Knight Biobehavioral Oncology Lab
Dr. Knight’s research program aims to investigate biological risk and interventions – both pharmacologic and behavioral – for social health disparities in cancer, specifically among transplantation and cellular therapy (TCT) recipients. Our lab does this by investigating how variations in immune function based on socioeconomic status (SES) – among other social health variables including depression, stress, sleep quality, and anxiety – contribute to differential patient responses and outcomes following TCT. Reciprocally, we also investigate how these cancer therapies affect central nervous system function.
To accomplish these goals, we study biobehavioral mechanisms of cancer progression. Candidate mechanisms include the conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA) transcriptome profile and associated molecular changes, inflammation, sympathetic nervous system activation, neurotoxic metabolites, biological aging, and the endocannabinoid system, among others. These pathways are investigated as potential mediators of social health disparities among TCT recipients and have identified that increased CTRA-related transcriptome dynamics are associated with low SES as well as adverse clinical outcomes among hematopoietic transplantation (HCT) recipients.
Dr. Knight’s group has identified a potential effective candidate pharmacologic intervention for such social health disparities – propranolol. They have identified propranolol as an effective pharmacologic mitigator of CTRA gene expression among a cohort of patients with multiple myeloma undergoing autologous HCT. Subsequent future research goals involve investigating whether propranolol is effective in ameliorating adverse clinical outcomes associated with reduced expression of these potential biomarkers. Examples of ongoing and future work include investigating the following:
- Biobehavioral implications of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy
- Mindfulness to improve sleep and related symptomatology and inflammatory markers among hospitalized HCT recipients
- Effect of donor SES and adversity-related biological mechanisms on recipient HCT outcomes
- Propranolol as an intervention to reduce cancer progression
Our research program continues to inform the clinical field of Psycho-Oncology as we increasingly understand how the central nervous system regulates cancer disease and progression.
Meet the Director | Jennifer M. Knight, MD, MS, FACLP
The purpose of my research is to investigate biological risk and pharmacologic interventions for social health disparities in cancer, specifically among transplant and cellular therapy (TCT) recipients. I investigate how variations in immune function based on socioeconomic status (SES), among other social health variables, contribute to different patient responses to hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy as cancer treatments. I do this by studying biobehavioral mechanisms of cancer progression; specifically, I have investigated the conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA) transcriptome profile and its associated molecular changes as a potential mediator of social health disparities among HCT recipients. We have identified CTRA-related transcriptome dynamics to be associated with adverse clinical outcomes among HCT recipients. I have identified propranolol as a pharmacologic mitigator of CTRA overexpression, thus identifying it as a candidate intervention to ameliorate adverse clinical outcomes associated with social health disparities. I have extended my work to understanding social health disparities among CAR T cell recipients while additionally exploring other biobehavioral mechanisms of disparities of relevance to TCT.
Lab Publications and Activities
Dr. Knight’s research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health (R01 CA238562; R21 CA279935; T32CA269115), the American Cancer Society, the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment, and the Laura Gralton Philanthropic Fund.
Knight Biobehavioral Oncology Lab Partner Organizations
Lab Members
Elizabeth Aughey, MD
Resident
Iwalola Awoyinka, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
Peyton Bendis
Clinical Research Coordinator I
Nikhil Desai
Medical Student
Jessica R. Molinaro, MD
Assistant Professor
Keayra Morris, MD
Internal Medicine/Psychiatry Resident
Kristin Seidler
Medical Student
Hannah Uttley, BA
Research Technologist I
NCI T32 Biobehavioral Oncology Training Program
This fellowship is a two-year postdoctoral research training program that integrates 1) the biology of stress and disparities on cancer, and 2) social determinants of health, behavior, and outcomes. The program is supported by an NCI T32 award.
Qualified BBOT program candidates will have an advanced degree with clear interest and focus in research. Successful PhD applicants will have obtained their doctoral degree from a PhD program with a strong foundation in basic, clinical, behavioral, or social science with documented research training. MD/DO trainees will enter the BBOT Program after their clinical training is complete and will have demonstrated an interest in research through prior participation in labs, specialized research tracks, summer research programs, publications, or scientific presentations.
Join Our Lab
Please contact us if you are a medical student, resident, fellow, faculty, post-doctoral associate, or graduate student interested in pursuing further training or research in biobehavioral oncology, at either or both a scientific or clinical level.
Jennifer M. Knight, MD, MS, FACLP, FABMR
Program Director
Publications
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(Taylor MR, Cole SW, Bradford MC, Zhou C, Fladeboe KM, Knight JM, Baker KS, Yi-Frazier JP, Rosenberg AR.) Transplant Cell Ther. 2024 Dec;30(12):1209.e1-1209.e7 PMID: 39303988 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85205689086 09/21/2024
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(Ballen K, Wang T, He N, Knight JM, Hong S, Frangoul H, Verdonck LF, Steinberg A, Diaz MA, LeMaistre CF, Badawy SM, Pu JJ, Hashem H, Savani B, Sharma A, Lazarus HM, Abid MB, Tay J, Rangarajan HG, Kindwall-Keller T, Freytes CO, Beitinjaneh A, Winestone LE, Gergis U, Farhadfar N, Bhatt NS, Schears RM, Gómez-Almaguer D, Aljurf M, Agrawal V, Kuwatsuka Y, Seo S, Marks DI, Lehmann L, Wood WA, Hashmi S, Saber W.) Transplant Cell Ther. 2024 Oct;30(10):1027.e1-1027.e14 PMID: 39033978 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85200332491 07/22/2024
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(Lahijani S, Rueda-Lara M, McAndrew N, Nelson AM, Guo M, Knight JM, Wiener L, Miran DM, Gray TF, Keane EP, Yek MH, Sannes TS, Applebaum AJ, Fank P, Babu P, Pozo-Kaderman C, Amonoo HL.) Transplant Cell Ther. 2024 Sep;30(9S):S493-S512 PMID: 39370233 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85205564123 10/07/2024
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(Steineck A, Silbert SK, Palm K, Nepper J, Vaughn D, Shipman K, Shalabi H, Wiener L, Comiskey L, Knight JM, Levine D.) Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2024 Sep;71(9):e31092 PMID: 38867358 PMCID: PMC11269012 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85195666643 06/13/2024
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(Turcotte LM, Wang T, Beyer KM, Cole SW, Spellman SR, Allbee-Johnson M, Williams E, Zhou Y, Verneris MR, Rizzo JD, Knight JM.) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Jul 23;121(30):e2404108121 PMID: 39008669 PMCID: PMC11287259 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85199015473 07/15/2024
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(Khera N, Ailawadhi S, Brazauskas R, Patel J, Jacobs B, Ustun C, Ballen K, Abid MB, Diaz Perez MA, Al-Homsi AS, Hashem H, Hong S, Munker R, Schears RM, Lazarus HM, Ciurea S, Badawy SM, Savani BN, Wirk B, LeMaistre CF, Bhatt NS, Beitinjaneh A, Aljurf M, Sharma A, Cerny J, Knight JM, Kelkar AH, Yared JA, Kindwall-Keller T, Winestone LE, Steinberg A, Arnold SD, Seo S, Preussler JM, Hossain NM, Fingrut WB, Agrawal V, Hashmi S, Lehmann LE, Wood WA, Rangarajan HG, Saber W, Hahn T.) Blood Adv. 2024 Jul 09;8(13):3497-3506 PMID: 38661372 PMCID: PMC11260842 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85198087831 04/25/2024
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(Awoyinka I, Tovar M, Young S, Beyer K, Kwarteng J, Knight J, Stolley M.) Support Care Cancer. 2024 Feb 21;32(3):178 PMID: 38381216 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85185668818 02/21/2024
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(Bird CM, Kate Webb E, Cole SW, Tomas CW, Knight JM, Timmer-Murillo SC, Larson CL, deRoon-Cassini TA, Torres L.) Brain Behav Immun. 2024 Feb;116:229-236 PMID: 38070623 PMCID: PMC10872243 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85180086979 12/10/2023
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(Lahijani S, Rueda-Lara M, McAndrew N, Nelson AM, Guo M, Knight JM, Wiener L, Miran DM, Gray TF, Keane EP, Yek MH, Sannes TS, Applebaum AJ, Fank P, Babu P, Pozo-Kaderman C, Amonoo HL.) Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. September 2024;30(9):S493-S512 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85205564123 09/01/2024
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(Taylor MR, Cole SW, Strom J, Brazauskas R, Baker KS, Phelan R, Buchbinder D, Hamilton B, Schoemans H, Shaw BE, Sharma A, Bhatt NS, Badawy SM, Winestone LE, Preussler JM, Mayo S, Jamani K, Nishihori T, Lee MA, Knight JM.) Blood Adv. 2023 Nov 28;7(22):6830-6838 PMID: 37773924 PMCID: PMC10679811 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85178332888 09/29/2023