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High Res

H. Leighton (Lee) Grimes, PhD

Director, Cancer Pathology Program of the Division of Experimental Hematology and the Division of Pathology

Associate Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Phone: 513-636-6089

Fax: 513-636-5355

Email: lee.grimes@cchmc.org

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Specialties

Transcriptional control of hematopoiesis and cancer.

Visit the Grimes Lab.

Biography

Grimes Laboratory:

The cloning and characterization of oncoproteins and tumor suppressors over the last 25 years has not only resulted in a greater understanding of the molecular mechanisms of transformation, but it has also provided a large set of therapeutic targets. Our lab is interested in the progression of a cell with a single genetic lesion to an invasive cancer with multiple genetic alterations. We focus on the Growth factor independence-1 (Gfi1) transcription factor, which is poorly oncogenic alone, but which potently collaborates with well known oncoproteins such as c-MYC. Gfi1 is the most frequently targeted gene in Moloney murine leukemia virus-induced tumors and induces tumor progression to cytokine-independent growth. In contrast, loss of Gfi1 in hematopoietic stem cells induces cell cycle progression and eventual bone marrow failure; implicating Gfi1 as a tumor suppressor in such cells. Gfi1 null mice have no mature neutrophils, and we have identified humans with Severe Congenital Neutropenia (SCN) and Non-Immune Chronic Idiopathic Neutropenia of Adults (NI-CINA) bearing mutations in Gfi1. Interestingly, such patients are at increased risk for the development of myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukemia. We have recently generated the first mouse model of Severe Congenital Neutropenia through the expression of mutant Gfi1 proteins in primary murine hematopoietic cells. Moreover, we are utilizing mouse models of human cancer to assess the risk of Gfi1 mutant humans for the development of acute myeloid leukemia.

Education and Training

PhD: Immunology and Molecular Pathology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.

Postdoctoral Fellow: Fox Chase Cancer Center.

Publications

View PubMed Publications

Guo F, Hildeman D, Tripathi P, Velu CS, Grimes HL, Zheng Y. Coordination of IL-7 receptor and T-cell receptor signaling by cell-division cycle 42 in T-cell homeostasis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Oct 26;107(43):18505-10.

Tripathi P, Kurtulus S, Wojciechowski S, Sholl A, Hoebe K, Morris SC, Finkelman FD, Grimes HL, Hildeman DA. STAT5 is critical to maintain effector CD8+ T cell responses. J Immunol. 2010 Aug 15;185(4):2116-24.

Meyer SE, Hasenstein JR, Baktula A, Velu CS, Xu Y, Wan H, Whitsett JA, Gilks CB, Grimes HL. Kruppel-like factor 5 is not required for K-RasG12D lung tumorigenesis, but represses ABCG2 expression and is associated with better disease-specific survival. Am J Pathol. 2010 Sep;177(3):1503-13.

Phelan JD, Shroyer NF, Cook T, Gebelein B, Grimes HL. Gfi1-cells and circuits: unraveling transcriptional networks of development and disease. Curr Opin Hematol. 2010 Jul;17(4):300-7. Review.

Arumugam PI, Urbinati F, Velu CS, Higashimoto T, Grimes HL, Malik P. The 3' region of the chicken hypersensitive site-4 insulator has properties similar to its core and is required for full insulator activity. PLoS One. 2009 Sep 10;4(9):e6995.

Guo F, Velu CS, Grimes HL, Zheng Y. Rho GTPase Cdc42 is essential for B-lymphocyte development and activation. Blood. 2009 Oct 1;114(14):2909-16.

Horman SR, Velu CS, Chaubey A, Bourdeau T, Zhu J, Paul WE, Gebelein B, Grimes HL. Gfi1 integrates progenitor versus granulocytic transcriptional programming. Blood. 2009 May 28;113(22):5466-75.

Velu CS, Baktula AM, Grimes HL. Gfi1 regulates miR-21 and miR-196b to control myelopoiesis. Blood. 2009 May 7;113(19):4720-8.

Gu Y, Harley IT, Henderson LB, Aronow BJ, Vietor I, Huber LA, Harley JB, Kilpatrick JR, Langefeld CD, Williams AH, Jegga AG, Chen J, Wills-Karp M, Arshad SH, Ewart SL, Thio CL, Flick LM, Filippi MD, Grimes HL, Drumm ML, Cutting GR, Knowles MR, Karp CL. Identification of IFRD1 as a modifier gene for cystic fibrosis lung disease. Nature. 2009 Apr 23;458(7241):1039-42.

Li-Kroeger D, Witt LM, Grimes HL, Cook TA, Gebelein B. Hox and senseless antagonism functions as a molecular switch to regulate EGF secretion in the Drosophila PNS. Dev Cell. 2008 Aug;15(2):298-308.