Associate Professor

Marco Magalhaes

Faculty of Dentistry

DDS, MSc, PhD, FRCDC

Location
Faculty of Dentistry
Address
124 Edward Street, Room 511A, Toronto, Ontario Canada M5G 1G6
Research Interests
Cancer, Molecular & Cell Biology
Appointment Status
Cross-Appointed

Dr Magalhaes is a clinician-scientist who combines experience in cancer cell biology, immunology with clinical training in Oral Medicine and Pathology.

He has completed his PhD in cell biology and immunology at the Faculty of Dentistry and trained in cancer cell biology at the laboratory of Dr Condeelis at the Albert Einstein in New York.

His areas of expertise are mechanisms of cancer invasion and metastasis including invadopodia-dependent invasion, oral immunology and advanced microscopy.

His laboratory (Cancer invasion and metastasis laboratory - CIMlab) studies the mechanisms of invadopodia-dependent cancer invasion using oral squamous cell carcinoma models.   

Research Synopsis

Cancer invasion underlies the most severe complications and is responsible for most of the morbidity and mortality of cancers. Therefore, developing strategies to detect early invasion is essential to establish appropriate treatment and increase survival.

The Cancer invasion and metastasis laboratory (CIMlab) focuses on the study of invadopodia-dependent invasion as these are specialized actin-rich structures that are unique to cancer cells and mediate invasion.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a devastating disease and its poor prognosis has changed minimally in the past several decades.

The Canadian cancer statistics estimates that in 2015, 4,400 people will be diagnosed with oral cancer in Canada and 1,200 deaths will occur as a result of the disease.   

Selected Publications

Glogauer J, Sun CX, Bradley G, Magalhaes MA. Neutrophils Increase Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Invasion Through An Invadopodia-Dependent Pathway. Cancer Immunol Res. 2015 Jun 25. pii: canimm.0017.2015. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 26112922.

Magalhaes MA, Zeina Ghorab, Julien Morneault, Josephine Akinfolarin and Grace Bradley. Age-related Epstein–Barr virus-positive mucocutaneousulcer: a case report. Clinical Case Reports, 2015. DOI: 10.1002/ccr3.287

Magalhaes MA, Glogauer J., Glogauer M. Neutrophils and oral squamous cell carcinoma: lessons learned and future directions. Journal of Leukocyte Biology, 2014, in press.

Magalhaes MA, Jonathan C. Irish, Ilan Weinreb, Bayardo Perez-Ordonez. Adenosquamous Carcinoma of Hypopharynx with Intestinal-Phenotype. Head and Neck Pathology, 2013. PMID: 24338588

Bravo-Cordero JJ, Magalhaes MA, Eddy RJ, Hodgson L, Condeelis J. Functions of cofilin in cell locomotion and invasion. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2013 Jul;14(7):405-15. PMID: 23778968.

Karlsson T, Bolshakova A, Magalhães MA, Loitto VM, Magnusson KE. Fluxes of water through aquaporin 9 weaken membrane-cytoskeleton anchorage and promote formation of membrane protrusions. PLoS One. 2013 PLoS One. 2013;8(4):e59901. PMID: 23573219

Hernandez L, Magalhaes MA, Coniglio SJ, Condeelis JS, Segall JE. Opposing roles of CXCR4 and CXCR7 in breast cancer metastasis. Breast Cancer Res. 2011;13(6):R128. PMID: 22152016

Magalhaes MA, D. Larson, C. Mader, H. Gil-Henn, J. Bravo, M. Oser, T. Koleske and J Condeelis. Cortactin and NHE1 regulate cofilin activity in a pH dependent manner. J Cell Biol. 2011 Nov 28;195(5):903-20. PMID: 22105349

Kuiper JW, Sun C, Magalhaes MA, Glogauer M. Rac regulates PtdInsP signaling and the chemotactic compass through a redox-mediated feedback loop. Blood. 2011 Dec 1;118(23):6164-71. PMID: 21976675

Karlsson T, Glogauer M., Ellen RP, Loitto VM, Magnusson KE and Magalhaes MA. Aquaporin 9 phosphorylation mediates membrane localization and neutrophil polarization. J Leukoc Biol. 2011 Nov;90(5):963-73. PMID: 21873454 MAOM and KEM are both senior authors.

Mader CC, Oser M, Magalhaes MA, Bravo-Cordero JJ, Condeelis J, Koleske AJ, Gil-Henn H.An EGFR-Src-Arg-cortactin pathway mediates functional maturation of invadopodia and breast cancer cell invasion. Cancer Res. 2011 Mar 1;71(5):1730-41. PMID: 21257711

Oser M, Mader CC, Gil-Henn H, Magalhaes MA, Bravo-Cordero JJ, Koleske AJ, Condeelis J. Specific tyrosine phosphorylation sites on cortactin regulate Nck1-dependent actin polymerization in invadopodia. J Cell Sci. 2010 Nov 1;123(Pt 21):3662-73. PMID: 20971703

Magalhaes, MA, and M. Glogauer. Pivotal Advance: Phospholipids determine net membrane surface charge resulting in differential localization of active Rac1 and Rac2. J Leukoc Biol. 2010 Apr;87(4):545-55. PMID: 19955208