James Valerinano Alvarez
Assistant Professor of Pharmacology & Cancer Biology
Current Appointments & Affiliations
- Assistant Professor of Pharmacology & Cancer Biology, Pharmacology & Cancer Biology, Basic Science Departments 2014
- Member of the Duke Cancer Institute, Duke Cancer Institute, Institutes and Centers 2013
Contact Information
- Background
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Education, Training, & Certifications
- Ph.D., Harvard Medical School 2005
- B.S., Pennsylvania State University 1999
- Recognition
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In the News
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APR 25, 2019 Duke Health News
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- Research
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Selected Grants
- Genetic and Genomics Training Grant awarded by National Institutes of Health 2020 - 2025
- Pharmacological Sciences Training Grant awarded by National Institutes of Health 2020 - 2025
- Viral Oncology Training Grant awarded by National Institutes of Health 1980 - 2024
- A Multi-Parametric low-cost pocket scope to Image and Quantify the Major Axes of Metabolism and the Associated Vasculature in Biological Tissue awarded by National Institutes of Health 2019 - 2022
- Exploring the role of polyploidy in tumor progression awarded by National Institutes of Health 2019 - 2022
- The role of NRF2 in breast cancer dormancy and recurrence awarded by National Institutes of Health 2019 - 2021
- Defining the role of the histone methyltransferase G9a in mitigating replication stress in cancer awarded by Howard Hughes Medical Institute 2020 - 2021
- Par-4 Regulation and Function in Breast Cancer Dormancy and Recurrence awarded by National Institutes of Health 2016 - 2021
- Pathways regulating dormant cell survival and recurrence awarded by American Cancer Society, Inc. 2019 - 2020
- Genetics Training Grant awarded by National Institutes of Health 1979 - 2020
- Organization and Function of Cellular Structure awarded by National Institutes of Health 1975 - 2020
- Pharmacological Sciences Training Program awarded by National Institutes of Health 1975 - 2020
- Pharmacology Industry Internships for Ph.D. Students awarded by American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 2017 - 2019
- Awakening the dormant tumor: the role of the tumor microenvironment in breast cancer recurrence awarded by National Institutes of Health 2017 - 2019
- The Role of Epigenetic Plasticity in Breast Cancer Recurrence awarded by National Institutes of Health 2018 - 2019
- Publications & Artistic Works
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Selected Publications
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Academic Articles
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Fox, Douglas B., Nina Marie G. Garcia, Brock J. McKinney, Ryan Lupo, Laura C. Noteware, Rachel Newcomb, Juan Liu, Jason W. Locasale, Matthew D. Hirschey, and James V. Alvarez. “NRF2 activation promotes the recurrence of dormant tumour cells through regulation of redox and nucleotide metabolism.” Nat Metab 2, no. 4 (April 2020): 318–34. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-020-0191-z.Full Text Link to Item
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Madonna, Megan C., Douglas B. Fox, Brian T. Crouch, Jihong Lee, Caigang Zhu, Amy F. Martinez, James V. Alvarez, and Nirmala Ramanujam. “Optical Imaging of Glucose Uptake and Mitochondrial Membrane Potential to Characterize Her2 Breast Tumor Metabolic Phenotypes.” Mol Cancer Res 17, no. 7 (July 2019): 1545–55. https://doi.org/10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-18-0618.Full Text Link to Item
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Walens, Andrea, Ashley V. DiMarco, Ryan Lupo, Benjamin R. Kroger, Jeffrey S. Damrauer, and James V. Alvarez. “CCL5 promotes breast cancer recurrence through macrophage recruitment in residual tumors.” Elife 8 (April 16, 2019). https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.43653.Full Text Link to Item
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Lin, Jiaxing, Jeremy Gresham, Tongrong Wang, So Young Kim, James Alvarez, Jeffrey S. Damrauer, Scott Floyd, et al. “bcSeq: an R package for fast sequence mapping in high-throughput shRNA and CRISPR screens.” Bioinformatics 34, no. 20 (October 15, 2018): 3581–83. https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/bty402.Full Text Link to Item
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Mabe, Nathaniel W., Douglas B. Fox, Ryan Lupo, Amy E. Decker, Stephanie N. Phelps, J Will Thompson, and James V. Alvarez. “Epigenetic silencing of tumor suppressor Par-4 promotes chemoresistance in recurrent breast cancer.” J Clin Invest 128, no. 10 (October 1, 2018): 4413–28. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI99481.Full Text Link to Item
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Damrauer, Jeffrey S., Stephanie N. Phelps, Katie Amuchastegui, Ryan Lupo, Nathaniel W. Mabe, Andrea Walens, Benjamin R. Kroger, and James V. Alvarez. “Foxo-dependent Par-4 Upregulation Prevents Long-term Survival of Residual Cells Following PI3K-Akt Inhibition.” Mol Cancer Res 16, no. 4 (April 2018): 599–609. https://doi.org/10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-17-0492.Full Text Link to Item
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Alvarez, James V., George K. Belka, Tien-Chi Pan, Chien-Chung Chen, Eric Blankemeyer, Abass Alavi, Joel S. Karp, and Lewis A. Chodosh. “Oncogene pathway activation in mammary tumors dictates FDG-PET uptake.” Cancer Res 74, no. 24 (December 15, 2014): 7583–98. https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-14-1235.Full Text Link to Item
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Feng, Yi, Tien-Chi Pan, Dhruv K. Pant, Kristi R. Chakrabarti, James V. Alvarez, Jason R. Ruth, and Lewis A. Chodosh. “SPSB1 promotes breast cancer recurrence by potentiating c-MET signaling.” Cancer Discov 4, no. 7 (July 2014): 790–803. https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.CD-13-0548.Full Text Link to Item
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Alvarez, James V., Tien-Chi Pan, Jason Ruth, Yi Feng, Alice Zhou, Dhruv Pant, Joshua S. Grimley, et al. “Par-4 downregulation promotes breast cancer recurrence by preventing multinucleation following targeted therapy.” Cancer Cell 24, no. 1 (July 8, 2013): 30–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2013.05.007.Full Text Link to Item
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Chen, Chien-Chung, Douglas B. Stairs, Robert B. Boxer, George K. Belka, Nelson D. Horseman, James V. Alvarez, and Lewis A. Chodosh. “Autocrine prolactin induced by the Pten-Akt pathway is required for lactation initiation and provides a direct link between the Akt and Stat5 pathways.” Genes Dev 26, no. 19 (October 1, 2012): 2154–68. https://doi.org/10.1101/gad.197343.112.Full Text Link to Item
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Alvarez, J. V., E. S. Yeh, Y. Feng, and L. A. Chodosh. “Oncogene addiction: Mouse models and clinical relevance for molecularly targeted therapies,” January 1, 2012, 527–47. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-69805-2_25.Full Text
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Chen, C. -. C., R. B. Boxer, D. B. Stairs, C. P. Portocarrero, R. H. Horton, J. V. Alvarez, M. J. Birnbaum, and L. A. Chodosh. “Akt is required for Stat5 activation and mammary differentiation.” Breast Cancer Research : Bcr 12, no. 5 (2010): R72. https://doi.org/10.1186/bcr2640.Full Text
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Chen, Chien-Chung, Robert B. Boxer, Douglas B. Stairs, Carla P. Portocarrero, Rachel H. Horton, James V. Alvarez, Morris J. Birnbaum, and Lewis A. Chodosh. “Akt is required for Stat5 activation and mammary differentiation.” Breast Cancer Res 12, no. 5 (2010): R72. https://doi.org/10.1186/bcr2640.Full Text Link to Item
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Liu, Zhandong, Min Wang, James V. Alvarez, Megan E. Bonney, Chien-chung Chen, Celina D’Cruz, Tien-chi Pan, Mahlet G. Tadesse, and Lewis A. Chodosh. “Singular value decomposition-based regression identifies activation of endogenous signaling pathways in vivo.” Genome Biol 9, no. 12 (2008): R180. https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-2008-9-12-r180.Full Text Link to Item
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Alvarez, James V., Denise Perez, and Lewis A. Chodosh. “mILC-ing the mouse mammary gland: A model for invasive lobular carcinoma.” Cancer Cell 10, no. 5 (November 2006): 347–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2006.10.016.Full Text Link to Item
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Ishii, Yuki, Andreja Pirkmaier, James V. Alvarez, David A. Frank, Inna Keselman, Diomedes Logothetis, John Mandeli, Matthew J. O’Connell, Samuel Waxman, and Doris Germain. “Cyclin D1 overexpression and response to bortezomib treatment in a breast cancer model.” J Natl Cancer Inst 98, no. 17 (September 6, 2006): 1238–47. https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djj334.Full Text Link to Item
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Liddle, Forrester J., James V. Alvarez, Valeria Poli, and David A. Frank. “Tyrosine phosphorylation is required for functional activation of disulfide-containing constitutively active STAT mutants.” Biochemistry 45, no. 17 (May 2, 2006): 5599–5605. https://doi.org/10.1021/bi0525674.Full Text Link to Item
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Alvarez, James V., Heidi Greulich, William R. Sellers, Matthew Meyerson, and David A. Frank. “Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 is required for the oncogenic effects of non-small-cell lung cancer-associated mutations of the epidermal growth factor receptor.” Cancer Res 66, no. 6 (March 15, 2006): 3162–68. https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-05-3757.Full Text Link to Item
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Greulich, Heidi, Tzu-Hsiu Chen, Whei Feng, Pasi A. Jänne, James V. Alvarez, Mauro Zappaterra, Sara E. Bulmer, et al. “Oncogenic transformation by inhibitor-sensitive and -resistant EGFR mutants.” Plos Med 2, no. 11 (November 2005): e313. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020313.Full Text Link to Item
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Alvarez, James V., Phillip G. Febbo, Sridhar Ramaswamy, Massimo Loda, Andrea Richardson, and David A. Frank. “Identification of a genetic signature of activated signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 in human tumors.” Cancer Res 65, no. 12 (June 15, 2005): 5054–62. https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-04-4281.Full Text Link to Item
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Nelson, Erik A., Sarah R. Walker, James V. Alvarez, and David A. Frank. “Isolation of unique STAT5 targets by chromatin immunoprecipitation-based gene identification.” J Biol Chem 279, no. 52 (December 24, 2004): 54724–30. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M408464200.Full Text Link to Item
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Alvarez, James V., and David A. Frank. “Genome-wide analysis of STAT target genes: elucidating the mechanism of STAT-mediated oncogenesis.” Cancer Biol Ther 3, no. 11 (November 2004): 1045–50. https://doi.org/10.4161/cbt.3.11.1172.Full Text Link to Item
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Conference Papers
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Damrauer, Jeffrey, and James V. Alvarez. “Clonal dynamics during breast cancer dormancy and recurrence.” In Cancer Research, 78:27–28. AMER ASSOC CANCER RESEARCH, 2018.Link to Item
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- Teaching & Mentoring
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Recent Courses
- CMB 710C: Cell & Molecular Biology Module III 2020
- MOLCAN 819: Cancer as a Disease 2020
- PHARM 394: Research Independent Study 2020
- PHARM 493: Research Independent Study 2020
- PHARM 494: Research Independent Study 2020
- PHARM 495: Research Independent Study 2020
- UPGEN 778D: University Program in Genetics and Genomics Biological Solutions Module IV 2020
- BIOLOGY 728D: University Program in Genetics and Genomics Biological Solutions Module IV 2019
- CMB 710A: Cell & Molecular Biology Module I 2019
- CMB 778D: University Program in Genetics and Genomics Biological Solutions Module IV 2019
- MGM 778D: University Program in Genetics and Genomics Biological Solutions Module IV 2019
- MOLCAN 819: Cancer as a Disease 2019
- PHARM 394: Research Independent Study 2019
- PHARM 493: Research Independent Study 2019
- PHARM 494: Research Independent Study 2019
- UPGEN 778D: University Program in Genetics and Genomics Biological Solutions Module IV 2019
- CMB 710A: Cell & Molecular Biology Module I 2018
- MOLCAN 819: Cancer as a Disease 2018
- PHARM 394: Research Independent Study 2018
- PHARM 493: Research Independent Study 2018
- PHARM 494: Research Independent Study 2018
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