Dan Alan Dixon, PhD

Research Program: Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences Faculty Rank: Professor Campus: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College: College of Medicine Department: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Cancer Research Interest

• Disease Site Focus: GI
• Research Focus Area: Prevention, Detection
• Type of Research: Basic, Population Sciences
• Research Keywords: Colon cancer, Extracellular vesicles, Prevention, Post-transcriptional regulation
• Research Interest Statement: The focus of Dr. Dixon’s research is on understanding how loss of post-transcriptional gene regulation can influence colon cancer. His laboratory has made discoveries establishing the role of post-transcriptional gene regulation in tumor development and has identified new factors in this pathway as cancer prevention and therapeutic targets. Dr. Dixon’s work has been published in high-impact journals such as Cell, Journal of Clinical Investigation, and Gastroenterology. He serves on the editorial boards for various journals such as Cancer Research and Cancer Biology & Therapy and is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and American Gastroenterological Association (AGA). He is a former Chair of the NCI Subcommittee J - Career Development Panel and Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program Programmatic Panel. Dr. Dixon also serves as an External Advisory Board Member for the South Dakota Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (SD-BRIN) and is a Medical Advisory Board Member for Fight Colorectal Cancer Advocacy Foundation.

Contact Information

• Email Address: DDixon2@uams.edu
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Recent Publications

• Arteaga-Blanco LA, Evans AE, Dixon DA. Plasma-Derived Extracellular Vesicles and Non-Extracellular Vesicle Components from APC(Min/+) Mice Promote Pro-Tumorigenic Activities and Activate Human Colonic Fibroblasts via the NF-κB Signaling Pathway. Cells. 2024 13(14). PMID: 39056778. PMCID: PMC11274984.
• Finan JM, Sutton TL, Dixon DA, Brody JR. Targeting the RNA-Binding Protein HuR in Cancer. Cancer research. 2023 83(21):3507-3516. PMID: 37683260.
• Xiao H, Ye X, Vishwakarma V, [et al., including Dixon DA]. CRC-derived exosomes containing the RNA binding protein HuR promote lung cell proliferation by stabilizing c-Myc mRNA. Cancer biology & therapy. 2022 23(1):139-149. PMID: 35130122. PMCID: PMC8824215.
• Kuhn M, Zhang Y, Favate J, [et al., including Dixon DA]. IMP1/IGF2BP1 in human colorectal cancer extracellular vesicles. American journal of physiology. Gastrointestinal and liver physiology. 2022 323(6):G571-G585. PMID: 36194131. PMCID: PMC9678429.
• Brown SZ, McCarthy GA, Carroll JR, [et al., including Dixon DA]. The RNA-Binding Protein HuR Posttranscriptionally Regulates the Protumorigenic Activator YAP1 in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. Molecular and cellular biology. 2022 42(7):e0001822. PMID: 35703534. PMCID: PMC9302082.
• Schultz CW, McCarthy GA, Nerwal T, [et al., including Dixon DA]. The FDA-Approved Anthelmintic Pyrvinium Pamoate Inhibits Pancreatic Cancer Cells in Nutrient-Depleted Conditions by Targeting the Mitochondria. Molecular cancer therapeutics. 2021 20(11):2166-2176. PMID: 34413127. PMCID: PMC8859979.
• He X, Smith SE, Chen S, [et al., including Dixon D]. Tumor-initiating stem cell shapes its microenvironment into an immunosuppressive barrier and pro-tumorigenic niche. Cell reports. 2021 36(10):109674. PMID: 34496236. PMCID: PMC8451448.
• Dong R, Chen P, Polireddy K, [et al., including Dixon DA]. An RNA-Binding Protein, Hu-antigen R, in Pancreatic Cancer Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition, Metastasis, and Cancer Stem Cells. Molecular cancer therapeutics. 2020 19(11):2267-2277. PMID: 32879054. PMCID: PMC7921213.
• Legrand N, Dixon DA, Sobolewski C. Stress granules in colorectal cancer: Current knowledge and potential therapeutic applications. World journal of gastroenterology. 2020 26(35):5223-5247. PMID: 32994684. PMCID: PMC7504244.
• Schultz CW, Preet R, Dhir T, [et al., including Dixon DA]. Understanding and targeting the disease-related RNA binding protein human antigen R (HuR). Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. RNA. 2020 11(3):e1581. PMID: 31970930. PMCID: PMC7482136.
• Wu X, Gardashova G, Lan L, [et al., including Dixon DA]. Targeting the interaction between RNA-binding protein HuR and FOXQ1 suppresses breast cancer invasion and metastasis. Communications biology. 2020 3(1):193. PMID: 32332873. PMCID: PMC7181695.