Heather Machado, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Tulane School of Medicine, and a program member of the Tulane Cancer Center and the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium.
Dr. Machado completed her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Tulane School of Medicine in 2005, under the supervision of Cindy A. Morris, Ph.D. She went on to conduct her postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey M. Rosen at Baylor College of Medicine, where she focused on understanding the role of normal stem cells in mammary gland development and in human breast cancer. She opened her laboratory in 2013 upon joining the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Tulane School of Medicine. She is an active member of the American Association of Cancer Research and the Tumor Microenvironment Women in Cancer Research working groups.
Dr. Machado’s laboratory focuses on understanding the mechanisms that drive mammary gland development, and how these mechanisms are deregulated in breast cancer. Using unique mouse models of breast cancer progression, Dr. Machado’s group showed that alterations in macrophages in premalignant lesions can induce the transition to malignant or invasive cancer. The overall goal of these studies is to identify drug targetable pathways and mechanisms to block both macrophages and tumor cells as a breast cancer treatment...
Mammary gland biology, Breast cancer progression, Tumor Immunology
Matherne MG, Phillips ES, Embrey SJ, Burke CM, Machado HL. Emerging functions of C/EBPβ in breast cancer. Front Oncol. 2023;13:1111522. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1111522. eCollection 2023. Review. PubMed PMID: 36761942; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9905667.
Shahbandi A, Chiu FY, Ungerleider NA, Kvadas R, Mheidly Z, Sun MJS, Tian D, Waizman DA, Anderson AY, Machado HL, Pursell ZF, Rao SG, Jackson JG. Breast cancer cells survive chemotherapy by activating targetable immune-modulatory programs characterized by PD-L1 or CD80. Nat Cancer. 2022 Dec;3(12):1513-1533. doi: 10.1038/s43018-022-00466-y. Epub 2022 Dec 8. PubMed PMID: 36482233; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9923777.
Iftikhar R, Penrose HM, King AN, Kim Y, Ruiz E, Kandil E, Machado HL, Savkovic SD. FOXO3 Expression in Macrophages Is Lowered by a High-Fat Diet and Regulates Colonic Inflammation and Tumorigenesis. Metabolites. 2022 Mar 16;12(3). doi: 10.3390/metabo12030250. PubMed PMID: 35323693; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8949544.
Newton EE, Mueller LE, Treadwell SM, Morris CA, Machado HL. Molecular Targets of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Where Do We Stand?. Cancers (Basel). 2022 Jan 18;14(3). doi: 10.3390/cancers14030482. Review. PubMed PMID: 35158750; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8833442.
Ibrahim AM, Moss MA, Gray Z, Rojo MD, Burke CM, Schwertfeger KL, Dos Santos CO, Machado HL. Diverse Macrophage Populations Contribute to the Inflammatory Microenvironment in Premalignant Lesions During Localized Invasion. Front Oncol. 2020;10:569985. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2020.569985. eCollection 2020. PubMed PMID: 33072601; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7541939.
Wang Y, Chaffee TS, LaRue RS, Huggins DN, Witschen PM, Ibrahim AM, Nelson AC, Machado HL, Schwertfeger KL. Tissue-resident macrophages promote extracellular matrix homeostasis in the mammary gland stroma of nulliparous mice. Elife. 2020 Jun 1;9. doi: 10.7554/eLife.57438. PubMed PMID: 32479261; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7297528.
Ibrahim AM, Gray Z, Gomes AM, Myers L, Behbod F, Machado HL. Gas6 expression is reduced in advanced breast cancers. NPJ Precis Oncol. 2020;4:9. doi: 10.1038/s41698-020-0116-z. eCollection 2020. PubMed PMID: 32352034; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7181799.
Gomes AM, Carron EC, Mills KL, Dow AM, Gray Z, Fecca CR, Lakey MA, Carmeliet P, Kittrell F, Medina D, Machado HL. Stromal Gas6 promotes the progression of premalignant mammary cells. Oncogene. 2019 Apr;38(14):2437-2450. doi: 10.1038/s41388-018-0593-5. Epub 2018 Dec 7. PubMed PMID: 30531835; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6450766.
Mills KL, Gomes AM, Standlee CR, Rojo MD, Carmeliet P, Lin Z, Machado HL. Gas6 is dispensable for pubertal mammary gland development. PLoS One. 2018;13(12):e0208550. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0208550. eCollection 2018. PubMed PMID: 30533018; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6289431.
Nelson AC, Machado HL, Schwertfeger KL. Breaking through to the Other Side: Microenvironment Contributions to DCIS Initiation and Progression. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia. 2018 Dec;23(4):207-221. doi: 10.1007/s10911-018-9409-z. Epub 2018 Aug 31. Review. PubMed PMID: 30168075; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6237657.
Behbod F, Gomes AM, Machado HL. Modeling Human Ductal Carcinoma In Situ in the Mouse. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia. 2018 Dec;23(4):269-278. doi: 10.1007/s10911-018-9408-0. Epub 2018 Aug 25. Review. PubMed PMID: 30145750; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6244883.
D'Errico G, Machado HL, Sainz B Jr. A current perspective on cancer immune therapy: step-by-step approach to constructing the magic bullet. Clin Transl Med. 2017 Dec;6(1):3. doi: 10.1186/s40169-016-0130-5. Epub 2017 Jan 3. Review. PubMed PMID: 28050779; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5209322.
Carron EC, Homra S, Rosenberg J, Coffelt SB, Kittrell F, Zhang Y, Creighton CJ, Fuqua SA, Medina D, Machado HL. Macrophages promote the progression of premalignant mammary lesions to invasive cancer. Oncotarget. 2017 Aug 1;8(31):50731-50746. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.14913. eCollection 2017 Aug 1. PubMed PMID: 28881599; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5584199.
Sainz B Jr, Carron E, Vallespinós M, Machado HL. Cancer Stem Cells and Macrophages: Implications in Tumor Biology and Therapeutic Strategies. Mediators Inflamm. 2016;2016:9012369. doi: 10.1155/2016/9012369. Epub 2016 Feb 14. Review. PubMed PMID: 26980947; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4769767.
Rahal OM, Machado HL, Montales MT, Pabona JM, Heard ME, Nagarajan S, Simmen RC. Dietary suppression of the mammary CD29(hi)CD24(+) epithelial subpopulation and its cytokine/chemokine transcriptional signatures modifies mammary tumor risk in MMTV-Wnt1 transgenic mice. Stem Cell Res. 2013 Nov;11(3):1149-62. doi: 10.1016/j.scr.2013.08.006. Epub 2013 Aug 15. PubMed PMID: 24012543; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4034693.
Angelova M, Machado HL, Swan KF, Morris C, Sullivan DE. Extravillous Trophoblast Migration and Invasion Assay. Bio Protoc. 2013 Aug 5;3(15). doi: 10.21769/bioprotoc.840. PubMed PMID: 27547783; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4991900.
Machado HL, Kittrell FS, Edwards D, White AN, Atkinson RL, Rosen JM, Medina D, Lewis MT. Separation by cell size enriches for mammary stem cell repopulation activity. Stem Cells Transl Med. 2013 Mar;2(3):199-203. doi: 10.5966/sctm.2012-0121. Epub 2013 Feb 13. PubMed PMID: 23408103; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3659766.
Zwezdaryk KJ, Warner JA, Machado HL, Morris CA, Höner zu Bentrup K. Rotating cell culture systems for human cell culture: human trophoblast cells as a model. J Vis Exp. 2012 Jan 18;(59). doi: 10.3791/3367. PubMed PMID: 22297395; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3462572.
Batts TD, Machado HL, Zhang Y, Creighton CJ, Li Y, Rosen JM. Stem cell antigen-1 (sca-1) regulates mammary tumor development and cell migration. PLoS One. 2011;6(11):e27841. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0027841. Epub 2011 Nov 29. PubMed PMID: 22140470; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3226565.
Kittrell FS, Carletti MZ, Kerbawy S, Heestand J, Xian W, Zhang M, Lamarca HL, Sonnenberg A, Rosen JM, Medina D, Behbod F. Prospective isolation and characterization of committed and multipotent progenitors from immortalized mouse mammary epithelial cells with morphogenic potential. Breast Cancer Res. 2011 Apr 5;13(2):R41. doi: 10.1186/bcr2863. PubMed PMID: 21466693; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3219204.
Visbal AP, LaMarca HL, Villanueva H, Toneff MJ, Li Y, Rosen JM, Lewis MT. Altered differentiation and paracrine stimulation of mammary epithelial cell proliferation by conditionally activated Smoothened. Dev Biol. 2011 Apr 1;352(1):116-27. doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2011.01.025. Epub 2011 Jan 27. PubMed PMID: 21276786; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3057274.
LaMarca HL, Visbal AP, Creighton CJ, Liu H, Zhang Y, Behbod F, Rosen JM. CCAAT/enhancer binding protein beta regulates stem cell activity and specifies luminal cell fate in the mammary gland. Stem Cells. 2010 Mar 31;28(3):535-44. doi: 10.1002/stem.297. PubMed PMID: 20054865; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3006225.
Long W, Yi P, Amazit L, LaMarca HL, Ashcroft F, Kumar R, Mancini MA, Tsai SY, Tsai MJ, O'Malley BW. SRC-3Delta4 mediates the interaction of EGFR with FAK to promote cell migration. Mol Cell. 2010 Feb 12;37(3):321-32. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2010.01.004. PubMed PMID: 20159552; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2824333.
Coffelt SB, Marini FC, Watson K, Zwezdaryk KJ, Dembinski JL, LaMarca HL, Tomchuck SL, Honer zu Bentrup K, Danka ES, Henkle SL, Scandurro AB. The pro-inflammatory peptide LL-37 promotes ovarian tumor progression through recruitment of multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Mar 10;106(10):3806-11. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0900244106. Epub 2009 Feb 20. PubMed PMID: 19234121; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2656161.
Behbod F, Kittrell FS, LaMarca H, Edwards D, Kerbawy S, Heestand JC, Young E, Mukhopadhyay P, Yeh HW, Allred DC, Hu M, Polyak K, Rosen JM, Medina D. An intraductal human-in-mouse transplantation model mimics the subtypes of ductal carcinoma in situ. Breast Cancer Res. 2009;11(5):R66. doi: 10.1186/bcr2358. PubMed PMID: 19735549; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2790841.
LaMarca HL, Rosen JM. Minireview: hormones and mammary cell fate--what will I become when I grow up?. Endocrinology. 2008 Sep;149(9):4317-21. doi: 10.1210/en.2008-0450. Epub 2008 Jun 12. Review. PubMed PMID: 18556345; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2553372.
LaMarca HL, Dash PR, Vishnuthevan K, Harvey E, Sullivan DE, Morris CA, Whitley GS. Epidermal growth factor-stimulated extravillous cytotrophoblast motility is mediated by the activation of PI3-K, Akt and both p38 and p42/44 mitogen-activated protein kinases. Hum Reprod. 2008 Aug;23(8):1733-41. doi: 10.1093/humrep/den178. Epub 2008 May 16. PubMed PMID: 18487214; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2733823.
Coffelt SB, Waterman RS, Florez L, Höner zu Bentrup K, Zwezdaryk KJ, Tomchuck SL, LaMarca HL, Danka ES, Morris CA, Scandurro AB. Ovarian cancers overexpress the antimicrobial protein hCAP-18 and its derivative LL-37 increases ovarian cancer cell proliferation and invasion. Int J Cancer. 2008 Mar 1;122(5):1030-9. doi: 10.1002/ijc.23186. PubMed PMID: 17960624.
Shelby BD, LaMarca HL, McFerrin HE, Nelson AB, Lasky JA, Sun G, Myatt L, Offermann MK, Morris CA, Sullivan DE. Kaposi's sarcoma associated herpesvirus G-protein coupled receptor activation of cyclooxygenase-2 in vascular endothelial cells. Virol J. 2007 Sep 14;4:87. doi: 10.1186/1743-422X-4-87. PubMed PMID: 17868457; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2034382.
Zwezdaryk KJ, Coffelt SB, Figueroa YG, Liu J, Phinney DG, LaMarca HL, Florez L, Morris CB, Hoyle GW, Scandurro AB. Erythropoietin, a hypoxia-regulated factor, elicits a pro-angiogenic program in human mesenchymal stem cells. Exp Hematol. 2007 Apr;35(4):640-52. doi: 10.1016/j.exphem.2007.01.044. PubMed PMID: 17379074.
LaMarca HL, Rosen JM. Estrogen regulation of mammary gland development and breast cancer: amphiregulin takes center stage. Breast Cancer Res. 2007;9(4):304. doi: 10.1186/bcr1740. Review. PubMed PMID: 17659070; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2206713.
LaMarca HL, Morris CA, Pettit GR, Nagowa T, Puschett JB. Marinobufagenin impairs first trimester cytotrophoblast differentiation. Placenta. 2006 Sep-Oct;27(9-10):984-8. doi: 10.1016/j.placenta.2005.12.004. Epub 2006 Feb 2. PubMed PMID: 16458353.
LaMarca HL, Nelson AB, Scandurro AB, Whitley GS, Morris CA. Human cytomegalovirus-induced inhibition of cytotrophoblast invasion in a first trimester extravillous cytotrophoblast cell line. Placenta. 2006 Feb-Mar;27(2-3):137-47. doi: 10.1016/j.placenta.2005.03.003. PubMed PMID: 15921739.
LaMarca HL, Ott CM, Höner Zu Bentrup K, Leblanc CL, Pierson DL, Nelson AB, Scandurro AB, Whitley GS, Nickerson CA, Morris CA. Three-dimensional growth of extravillous cytotrophoblasts promotes differentiation and invasion. Placenta. 2005 Nov;26(10):709-20. doi: 10.1016/j.placenta.2004.11.003. Epub 2005 Jan 25. PubMed PMID: 16226120.
Sainz B Jr, LaMarca HL, Garry RF, Morris CA. Synergistic inhibition of human cytomegalovirus replication by interferon-alpha/beta and interferon-gamma. Virol J. 2005 Feb 23;2:14. doi: 10.1186/1743-422X-2-14. PubMed PMID: 15727684; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC554982.
LaMarca HL, Sainz B Jr, Morris CA. Permissive human cytomegalovirus infection of a first trimester extravillous cytotrophoblast cell line. Virol J. 2004 Nov 17;1:8. doi: 10.1186/1743-422X-1-8. PubMed PMID: 15548334; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC535551.
Complete List of Published Work in MyBibliography:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/heather.machado.2/bibliography/public/
