Steven W. Cole, PhD

Dr. Steve Cole's research utilizes molecular genetics and computational bioinformatics to analyze the pathways by which social and environmental factors influence the activity of the human genome, as well as viral and tumor genomes. He pioneered the field of human social genomics (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_genomics) and supports a world-wide array of research programs in his role as director of the UCLA Social Genomics Core Laboratory. His research has mapped the pathways by which social factors enhance replication of cancer-associated viruses (e.g., HIV-1 and HHV-8), alter expression key cancer-related cytokines (e.g., IL6, IL8, VEGF, and IFNB) and up-regulate metastasis-related genes by breast and ovarian cancer cells. His current research focuses on development of pharmacologic and behavioral interventions to block the molecular impacts of adverse social conditions on the health and well-being of cancer patients.

Shaashua L, Shabat-Simon M, Haldar R, Matzner P, Zmora O, Shabtai M, Sharon E, Allweis T, Barshack I, Hayman L, Arevalo J, Ma J, Horowitz M, Cole S, Ben-Eliyahu S. Perioperative COX-2 and Beta-Adrenergic Blockade Improves Metastatic Biomarkers in Breast Cancer Patients in a Phase-II Randomized Trial. Clin Cancer Res. 2017 Aug 15;23(16):4651-4661. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-17-0152. Epub 2017 May 10.

Cole SW, Nagaraja AS, Lutgendorf SK, Green PA, Sood AK. Sympathetic nervous system regulation of the tumour microenvironment. Nat Rev Cancer. 2015 Sep;15(9):563-72. doi: 10.1038/nrc3978. Review.

Cole SW, Sood AK, Cole SW. Molecular pathways: beta-adrenergic signaling in cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2012 Mar 1;18(5):1201-6. Epub 2011 Dec 20

Cole SW, Arevalo JM, Takahashi R, Sloan EK, Lutgendorf SK, Sood AK, Sheridan JF, Seeman TE. Computational identification of gene-social environment interaction at the human IL6 locus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Mar 23;107(12):5681-6. Epub 2010 Feb 22

Sloan EK, Priceman SJ, Cox BF, Yu S, Pimentel MA, Tangkanangnukul V, Arevalo JM, Morizono K, Karanikolas BD, Wu L, Sood AK, Cole SW. The sympathetic nervous system induces a metastatic switch in primary breast cancer. Cancer Res. 2010 Sep 15;70(18):7042-52. Epub 2010 Sep 7