Peter Zage

Peter Zage, MD, PhD

Assistant Affiliate Member, Research Institute
Houston Methodist


Biography

Dr. Zage graduated from The Johns Hopkins University in 1990 with a B.A. degree in biology and subsequently received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University in New York. He completed a residency in pediatrics at the University of Chicago Children's Hospital, followed by a fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at the Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. During his fellowship, he developed an interest in the pathogenesis of pediatric solid tumors, particularly neuroblastoma and retinoblastoma. He was an Assistant Professor in the Division of Pediatrics at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center from 2006 to 2011, where he also served as a research co-director of the Retinoblastoma Center of Houston. He became a member of The Methodist Hospital Research Institute in 2008. In 2011, Dr. Zage accepted a position as an Assistant Professor at Baylor College of Medicine and as a member of the solid tumor and developmental therapeutics teams at Texas Children's Hospital.

Dr. Zage continues to serve as a co-director of the Retinoblastoma Center of Houston and is an adjunct member of the Neuroscience program at the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. He was awarded the Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology in 2009 for his research focused on novel therapies for children with solid tumors in general and neuroblastoma in particular.

Description of Research

Dr. Zage's laboratory is primarily interested in evaluating the efficacy of novel therapies for children with neuroblastoma, retinoblastoma and other childhood solid tumors and in understanding the critical genetic and molecular events that could be used as targets for new treatments. He is developing a comprehensive program for the treatment of children with recurrent or refractory neuroblastoma, including chemotherapy, novel biologically targeted agents and immunotherapy. he collaborates with other institutions in the development of innovative approaches to treatments for all children with cancer.

Areas Of Expertise

Retinoblastoma Neuroblastoma Developmental therapeutics
Education & Training

PhD, Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, New York, NY
Publications

UBE4B interacts with the ITCH E3 ubiquitin ligase to induce Ku70 and c-FLIPL polyubiquitination and enhanced neuroblastoma apoptosis
Le Clorennec, C, Subramonian, D, Huo, Y & Zage, PE 2023, , Cell Death and Disease, vol. 14, no. 11, 739, pp. 739. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41419-023-06252-7

Targeting the RET tyrosine kinase in neuroblastoma: A review and application of a novel selective drug design strategy
Steen, E, Basilaia, M, Kim, W, Getz, T, Gustafson, JL & Zage, PE 2023, , Biochemical pharmacology, vol. 216, 115751, pp. 115751. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcp.2023.115751

USP7 Inhibition Suppresses Neuroblastoma Growth via Induction of p53-Mediated Apoptosis and EZH2 and N-Myc Downregulation
Le Clorennec, C, Lee, K, Huo, Y & Zage, PE 2023, , International journal of molecular sciences, vol. 24, no. 18, 13780. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241813780

Identification of a novel gene signature for neuroblastoma differentiation using a Boolean implication network
Zage, PE, Huo, Y, Subramonian, D, Le Clorennec, C, Ghosh, P & Sahoo, D 2023, , Genes Chromosomes and Cancer, vol. 62, no. 6, pp. 313-331. https://doi.org/10.1002/gcc.23124

A phase II trial of nifurtimox combined with topotecan and cyclophosphamide for refractory or relapsed neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma
Eslin, D, Zage, PE, Bergendahl, G, Lewis, E, Roberts, W, Kraveka, J, Mitchell, D, Isakoff, MS, Rawwas, J, Wada, RK, Fluchel, M, Brown, VI, Ginn, K, Higgins, T, BeeravallyNagulapally, A, Dykema, K, Hanna, G, Ferguson, W & Saulnier Sholler, GL 2023, , International Journal of Cancer, vol. 153, no. 5, pp. 1026-1034. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.34569

Allele-specific expression reveals genes with recurrent cis-regulatory alterations in high-risk neuroblastoma
Sen, A, Huo, Y, Elster, J, Zage, PE & McVicker, G 2022, , Genome Biology, vol. 23, no. 1, 71. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-022-02640-y

Genomic and Transcriptomic Analysis of Relapsed and Refractory Childhood Solid Tumors Reveals a Diverse Molecular Landscape and Mechanisms of Immune Evasion
Byron, SA, Hendricks, WPD, Nagulapally, AB, Kraveka, JM, Ferguson, WS, Brown, VI, Eslin, DE, Mitchell, D, Cornelius, A, Roberts, W, Isakoff, MS, Oesterheld, JE, Wada, RK, Rawwas, J, Neville, K, Zage, PE, Harrod, VL, Bergendahl, G, Vansickle, E, Dykema, K, Bond, J, Chou, HC, Wei, JS, Wen, X, Reardon, HV, Roos, A, Nasser, S, Izatt, T, Enriquez, D, Hegde, AM, Cisneros, F, Christofferson, A, Turner, B, Szelinger, S, Keats, JJ, Halperin, RF, Khan, J, Sholler, GLS & Trent, JM 2021, , Cancer research, vol. 81, no. 23, pp. 5818-5832. https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-21-1033

The anti-tumor activity of the nedd8 inhibitor pevonedistat in neuroblastoma
Foster, JH, Barbieri, E, Zhang, L, Scorsone, KA, Moreno-smith, M, Zage, P & Horton, TM 2021, , International journal of molecular sciences, vol. 22, no. 12, 6565. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22126565

Overview and recent advances in the targeting of medulloblastoma cancer stem cells
Paul, MR & Zage, PE 2021, , Expert Review of Anticancer Therapy, vol. 21, no. 9, pp. 957-974. https://doi.org/10.1080/14737140.2021.1932472

Is high-risk neuroblastoma induction chemotherapy possible without G-CSF? A pilot study of safety and treatment delays in the absence of primary prophylactic hematopoietic growth factors
Whittle, SB, Smith, V, Silverstein, A, Parmeter, M, Minard, CG, Bernhardt, MB, Zage, PE, Venkatramani, R, Nuchtern, JG, Heczey, A, Russell, HV, Shohet, JM & Foster, JH 2020, , Pediatric Blood and Cancer, vol. 67, no. 10, e28417, pp. e28417. https://doi.org/10.1002/pbc.28417

Regorafenib is effective against neuroblastoma in vitro and in vivo and inhibits the RAS/MAPK, PI3K/Akt/mTOR and Fos/Jun pathways
Subramonian, D, Phanhthilath, N, Rinehardt, H, Flynn, S, Huo, Y, Zhang, J, Messer, K, Mo, Q, Huang, S, Lesperance, J & Zage, P 2020, , British Journal of Cancer, vol. 123, no. 4, pp. 568-579. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-020-0905-8

Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics associated with vitamin D status in newly diagnosed pediatric cancer patients
Aristizabal, P, Sherer, M, Perdomo, BP, Castelao, E, Thornburg, CD, Proudfoot, J, Jacobs, E, Newfield, RS, Zage, P, Roberts, W & Martinez, ME 2020, , Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 314-325. https://doi.org/10.1080/08880018.2020.1721629

The potential functional roles of nme1 histidine kinase activity in neuroblastoma pathogenesis
Adam, K, Lesperance, J, Hunter, T & Zage, PE 2020, , International journal of molecular sciences, vol. 21, no. 9, 3319. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21093319

A subset analysis of a phase II trial evaluating the use of DFMO as maintenance therapy for high-risk neuroblastoma
Lewis, EC, Kraveka, JM, Ferguson, W, Eslin, D, Brown, VI, Bergendahl, G, Roberts, W, Wada, RK, Oesterheld, J, Mitchell, D, Foley, J, Zage, P, Rawwas, J, Rich, M, Lorenzi, E, Broglio, K, Berry, D & Saulnier Sholler, GL 2020, , International Journal of Cancer, vol. 147, no. 11, pp. 3152-3159. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.33044

Mechanisms of Efficacy of the FGFR1–3 Inhibitor AZD4547 in Pediatric Solid Tumor Models
Phanhthilath, N, Hakim, S, Su, C, Liu, A, Subramonian, D, Lesperance, J & Zage, PE 2020, , Investigational New Drugs, vol. 38, no. 6, pp. 1677-1686. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10637-020-00933-2

Characterization of G-CSF receptor expression in medulloblastoma
Paul, MR, Huo, Y, Liu, A, Lesperance, J, Garancher, A, Wechsler-Reya, RJ & Zage, PE 2020, , Neuro-Oncology Advances, vol. 2, no. 1, vdaa062. https://doi.org/10.1093/noajnl/vdaa062

The multikinase inhibitor RXDX-105 is effective against neuroblastoma in vitro and in vivo
Flynn, SM, Lesperance, J, Macias, A, Phanhthilath, N, Paul, MR, Kim, JW, Tamayo, P & Zage, PE 2019, , Oncotarget, vol. 10, no. 59, pp. 6323-6333. https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.27259

Maintenance DFMO Increases Survival in High Risk Neuroblastoma
Sholler, GLS, Ferguson, W, Bergendahl, G, Bond, JP, Neville, K, Eslin, D, Brown, V, Roberts, W, Wada, RK, Oesterheld, J, Mitchell, D, Foley, J, Parikh, NS, Eshun, F, Zage, P, Rawwas, J, Sencer, S, Pankiewicz, D, Quinn, M, Rich, M, Junewick, J & Kraveka, JM 2018, , Scientific Reports, vol. 8, no. 1, 14445. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-32659-w

Novel therapies for relapsed and refractory neuroblastoma
Zage, PE 2018, , Children, vol. 5, no. 11, 148. https://doi.org/10.3390/children5110148

Overview and recent advances in the treatment of neuroblastoma
Whittle, SB, Smith, V, Doherty, E, Zhao, S, McCarty, S & Zage, P 2017, , Expert Review of Anticancer Therapy, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 369-386. https://doi.org/10.1080/14737140.2017.1285230