Anne Cress, PhD

Professor, Cellular and Molecular Medicine

Vice Dean, Strategy and Innovation

Professor, Applied Biosciences GIDP

Professor, Cancer Biology GIDP

Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology

Professor, Radiation Oncology

Office Room Number: AZCC 3963C

cress@arizona.edu

Degrees

PhD

Teaching Interests

Studying the molecular mechanisms of human cancer progression and metastasis and the regulation of cell surface adhesion molecules, called integrins.

Research Interests

My research is to understand the molecular mechanisms of cell adhesion and human tumor metastasis. We discovered cell adhesion adaptive responses of tumors dependent upon adhesion receptors called integrins. The adaptive responses are essential for normal tissue development but are used for nepharious purposes in cancer. We use tools of biochemistry, cell biology and genetics.

Publications

Yang, Jiawen, et al. “Transient Centrosome Loss in Cultured Prostate Epithelial Cells Induces Chromosomal Instability to Produce an Oncogenic Genotype That Correlates With Poor Clinical Outcomes.”. Br J Cancer, Jan. 2026, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-025-03323-8.

Clements, Amber N, et al. “Inhibition of PIM Kinase in Tumor-Associated Macrophages Suppresses Inflammasome Activation and Sensitizes Prostate Cancer to Immunotherapy.”. Cancer Immunol Res, vol. 13, no. 5, May 2025, pp. 633-45, https://doi.org/10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-24-0591.

Chen, Weiguo, et al. “Increased Kindlin-2 via SMURF1 Inhibition Attenuates Endothelial Permeability and Acute Lung Injury.”. Int J Mol Sci, vol. 26, no. 5, Feb. 2025, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26051880.

Harryman, William L, et al. “Intermediate Risk Prostate Tumors Contain Lethal Subtypes.”. Front Urol, vol. 4, 2024, https://doi.org/10.3389/fruro.2024.1487873.

Harryman, William L, et al. “Intermediate Risk Prostate Tumors Contain Lethal Subtypes.”. Front Urol, vol. 4, 2024, https://doi.org/10.3389/fruro.2024.1487873.

Marr, Kendra D, et al. “Biophysical Phenotype Mixtures Reveal Advantages for Tumor Muscle Invasion In vivo.”. Biophys J, vol. 122, no. 21, Nov. 2023, pp. 4194-06, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2023.09.016.

Jensen, Corbin C, et al. “PIM1 Phosphorylates ABI2 to Enhance Actin Dynamics and Promote Tumor Invasion.”. J Cell Biol, vol. 222, no. 6, June 2023, https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202208136.

Paxson, Allan I, et al. “Phenotype Plasticity and Altered Sensitivity to Chemotherapeutic Agents in Aggressive Prostate Cancer Cells.”. Front Cell Dev Biol, vol. 11, 2023, p. 1285372, https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2023.1285372.

Mascarenhas, Joseph B, et al. “An Actin-, Cortactin- and Ena-VASP-Linked Complex Contributes to Endothelial Cell Focal Adhesion and Vascular Barrier Regulation.”. Cell Physiol Biochem, vol. 56, no. 4, July 2022, pp. 329-3, https://doi.org/10.33594/000000553.

Garcia, Alexander N, et al. “ENAMPT Is a Novel Damage-Associated Molecular Pattern Protein That Contributes to the Severity of Radiation-Induced Lung Fibrosis.”. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol, vol. 66, no. 5, May 2022, pp. 497-09, https://doi.org/10.1165/rcmb.2021-0357OC.

Ryniawec, John M, et al. “GLUT3/SLC2A3/Is/an/Endogenous/Marker/of/Hypoxia/in/Prostate/Cancer/Cell/Lines/and/Patient-Derived/Xenograft/Tumors.”. Diagnostics (Basel), vol. 12, no. 3, Mar. 2022, https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12030676.

Bermudez, Tadeo, et al. “ENAMPT Neutralization Reduces Preclinical ARDS Severity via Rectified NFkB and Akt MTORC2 Signaling.”. Sci Rep, vol. 12, no. 1, Jan. 2022, p. 696, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04444-9.

Marr, Kendra D, et al. “Digital Image Analysis Using Video Microscopy of Human-Derived Prostate Cancer Vs Normal Prostate Organoids to Assess Migratory Behavior on Extracellular Matrix Proteins.”. Front Oncol, vol. 12, 2022, p. 1083150, https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2022.1083150.

Chen, Weiguo, et al. “Integrin Beta 4E Promotes Endothelial Phenotypic Changes and Attenuates Lung Endothelial Cell Inflammatory Responses.”. Front Physiol, vol. 13, 2022, p. 769325, https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2022.769325.

Harryman, William L, et al. “Integrins and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Cooperation in the Tumor Microenvironment of Muscle-Invasive Lethal Cancers.”. Front Cell Dev Biol, vol. 10, 2022, p. 837585, https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2022.837585.

Garcia, Alexander N, et al. “Involvement of ENAMPT TLR4 Signaling in Murine Radiation Pneumonitis: Protection by ENAMPT Neutralization.”. Transl Res, vol. 239, Jan. 2022, pp. 44-57, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trsl.2021.06.002.

Casillas, Andrea L, et al. “Direct Phosphorylation and Stabilization of HIF-1α by PIM1 Kinase Drives Angiogenesis in Solid Tumors.”. Oncogene, July 2021, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41388-021-01915-1.

Quijada, Hector, et al. “Endothelial ENAMPT Amplifies Pre-Clinical Acute Lung Injury: Efficacy of an ENAMPT-Neutralising Monoclonal Antibody.”. Eur Respir J, vol. 57, no. 5, May 2021, https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.02536-2020.

Bearss, Jeremiah J, et al. “EDC3 Phosphorylation Regulates Growth and Invasion through Controlling P-Body Formation and Dynamics.”. EMBO Rep, vol. 22, no. 4, Apr. 2021, p. e50835, https://doi.org/10.15252/embr.202050835.

Harryman, William L, et al. “Cohesive Cancer Invasion of the Biophysical Barrier of Smooth Muscle.”. Cancer Metastasis Rev, vol. 40, no. 1, Mar. 2021, pp. 205-19, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10555-020-09950-2.

Johnson, Michael D, et al. “CC16 Binding to α4β1 Integrin (VLA-4) Protects Against Infection.”. Am J Respir Crit Care Med, Dec. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.202006-2576OC.

Sun, Belinda L, et al. “Role of Secreted Extracellular Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase (eNAMPT) in Prostate Cancer Progression: Novel Biomarker and Therapeutic Target.”. EBioMedicine, vol. 61, Nov. 2020, p. 103059, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2020.103059.

Kelly, Gabriel T, et al. “A Mutation Found in Esophageal Cancer Alters Integrin β4 MRNA Splicing.”. Biochem Biophys Res Commun, vol. 529, no. 3, Aug. 2020, pp. 726-32, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2020.06.078.

Nollet, Eric A, et al. “Androgen Receptor-Induced Integrin α6β1 and Bnip3 Promote Survival and Resistance to PI3K Inhibitors in Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer.”. Oncogene, vol. 39, no. 31, July 2020, pp. 5390-04, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41388-020-1370-9.

Wang, Mengdie, et al. “Immunofluorescence-Based Determination of Centrosome Number in Tissue Samples.”. Bio Protoc, vol. 9, no. 20, Oct. 2019, p. e3396, https://doi.org/10.21769/BioProtoc.3396.