Michael Weinfeld, PhD

Pronouns: he, him, his

Contact

Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Oncology Dept
Email
mweinfel@ualberta.ca
Phone
(780) 432-8438
Address
Cross Cancer Institute
11560 University Avenue
Edmonton AB
T6G 1Z2

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

Drug development DNA damage DNA repair Cancer


About

Dr. Michael Weinfeld is currently appointed as Professor in the Department of Oncology in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry.

Research

The focus of the research in my laboratory is the cellular response to chemical and radiation-induced stress. We are particularly interested in DNA damage and repair, and cell death and survival.
 
Characterization of polynucleotide kinase and other DNA repair enzymes that act at strand break termini
Several years ago we cloned human polynucleotide kinase/phosphatase (PNKP), an enzyme that has the ability to phosphorylate 5'-hydroxyl termini and dephosphorylate 3'-phosphate termini, thus rendering the DNA termini suitable for the subsequent action of DNA polymerases and/or DNA ligases. With colleagues in the UK, US, France and Canada, we have shown that the protein is involved in several DNA repair pathways including base-excision repair, single-strand break repair and the nonhomologous end joining double-strand break repair pathway. Stable RNAi-mediated down-regulation of PNKP in human cells increases their sensitivity to ionizing radiation and camptothecin, a topoisomerase I inhibitor, and leads to a significant elevation in their spontaneous mutation frequency. In collaboration with Dr. Dallan Young (University of Calgary), we similarly observed that a PNK knockout mutant of S. pombe is hypersensitive to both agents.
 
Together with Drs. Mark Glover (University of Alberta) and Susan Lees-Miller (University of Calgary), we have initiated a detailed biophysical examination of the protein and its interaction with DNA and other DNA repair enzymes, such as XRCC1 and XRCC4. We are also collaborating with Dr. Frank Jirik (University of Calgary) to generate transgenic mice to define the physiological function(s) of PNK, and to dissect the importance of kinase and phosphatase activities. Recently, in collaboration with Dr. Dennis Hall (University of Alberta), we have identified a small molecule inhibitor of the phosphatase activity of PNKP and shown that it sensitizes cells to ionizing radiation and camptothecin. In collaboration with Dr. Edan Foley (university of Alberta) we have identified synthetic lethal partners of PNKP including SHP-1 and PTEN.
 
Investigation of the carcinogenic properties of arsenic
Arsenic is a major environmental carcinogen, but it has been shown to be very difficult to induce tumours in laboratory animals with arsenic. This has led to the hypothesis that arsenic is a co-carcinogen that enhances the carcinogenicity of other agents. In collaboration with Dr. X. Chris Le (University of Alberta), we are examining the influence of arsenic on the formation and repair of DNA adducts generated by the carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon benzo[a]pyrene and its metabolites.
 
DNA repair in tumour initiating cells
Recent evidence has led to the proposal that normal stem cells may be the key cells in a tissue or organ that undergo mutation and transformation giving rise to “cancer stem cells”. Because normal adult stem cells are slowly dividing, long-lived cells and the precursors to differentiated cells, DNA repair and mutation avoidance in these cells should be critical. The cancer stem cells, however, having undergone mutation, may have dysregulated DNA repair activity in one or more repair pathways, and/or reduced potential to undergo apoptosis or senescence. How normal and cancer stem cells deal with DNA damage and its consequences is therefore a fundamental question related to cancer etiology and therapy. We are currently examining the DNA repair profile of breast cancer stem cells.
 
Analysis of low-dose radiation hypersensitivity
Exposure to environmental radiation and the application of new clinical modalities, such as radioimmunotherapy, have heightened the need to understand cellular responses to low dose and low-dose rate ionizing radiation. Many human cell lines exhibit a hyper-radiosensitivity (HRS) to radiation doses < 20 cGy, which manifests as a significant deviation from the clonogenic survival response predicted by a linear-quadratic fit to higher doses. This is followed by increased radioresistance (IRR) at slightly higher doses. Using a variety of cellular and molecular approaches, we have established that the phenomenon of low-dose radiation hypersensitivity is due to p53 and caspase-3 dependent apoptosis. We are further investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying both HRS and IRR.

Featured Publications

Rashed F.B., Diaz-Dussan D., Mashayekhi F., Macdonald D., Nation P.N., Yang X.H., Sokhi S., Stoica A.C., El-Saidi H., Ricardo C., Narain R., Ismail I.H., Wiebe L.I., Kumar P., Weinfeld M.

Redox Biology. 2022 June; 52 10.1016/j.redox.2022.102300


Rychlowska M., Agyapong A., Weinfeld M., Schang L.M.

JOURNAL OF VIROLOGY. 2022 May; 96 (9) 10.1128/jvi.00333-22


El Gendy M.A.M., Hassanein H., Saleh F.M., Karimi-Busheri F., Fanta M., Yang X., Tawfik D., Morsy S., Fahmy M., Hemid M., Abdel Azeiz M., Fared A., Weinfeld M.

LIFE SCIENCES. 2022 April; 295 10.1016/j.lfs.2022.120380


De Paiva I.M., Vakili M.R., Soleimani A.H., Tabatabaei Dakhili S.A., Munira S., Paladino M., Martin G., Jirik F.R., Hall D.G., Weinfeld M., Lavasanifar A.

MOLECULAR PHARMACEUTICS. 2022 March; 19 (6):1825-1838 10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.1c00918


Weilbeer C., Jay D., Donnelly J.C., Gentile F., Karimi-Busheri F., Yang X., Mani R.S., Yu Y., Elmenoufy A.H., Barakat K.H., Tuszynski J.A., Weinfeld M., West F.G.

Frontiers in Oncology. 2022 March; 12 10.3389/fonc.2022.819172


Jiang B., Murray C., Cole B.L., Glover J.N.M., Chan G.K., Deschenes J., Mani R.S., Subedi S., Nerva J.D., Wang A.C., Lockwood C.M., Mefford H.C., Leary S.E.S., Ojemann J.G., Weinfeld M., Ene C.I.

Scientific Reports. 2022 March; 12 (1) 10.1038/s41598-022-09097-w


Sadat S.M.A., Wuest M., Paiva I.M., Munira S., Sarrami N., Sanaee F., Yang X., Paladino M., Binkhathlan Z., Karimi-Busheri F., Martin G.R., Jirik F.R., Murray D., Gamper A.M., Hall D.G., Weinfeld M., Lavasanifar A.

Frontiers in Oncology. 2021 December; 11 10.3389/fonc.2021.772920


Shin W., Alpaugh W., Hallihan L.J., Sinha S., Crowther E., Martin G.R., Scheidl-Yee T., Yang X., Yoon G., Goldsmith T., Berger N.D., de Almeida L.G.N., Dufour A., Dobrinski I., Weinfeld M., Jirik F.R., Biernaskie J.

Life Science Alliance. 2021 September; 4 (9) 10.26508/LSA.202000790


El Gendy M., Weinfeld M., Abdoon A.

Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry. 2021 July; 22 (5):991-998 10.2174/1871520621666210726130028


Sadat S.M.A., Paiva I.M., Shire Z., Sanaee F., Morgan T.D.R., Paladino M., Karimi-Busheri F., Mani R.S., Martin G.R., Jirik F.R., Hall D.G., Weinfeld M., Lavasanifar A.

Journal of Controlled Release. 2021 June; 334 10.1016/j.jconrel.2021.04.034


Rashed F.B., Stoica A.C., MacDonald D., El-Saidi H., Ricardo C., Bhatt B., Moore J., Diaz-Dussan D., Ramamonjisoa N., Mowery Y., Damaraju S., Fahlman R., Wiebe L.I., Kumar P., Weinfeld M.

Redox Biology. 2021 May; 41 10.1016/j.redox.2021.101905


Ciniero G., Elmenoufy A.H., Gentile F., Weinfeld M., Deriu M.A., West F.G., Tuszynski J.A., Dumontet C., Cros-Perrial E., Jordheim L.P.

Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology. 2021 February; 87 (2):259-267 10.1007/s00280-020-04213-x


Sadat S.M.A., Vakili M.R., Paiva I.M., Weinfeld M., Lavasanifar A.

Pharmaceutics. 2020 November; 12 (11):1-22 10.3390/pharmaceutics12111033


Elmenoufy A.H., Gentile F., Jay D., Karimi-Busheri F., Yang X., Soueidan O.M., Mani R.S., Ciniero G., Tuszynski J.A., Weinfeld M., West F.G.

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY. 2020 October; 204 10.1016/j.ejmech.2020.112658


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