Departmental Affiliations
Vito W. Rebecca, PhD, is a translational molecular biologist who investigates how tumor cells metastasize and escape targeted and immune-therapy, with a focus on acral lentiginous melanoma.
Research Interests
Current interests in the lab include understanding the role a) biomechanical forces serve in tumor biology, b) signaling pathway plasticity serves in metastasis and therapy resistance, c) lysosomal catabolism serves in metastasis and therapy escape, and d) of stem cell-like subpopulations of melanoma in metastasis and therapy sensitivity.
Experiences & Accomplishments
The Rebecca laboratory focuses on understanding genetic and non-genetic mechanisms of therapy resistance and metastasis leveraged by cancer cells, using acral lentiginous melanoma as a paradigm. Their particular focus is on stem cell-like tumor cell subpopulations of melanoma cells that “hijack” developmental signaling cassettes to drive transient metastatic and drug resistant cell states, and how microenvironmental cues influence tumor biology. Their studies encompass quantitative tools, genetic editing, molecular biology, in vivo patient-derived xenograft therapy trials and bioinformatic analyses to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of actionable vulnerabilities for stem cell-like subpopulations of cancer cells.
Honors & Awards
Melanoma Research Alliance Young Investigator Award, 2023
Johns Hopkins University Discovery Award, 2023
Cancer Invasion and Metastasis Pilot Award, 2022
Johns Hopkins University Faculty Innovation Award, 2021
Melanoma Research Foundation Career Development Award, 2019
Select Publications
Jagirdar K, Portuallo ME, Wilhide M, Wei M, Robertson B, Bravo J, Alicea GM, Aguh C, Xiao M, Godok T, Fingerman D, Brown SG, Herlyn M, Guo B, Toska E, Zabransky D, Wubbenhorst B, Nathanson K, Ji H, Liu Q, Rebecca VW. ERK Hyperactivation Represents a Unified Mechanism of Escape in Intrinsic and Acquired CDK4/6 Inhibitor Resistance in Acral Lentiginous Melanoma. Oncogene 2023
Liu J*, Rebecca VW*, Kossenkov AV, Connelly T, Liu Q, Gutierrez A, Xiao M, Li L, Zhang G, Samarkina A, Zayasbazan D, Zhang J, Cheng C, Wei Z, Alicea GM, Fukunaga-Kalabis M, Krepler C, Aza-Blanc P, Yang CC, Delvadia B, Tong C, Huang Y, Delvadia M, Morais AS, Sproesser K, Brafford P, Wang JX, Beqiri M, Somasundaram R, Vultur A, Hristova DM, Wu LW, Lu Y, Mills GB, Xu W, Karakousis GC, Xu X, Schuchter LM, Mitchell TC, Amaravadi RK, Kwong LN, Frederick DT, Boland GM, Salvino JM, Speicher DW, Flaherty KT, Ronai ZA, Herlyn M. Neural crest-like stem cell transcriptomic analysis identifies LPAR1 in melanoma progression and therapy resistance. Cancer Res. 2021 Oct 15;81(20):5230-5241. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-20-1496.Epub 2021 Aug 30. *Co-first authors
Jamerson T, Rebecca VW, Aguh C. Genetic characteristics and response to systemic therapies of acral lentiginous melanoma at a tertiary care center-a retrospective review. J Natl Med Assoc. 2022 Feb;114(1):7-11. doi: 10.1016/j.jnma.2021.08.034. Epub 2021 Sep 9.PMID: 34509302
Alicea GM, Rebecca VW. Un-Fair Skin: racial disparities in acral melanoma research. Nat Rev Cancer. 2022 Mar;22(3):127-128. doi: 10.1038/s41568-022-00443-8.PMID: 35075287
Alicea GM, Rebecca VW. Emerging strategies to treat rare and intractable subtypes of melanoma. Pigment Cell Melanoma Res. 2020;34. PMID: 32274887