Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Nutrition

Donald Patrick McDonnell, PhD

Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology
Chair, Department of Pharmacology & Cancer Biology
Glaxo-Wellcome Professor of Molecular Cancer Biology, in the School of Medicine
Professor in Medicine
Core Faculty in Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Member of the Duke Cancer Institute
Campus mail C238a Lev Sci Res Ctr, Durham, NC 27708
Phone (919) 684-6035
Email address donald.mcdonnell@duke.edu

The research in our group is focused on the development and application of mechanism based approaches to identify novel therapeutics for use in the treatment and prevention of hormonally responsive cancers. Specifically we are interested in the pharmaceutical exploitation of the estrogen and androgen receptors as therapeutic targets in breast and prostate cancers and in defining how these receptors influence the pathogenesis of these diseases. These efforts have led to the discovery of several drugs that are currently being evaluated in the clinic as cancer therapeutics, and to the identification of potential biomarkers and predictors of response that can help to target the use of these new drugs. Most recently we have explored approaches to treat triple negative breast cancer and have identified an important pathway that links obesity/dyslipidemia and cancer risk.

Education and Training

  • Ph.D., Baylor College of Medicine, 1988

Grants

Publications

Wardell, Suzanne E., Alexander P. Yllanes, Christina A. Chao, Yeeun Bae, Kaitlyn J. Andreano, Taylor K. Desautels, Kendall A. Heetderks, Jeremy T. Blitzer, John D. Norris, and Donald P. McDonnell. “Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analysis of fulvestrant in preclinical models of breast cancer to assess the importance of its estrogen receptor-α degrader activity in antitumor efficacy..” Breast Cancer Res Treat, September 27, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-019-05454-y.

PMID
31562570
Full Text

Gaillard, Stéphanie L., Kaitlyn J. Andreano, Laurie M. Gay, Meghan Steiner, Matthew S. Jorgensen, Brittany Anne Davidson, Laura J. Havrilesky, et al. “Constitutively active ESR1 mutations in gynecologic malignancies and clinical response to estrogen-receptor directed therapies..” Gynecol Oncol 154, no. 1 (July 2019): 199–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ygyno.2019.04.010.

PMID
30987772
Full Text

Park, Sunghee, Rachid Safi, Xiaojing Liu, Robert Baldi, Wen Liu, Juan Liu, Jason W. Locasale, Ching-Yi Chang, and Donald P. McDonnell. “Inhibition of ERRα Prevents Mitochondrial Pyruvate Uptake Exposing NADPH-Generating Pathways as Targetable Vulnerabilities in Breast Cancer..” Cell Rep 27, no. 12 (June 18, 2019): 3587-3601.e4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2019.05.066.

PMID
31216477
Full Text

Racioppi, Luigi, Erik R. Nelson, Wei Huang, Debarati Mukherjee, Scott A. Lawrence, William Lento, Anna Maria Masci, et al. “CaMKK2 in myeloid cells is a key regulator of the immune-suppressive microenvironment in breast cancer..” Nat Commun 10, no. 1 (June 4, 2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10424-5.

PMID
31164648
Full Text

Coons, Laurel A., Adam B. Burkholder, Sylvia C. Hewitt, Donald P. McDonnell, and Kenneth S. Korach. “Decoding the Inversion Symmetry Underlying Transcription Factor DNA-Binding Specificity and Functionality in the Genome..” Iscience 15 (May 31, 2019): 552–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2019.04.006.

PMID
31152742
Full Text

Johng, Dorhyun, Gonzalo Torga, Charles M. Ewing, Kideok Jin, John D. Norris, Donald P. McDonnell, and William B. Isaacs. “HOXB13 interaction with MEIS1 modifies proliferation and gene expression in prostate cancer..” Prostate 79, no. 4 (March 2019): 414–24. https://doi.org/10.1002/pros.23747.

PMID
30560549
Full Text

Chang, Po-Yin, David Feldman, Marcia L. Stefanick, Donald P. McDonnell, Bonne M. Thompson, Jeffrey G. McDonald, and Jennifer S. Lee. “27-Hydroxycholesterol, an Endogenous SERM, and Risk of Fracture in Postmenopausal Women: A Nested Case-Cohort Study in the Women's Health Initiative..” J Bone Miner Res 34, no. 1 (January 2019): 59–66. https://doi.org/10.1002/jbmr.3576.

PMID
30138538
Full Text

Singh, Brijesh K., Rohit A. Sinha, Madhulika Tripathi, Arturo Mendoza, Kenji Ohba, Jann A. C. Sy, Sherwin Y. Xie, et al. “Thyroid hormone receptor and ERRα coordinately regulate mitochondrial fission, mitophagy, biogenesis, and function..” Sci Signal 11, no. 536 (June 26, 2018). https://doi.org/10.1126/scisignal.aam5855.

PMID
29945885
Full Text

Anderson, Grace R., Suzanne E. Wardell, Merve Cakir, Catherine Yip, Yeong-Ran Ahn, Moiez Ali, Alexander P. Yllanes, Christina A. Chao, Donald P. McDonnell, and Kris C. Wood. “Dysregulation of mitochondrial dynamics proteins are a targetable feature of human tumors..” Nat Commun 9, no. 1 (April 26, 2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04033-x.

PMID
29700304
Full Text

Pages