Sally E. Dickinson, PhD
Cancer Prevention and Control Program
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Research Associate Professor, Pharmacology
Biography
Sally E. Dickinson earned her B.S. in Biology at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. She then trained at the NIH for two years before entering graduate school at the University of Arizona, where she earned her PhD in the laboratory of Dr. Qin Chen, studying oxidative stress-induced signaling in heart cells. She then worked as a post-doc for Dr. G. Timothy Bowden studying UV-induced NMSC, first under an R25T fellowship and then under a K07 Career Development Award, both of which focused upon skin cancer prevention. In addition to being a Cancer Center member, she is currently Research Associate Professor in the Pharmacology Department at the UofA. She is also a member of the CBIO GIDP.
Cancer Focus
Our team explores the roles of MAP Kinases, PI3-Kinase, mTOR/Akt and TLR4-induced signaling in the development of UV-induced non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). We are examining the use of natural products or small molecule inhibitors of these targets to boost our efficiency at topically preventing NMSC. In collaboration with Dr. Georg Wondrak and Dr. Clara Curiel-Lewandrowski, we are focused upon understanding the role of Toll-like Receptor 4 (TLR4) in UV-induced skin carcinogenesis. Our work suggests that TLR4 contributes to UV-induced stress signaling in keratinocytes and increases in expression during the progression from normal skin to cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. TLR4 may therefore be an excellent target for chemoprevention of NMSC.
Selected Publications
K. Blohm-Mangone, Burkett, N. B., Tahsin, S., Myrdal, P. B., Aodah, A., Ho, B., Janda, J., McComas, M., Saboda, K., Roe, D. J., Dong, Z., Bode, A. M., Petricoin, E. F., Calvert, V. S., Curiel-Lewandrowski, C., Alberts, D. S., Wondrak, G. T., and Dickinson, S. E., “Pharmacological TLR4 Antagonism Using Topical Resatorvid Blocks Solar UV-Induced Skin Tumorigenesis in SKH-1 Mice.”, Cancer Prev Res (Phila), vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 265-278, 2018. PMCID: PMC5932085 PMID: 29437671
S. E. Dickinson and Wondrak, G. T., “TLR4-directed Molecular Strategies Targeting Skin Photodamage and Carcinogenesis.”, Curr Med Chem, vol. 25, no. 40, pp. 5487-5502, 2018. PMID: 28847267
J. G. Einspahr, Curiel-Lewandrowski, C., Calvert, V. S., Stratton, S. P., Alberts, D. S., Warneke, J., Hu, C., Saboda, K., Wagener, E. L., Dickinson, S., Dong, Z., Bode, A. M., and PetricoinIII, E. F., “Protein activation mapping of human sun-protected epidermis after an acute dose of erythemic solar simulated light.”, NPJ Precis Oncol, vol. 1, 2017. PMCID: PMC5695572 PMID: 29167824
S. E. Dickinson, Janda, J., Criswell, J., Blohm-Mangone, K., Olson, E. R., Liu, Z., Barber, C., Petricoin, E. F., Calvert, V. S., Einspahr, J., Dickinson, J. E., Stratton, S. P., Curiel-Lewandrowski, C., Saboda, K., Hu, C., Bode, A. M., Dong, Z., Alberts, D. S., and G Bowden, T., “Inhibition of Akt Enhances the Chemopreventive Effects of Topical Rapamycin in Mouse Skin.”, Cancer Prev Res (Phila), vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 215-24, 2016. PMCID: PMC4777684 PMID: 26801880
J. Janda, Burkett, N. B., Blohm-Mangone, K., Huang, V., Curiel-Lewandrowski, C., Alberts, D. S., Petricoin, E. F., Calvert, V. S., Einspahr, J., Dong, Z., Bode, A. M., Wondrak, G. T., and Dickinson, S. E., “Resatorvid-based Pharmacological Antagonism of Cutaneous TLR4 Blocks UV-induced NF-κB and AP-1 Signaling in Keratinocytes and Mouse Skin.”, Photochem Photobiol, vol. 92, no. 6, pp. 816-825, 2016. PMCID: PMC5161657 PMID: 27859308