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Charles J. Sherr, MD, PhD
Charles J. Sherr, MD, PhD

Charles J. Sherr, MD, PhD

Member, St. Jude Faculty

  • Chair, Tumor Cell Biology Department
  • Herrick Foundation Endowed Chair in Tumor Cell Biology

Departments

Education

MD – New York University School of Medicine
PhD – New York University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Honors & Awards

  • 2019 C. Chester Stock Award Lectureship
  • 2013 Elected Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • 2013 Elected Inaugural Fellow, Academy of the American Association for Cancer Research
  • 2013 American-Italian Cancer Foundation Prize
  • 2010 Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
  • 2004 Elected to the US Institute of Medicine
  • 2004 General Motors Cancer Foundation Mott Prize
  • 2003 AACR Landon Prize for Basic Cancer Research
  • 2000 Bristol Myers-Squibb Achievement Award for Basic Cancer Research
  • 2000 AACR Pezcoller Award
  • 1995 Elected to the US National Academy of Sciences

Research Interests

Dr. Charles J. Sherr has made seminal contributions to the understanding of oncogenes and tumor suppressors, the mechanics of cell division cycle control, and how key cell cycle regulators are perturbed in cancer.  His accomplishments have justly earned his election to the National Academies of Science and Medicine, to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and as an Inaugural Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research, among other notable awards and appointments. Dr. Sherr was the recipient of continuous, unfettered support from Howard Hughes Medical Institute for 30 until he transitioned to emeritus status in 2019.  He has chaired the Department of Tumor Cell Biology since its inception in 1983.  In partnership with longtime collaborator and spouse, Dr. Martine Roussel, Dr. Sherr transformed the basic and translational pediatric cancer research landscape at St. Jude.

Selected Publications

Rettenmier CW, Chen JH, Roussel MF, Sherr CJ. The product of the c-fms proto-oncogene: a glycoprotein with associated tyrosine kinase activity. Science 228:320-322, 1985. PMID: 2580348.

Sherr CJ, Rettenmier CW, Sacca R, Roussel MF, Look AT, Stanley ER.  The c fms proto-oncogene product is related to the receptor for the mononu¬clear phagocyte growth factor, CSF 1.  Cell 41:665-676, 1985. PMID:2408759 ((FMS proto-oncogene encodes the receptor for colony-stimulating factor-1)

Matsushime H, Roussel MF, Ashmun RA, Sherr CJ.  Colony-stimulating factor 1 regulates novel cyclins during the G1 phase of the cell cycle.  Cell 65:701-713, 1991. PMID:1827757  (Discovery of D-Type cyclins)

Matsushime H, Ewen ME, Strom DK, Kato J-Y, Hanks SK, Roussel MF, Sherr CJ.  Identification and properties of an atypical catalytic subunit (p34PSK-J3/Cdk4) for mammalian D-type G1 cyclins.  Cell 71:323-334, 1992. PMID: 1423597 (Discovery of CDK4, a specific cyclin D-dependent Rb kinase

Kato J-Y, Matsushime H, Hiebert SW, Ewen ME, Sherr CJ.  Binding of cyclin D to the retinoblastoma gene product (pRb) and pRb phosphorylation by the cyclin D-dependent kinase, CDK4.  Genes Dev 7:331-342, 1993. PMID: 8449399

Polyak C, Kato J-Y, Solomon MJ, Sherr CJ, Massagué J, Roberts JM, Koff A.  p27Kip1, a cyclin-cdk inhibitor, links TGF- and contact inhibition to cell cycle arrest.  Genes Dev 8:9-22, 1994. PMID: 8288131 (Discovery of p27Kip1)

Hirai H, Roussel MF, Kato J, Ashmun RA, Sherr CJ.  Novel INK4 proteins, p18 and p19, are specific inhibitors of cyclin D-dependent kinases CDK4 and CDK6.  Mol Cell Biol 15:2672-2681, 1995. PMID:7739547  (Discovery of two Ink4 proteins)

Quelle DE, Zindy F, Ashmun RA, Sherr CJ.  Alternative reading frames of the INK4a tumor suppressor gene encode two unrelated proteins capable of inducing cell cycle arrest.  Cell 83:993-1000, 1995. PMID: 8521522 (Discovery of the ARF tumor suppressor)

Kamijo T, Zindy F, Roussel MF, Quelle DE, Downing JR, Ashmun RA, Grosveld G, Sherr CJ.  Tumor suppression at the mouse INK4a locus mediated by the alternative reading frame product p19ARF.  Cell 91:649-659, 1997. PMID: 9393858 (ARF acts as a tumor suppressor  to regulate p53)

Diehl JA, Cheng M, Roussel MF, Sherr CJ.  Glycogen synthase kinase-3 regulates cyclin D1 proteolysis and subcellular localization.  Genes Dev 12:3499-3511, 1998. PMID: 9832503 (Nuclear localization and turnover of cyclin D1 depends on Ras-Akt-GSK signaling and D1 phosphorylation on a single residue).

Kamijo T, Weber JD, Zambetti G, Zindy F, Roussel MF, Sherr CJ.  Functional and physical interactions of the ARF tumor suppressor with p53 and Mdm2.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 95:8292-8297, 1998. PMID: 9653180 (ARF binds and inhibits Mdm2)

Zindy F, Eischen CM, Randle DH, Kamijo T, Cleveland JL, Sherr CJ, Roussel MF. Myc signaling via the ARF tumor suppressor regulates p53-dependent apoptosis and immortalization. Genes Dev 12:2424-2433, 1988. PMID: 9694806 (Myc activates ARF/p53)

Cheng M, Oliver P, Diehl JA, Fero M, Roussel MF, Roberts JM, Sherr CJ.  The p21 and p27 CDK “inhibitors” are essential activators of cyclin D-dependent kinases in murine fibroblasts.  EMBO J 18:1571-1583, 1999. PMID: 10075928. (CDK “inhibitors” are paradoxically required for cyclin D-CDK4 assembly).

Zindy F, Williams RT, Baudino TA, Rehg JE, Skapek SX, Cleveland JL, Roussel MF, Sherr CJ. Arf tumor suppressor promoter monitors latent oncogenic signals in vivo. Proc Natl. Acad Sci USA 100:15930-15935, 2003. PMID: 14665695

Williams RT, den Besten W, Sherr CJ. Cytokine-dependent imatinib resistance in mouse BCR-ABL(+), Arf-null lymphoblastic leukemia. Genes Dev 21: 2283-2287, 2007 PMID: 17761812

 

Last update: July 2024

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