustamante C, and Bissell MJ. "Collective epithelial cell invasion overcomes mechanical barriers of collagenous extracellular matrix by a narrow tube-like geometery and MMP-14-dependent local softening." Integrative Biology 3(12): 1153-66, 2011 (cover article) [original work]

Faruta S, Ghajar CM, and Bissell MJ. "Caveolin-1: would-be Achilles’ heel of tumor microenvironment?" Cell Cycle 10 (20): 3431, 2011. [commentary]

CM Ghajar. "On leukocytes in mammary development and cancer." CSH Perspectives in Biology, May 1, 2012.  [commentary]

Bissell MJ, Ghajar CM, and Lee LP. "From single cells to biology." Integrative Biology 4 (4): 357-59, 2012. [themed introduction]

Mori H, Borowsky AD, Bhat R, Ghajar CM, Seiki M, and Bissell MJ. "Laser scanning-based tissue autofluorescence/fluorescence imaging (LS-TAFI), a new technique for analysis of microanatomy in whole-mount tissues." American Journal of Pathology 180 (6): 2249-56, 2012. [original work]

Peinado H, Aleckovic M, Lavotshkin S, Matei I, Costa-Silva B, Moreno-Bueno G, Hergueta-Redondo M, Williams C, Carcia-Santos G, Ghajar C, Nitadori-Hoshino A, Hoffman C, Badal K, Garcia BA, Callahan MK, Yuan J, Martins VR, Skog J, Kaplan RN, Brady MS, Wolchok JD, Chapman PB, Kang Y, Bromberg J, and Lyden D. "Melanoma exosomes educate bone marrow progenitor cells toward a pro-metastatic phenotype through MET." Nature Medicine 18 (6): 883-891, 2012. [original work]

Mori H, Lo A, Inman JL, Alcaraz J, Ghajar CM, et al. "Transmembrane/cytoplasmic, rather than catalytic, domains of Mmp14 signal to MAPK activation and mammary branching morphogenesis via binding to integrinβ1." Development 140 (2): 343-52, 2013. [original work]

Ghosh S, Ashcraft K, Jahid J, April C, Ghajar CM, Ruan J, Wang H, Huang T, Fan J-B, Hu Y, and Li R. "Regulation of adipose oestrogen output by mechanical stress." Nature Communications 4 (1821), 2013. [original work]

*Ghajar CM, Peinado H, Mori H, Matei IR, Evason KJ, Brazier H, Almeida D, Koller A, Hajjar KA, Stainier DYR, Chen EI, Lyden D, and Bissell MJ. "The perivascular niche regulates breast tumour dormancy." Nature Cell Biology 15 (7), 2013 (cover article) [original work]

Weigelt B, Ghajar CM, and Bissell MJ. "The need for complex 3D culture models to unravel novel pathways and identify accurate biomarkers in breast cancer." Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews Apr 20, 69-70, 2014 (cover article). [review]

Ghajar CM. "A stiffness-mediated oncogenic hammer." Science Translational Medicine 6 (237), 2014. [commentary]

*Ghajar CM. "Perspective: Metastasis prevention by targeting the dormant niche." Nature Reviews Cancer 15 (4), 2015.  [opinion/perspective]

Hoshino A, Costa-Silva B, Shen T-L, Rodrigues G, Hashimoto A, Tesic M, Molina H, Kohsaka S, Di  Giannatale A, Ceder S, Singh S, Williams C, Soplop N, Uryu K, Pharmer L, King T, Bojmar L, Davies AE, Ararso Y, Zhang T, Zhang H, Hernandez J, Weiss JM, Dumont-Cole VD, Kramer K, Wexler LH, Narendran A, Schwartz GK, Healey JH, Sandstrom P, Jørgen Labori K, Kure EH, Grandgenett PM, Hollingsworth MA, de Sousa M, Kaur S, M Jain, Mallya K, Batra SK, Jarnagin WR, Brady MS, Fodstad O, Muller V, Pantel K, Minn AJ, Bissell MJ, Garcia BA, Kang Y, Rajesekhar V, Ghajar CM, Matei I, Peinado H, Bromberg J, Lyden D. "Tumour exosome integrins determine organotropic metastasis." Nature Oct 28, 2015. [original work]

Ghajar CM and Bissell MJ. "News+Views: Metastasis— Pathways of parallel progression." Nature Dec 22, 2016. [review]

Dasgupta A, Lim AR, and Ghajar CM. "Circulating and disseminated tumor cells: Harbingers or initiators of metastasis?" Molecular Oncology (11) 1, 2017 [review]

Pisarsky L*, Dai J*, Ghajar CM. "News+Views: Taking inventory of metastasis effectors." Nature Medicine 23 (5), 2017. [commentary]

Peinado H, Zhang H, Matei IR, Costa-Silva B, Hoshino A, Rodrigues G, Psaila B, Kaplan RN, Bromberg J, Kang Y, Bissell MJ, Cox TR, Giaccia AJ, Erler JT, Hiratsuka S, Ghajar CM, and Lyden D. "Pre-metastatic niches: Organ-specific homes for metastases." Nature Reviews Cancer 17 (5), 2017. [review]

Grzelak C and Ghajar CM. "Metastasis ‘systems’ biology: how are macroenvironmental signals transmitted into microenvironmental cues for disseminated tumor cells?" Current Opinions in Cell Biology 48, 2017. [review]

Grzelak CA and Ghajar CM. "News+Views— Illuminating the role of MSK1 in tumour dormancy." Nature Cell Biology 20 (2), 2018. [commentary]

Crist S and Ghajar CM. "Preview— Friends with benefits: Microenvironmental NRG1b and HGF mediate HER2-targeted resistance in L-HER2+ and HER2E breast cancer." Cell Systems 6 (3), 2018. [commentary]

Goddard ET, Bozic I, Riddell S, and Ghajar CM. "Dormant tumor cells, their niches, and the immune response." Nature Cell Biology 20 (11), 2018. [review]

Carlson P*, Dasgupta A*, Grzelak CA*, Kim J*, Barrett A, Coleman IM, Shor RE, Goddard ET, Dai J, Schweitzer EM, Lim AR, Crist SB, Cheresh DA, Nelson PS, Hansen KC, and Ghajar CM. "Targeting the perivascular niche sensitizes disseminated tumour cells to chemotherapy." Nature Cell Biology 21 (2), 2019 (cover article) [original work]

Rodrigues G, Hoshino A, Matei IR, Scandariato I, Kenific CM, Kim HS, Casanova-Salas I, Dai D, Badwe CR, Gril B, Mark MT, Dill BD, Molina H, Benito-Martin A, Bojmar L, Offer K, LaPlant Q, Ararso Y, Buehring W, Wang H, Jiang X, Liu Y, Sabari JK, Shin SJ, Narula N, Rajasekhar VK, Zhang H, Costa-Silva B, Rafii S, Rudin CM, Jones DR, Steeg PS, Peinado H, Ghajar CM, Bromberg J, Pisapia D, de Sousa M, and Lyden D. "Tumour exosomal KIAA1199 protein promotes cancer cell colonization in brain metastasis." Nature Cell Biology 21 (11), 2019. [original work]

Ayuko Hoshino, Han Sang Kim, Linda Bojmar, Kofi Ennu Gyan, Michele Cioffi, Jonathan Hernandez, Constantinos P Zambirinis, Gonçalo Rodrigues, Henrik Molina, Søren Heissel, Milica Tesic Mark, Loïc Steiner, Alberto Benito-Martin, Serena Lucotti, Angela Di Giannatale, Katharine Offer, Miho Nakajima 5, Caitlin Williams, Laura Nogués, Fanny A Pelissier Vatter, Ayako Hashimoto, Alexander E Davies, Daniela Freitas, Candia M Kenific, Yonathan Ararso, Weston Buehring, Pernille Lauritzen, Yusuke Ogitani, Kei Sugiura, Naoko Takahashi, Maša Alečković, Kayleen A Bailey, Joshua S Jolissant, Huajuan Wang, Ashton Harris, L Miles Schaeffer, Guillermo García-Santos, Zoe Posner, Vinod P Balachandran, Yasmin Khakoo, G Praveen Raju, Avigdor Scherz, Irit Sagi, Ruth Scherz-Shouval, Yosef Yarden, Moshe Oren, Mahathi Malladi, Mary Petriccione, Kevin C De Braganca, Maria Donzelli, Cheryl Fischer, Stephanie Vitolano, Geraldine P Wright, Lee Ganshaw, Mariel Marrano, Amina Ahmed, Joe DeStefano, Enrico Danzer, Michael H A Roehrl, Norman J Lacayo, Theresa C Vincent, Martin R Weiser, Mary S Brady, Paul A Meyers, Leonard H Wexler, Srikanth R Ambati, Alexander J Chou, Emily K Slotkin, Shakeel Modak, Stephen S Roberts, Ellen M Basu, Daniel Diolaiti, Benjamin A Krantz, Fatima Cardoso, Amber L Simpson, Michael Berger, Charles M Rudin, Diane M Simeone, Maneesh Jain, Cyrus M Ghajar, Surinder K Batra, Ben Z Stanger, Jack Bui, Kristy A Brown, Vinagolu K Rajasekhar, John H Healey, Maria de Sousa, Kim Kramer, Sujit Sheth, Jeanine Baisch, Virginia Pascual, Todd E Heaton, Michael P La Quaglia, David J Pisapia, Robert Schwartz, Haiying Zhang, Yuan Liu, Arti Shukla, Laurence Blavier, Yves A DeClerck, Mark LaBarge, Mina J Bissell, Thomas C Caffrey, Paul M Grandgenett, Michael A Hollingsworth, Jacqueline Bromberg, Bruno Costa-Silva, Hector Peinado, Yibin Kang, Benjamin A Garcia, Eileen M O'Reilly, David Kelsen, Tanya M Trippett, David R Jones, Irina R Matei, William R Jarnagin, David Lyden. "Extracellular Vesicle and Particle Biomarkers Define Multiple Human Cancers." Cell. 2020 Aug 20;182(4):1044-1061.e18. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.07.009. Epub 2020 Aug 13. [original work]

Crist S, Ghajar CM. "When a house is not a home: A survey of anti-metastatic niches and potential mechanisms of disseminated tumor cell suppression." Annual Review of Pathology: Mechanisms of Disease 2021. Jan 24;16:409-432. [review]

Shor RE, Dai J, Lee S-Y, Pisarsky L, Matei I,  Lucotti S, Lyden D, Bissell MJ, and Ghajar CM. The PI3K/mTOR inhibitor Gedatolisib eliminates dormant breast cancer cells in organotypic culture, but fails to prevent metastasis in preclinical settings. Molecular Oncology 16(1), 2022. [original work]

Grzelak CA, Goddard ET, Lederer EE, Rajaram K, Dai J, Shor R, Lim AR, Kim J, Beronja S, Funnell APW, and Ghajar CM. Elimination of fluorescent protein immunogenicity permits modeling of metastasis in immune-competent settings. Cancer Cell 40(1), 2022. [original work]

> Commentaries in: Science, Cancer Cell

Dai J, Cimino PJ, Gouin K, Lim AR, Grzelak CA, Barrett A, Lim AR, Long A, Weaver S, Saldin LT,  Uzamere A, Schulte V, Clegg N, Pisarsky L, Lyden DC, Bissell MJ, Knott S, Welm AL, Bielas JH, Hansen KC, Winkler F, Holland EC, Ghajar CM. Astrocytic laminin-211 drives disseminated breast tumour cell dormancy in brain. Nature Cancer 3 (1), 2022. [original work]

> Commentaries in: Nature Cancer, Cancer Research

Lim AR and Ghajar CM. Thorny soil and other lessons from the field: tissue-specific mechanisms of disseminated tumor cell dormancy. Seminars in Cancer Biology 78, 2022. [review]

Crist SB, Nemkov T, Dumpit RF, Dai J, Tapscott ST, True LD, Swarbrick A, Sullivan LB, Nelson PS, Hansen KC, and Ghajar CM. Unchecked oxidative stress is an insurmountable barrier for tumor cells that disseminate to skeletal muscle. Nature Cell Biology 24 (4), 2022. [original work]

> Commentaries in: Nature Reviews Cancer, Cancer Discovery

Germanos AA, Arora S, Zheng Y, Goddard ET, Coleman IM, Ku AT, Amezquita RA, Long A, Yang K, Bielas JH, Gottardo R, Ghajar CM, Nelson PS, Sowalsky AG, Setty M, Hsieh AC. Defining cellular population dynamics at single cell resolution during prostate cancer progression. In press, eLife. [original work]

Grzelak CA, Ghajar CM. Elimination of 4T1 mammary tumor cells by BALB/cBy UBC-GFP transgenics following stable inheritance of the H-2^b MHC allele. In press, ImmunoHorizons. [original work]

Goddard ET^†, Linde MH^†, Srivastava S, Klug G, Shabaneh TB, Iannone S, Grzelak CA, Marsh S, Riggio AI, Shor RE, Linde IL, Guerrero M, Veatch JR, Snyder A, Welm AL, Riddell SR* and Ghajar CM*. Immune evasion of dormant disseminated tumor cells is due to their scarcity and can be overcome by T cell immunotherapies. In Press. [original work]

Book Chapters

Ghajar CM, Correia AL, and Bissell MJ. "The role of the microenvironment in tumor initiation, progression, and metastasis." The Molecular Basis of Cancer (Fourth Edition). Eds: J. Mendelsohn, P.M. Howley, M.A. Israel, J.W. Gray, C.B. Thompson; Elsevier Inc. (2015).

Grzelak CA, Lim AR, Ghajar CM. "More than a barrier; how the endothelium instructs metastasis." Biomarkers of the Tumor Microenvironment: Basic Studies and Practical Applications. Eds: L. Akslen, R. Watnick; Springer (2017).

Pisarsky L and Ghajar CM. "Anti-angiogenic therapy-mediated endothelial damage, a driver of breast cancer recurrence?" Minimal Residual Disease and Systemic Cancer Biology. Ed: J. Aguirre-Ghiso; Springer (2018).

Other Publications

Ghajar CM. The dormant niche. Contribution to multi-author “Voices in Metastasis” piece. Cancer Cell 40, 2022.

Manuscripts Submitted

Lim AR, Gouin K, Coleman IM, Long AN, Bielas JH, Nelson PS, Knott SR, and Ghajar CM. The vascular niche is central to homeostatic regulation of disseminated tumor cell dormancy in the lymph node. Under revision. [original work]