Alan J Tackett, 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: Cutaneous/Melanoma
• Research Focus Area: Treatment, Informatics, Detection, Diagnosis/ Prognosis
• Type of Research: Basic
• Research Interest Statement: In recent years, new immunotherapy drugs have revolutionized how clinicians treat patients with certain cancers like melanoma. For some patients, immunotherapy can effectively eliminate cancer from the body - unfortunately in other patients these drugs show little benefit. Dr. Alan Tackett is interested in understanding why some patients show limited response to immunotherapies and then leveraging this information to design new cancer therapies to help all patients realize the lifesaving benefits of immunotherapy. His work is specifically focused on immunotherapy treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma. Towards these efforts, Dr. Tackett leads a translational team of researchers, oncologists, surgeons, and pathologists at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.

Contact Information

• Email Address: AJTACKETT@UAMS.EDU
• Profiles Research Networking Software: View Profile

Active Grants

• NIH/Nat. Cancer Institute – 1R21CA292278
  “Leveraging cancer-evolved resistance mechanisms to enhance EZH2 activity in adoptive T cells”
  Principal Investigator
  6/1/2024 – 5/31/2026
• NIH/Nat. Inst. of General Medical Sciences – AWD00055425
  “GR034171-COBRE Phase II Admin Core”
  Principal Investigator
  7/20/2022 – 6/30/2027
• NIH/Nat. Inst. of General Medical Sciences – 1R01GM141040
  “Discovery and Characterization of Novel Sepsis Proteome Biomarkers”
  Principal Investigator
  9/10/2021 – 8/31/2025
• US Department of Defense – W81XWH2110460
  “Proteogenomic analysis of responders versus nonresponders in a Phase I clinical trial of Th17-inducing dendritic cell vaccination for advanced stage ovarian cancer”
  Principal Investigator
  7/1/2021 – 12/31/2024
• Arkansas Research Alliance – AWD00054969
  “Arkansas research Alliance ARA Fellow ”
  Principal Investigator
  3/1/2021 – 2/27/2025
• NIH/Nat. Inst. of General Medical Sciences – 1R24GM137786
  “IDeA National Resource for Quantitative Proteomics”
  Principal Investigator
  8/20/2020 – 5/31/2025
• NIH/Nat. Cancer Institute – 1R01CA236209
  “Identification of Druggable Targets to Complement Melanoma Therapy - Continuation”
  Principal Investigator
  6/15/2019 – 5/31/2025

Recent Publications

• Hong A, Piva M, Liu S, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Expression of Concern: Durable Suppression of Acquired MEK Inhibitor Resistance in Cancer by Sequestering MEK from ERK and Promoting Antitumor T-cell Immunity. Cancer discovery. 2024 14(7):1357. PMID: 38946326.
• Urbaniak A, Bathula C, Chauhan J, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Synthesis and Anti-Melanoma Activity of Acryloyl Pyridinone Analogues. Chemistry & biodiversity. 2023:e202301550. PMID: 37994208. PMCID: PMC10984326.
• Morehead LC, Koss B, Fil D, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Resveratrol induces major histocompatibility complex class I antigen presentation in a STING-dependent and independent manner in melanoma. Molecular immunology. 2023 163:188-195. PMID: 37837954. PMCID: PMC10792541.
• Zhao S, Lu J, Pan B, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. TNRC18 engages H3K9me3 to mediate silencing of endogenous retrotransposons. Nature. 2023 623(7987):633-642. PMID: 37938770. PMCID: PMC11000523.
• Garg S, Morehead LC, Bird JT, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Characterization of methionine dependence in melanoma cells. Molecular omics. 2023. PMID: 37782107. PMCID: PMC10903584.
• Morehead LC, Garg S, Wallis KF, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Increased Response to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors with Dietary Methionine Restriction in a Colorectal Cancer Model. Cancers. 2023 15(18). PMID: 37760436. PMCID: PMC10526448.
• Kore RA, Jenkins SV, Jamshidi-Parsian A, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Proteomic analysis of transcription factors involved in the alteration of ischemic mouse heart as modulated by MSC exosomes. Biochemistry and biophysics reports. 2023 34:101463. PMID: 37125076. PMCID: PMC10130341.
• Alam J, Huda MN, Tackett AJ, Miah S. Oncogenic signaling-mediated regulation of chromatin during tumorigenesis. Cancer metastasis reviews. 2023. PMID: 37147457. PMCID: PMC10348982.
• Lowenthal R, Taylor M, Gidden JA, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. The mycelium of the Trametes versicolor synn. Coriolus versicolor (Turkey tail mushroom) exhibit anti-melanoma activity in vitro. Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie. 2023 161:114424. PMID: 36827712. PMCID: PMC10147383.
• Choudhury S, Heflin B, Taylor E, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. CRISPR/dCas9-KRAB-Mediated Suppression of S100b Restores p53-Mediated Apoptosis in Melanoma Cells. Cells. 2023 12(5). PMID: 36899866. PMCID: PMC10000373.
• Choudhury S, Byrum SD, Alkam D, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Expression of integrin β-7 is epigenetically enhanced in multiple myeloma subgroups with high-risk cytogenetics. Clinical epigenetics. 2023 15(1):18. PMID: 36737807. PMCID: PMC9898982.
• Urbaniak A, Reed MR, Heflin B, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Anti-glioblastoma activity of monensin and its analogs in an organoid model of cancer. Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie. 2022 153:113440. PMID: 36076555. PMCID: PMC9472755.
• Kore RA, Henson JC, Hamzah RN, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Author Correction: Molecular events in MSC exosome mediated cytoprotection in cardiomyocytes. Scientific reports. 2022 12(1):7874. PMID: 35551219. PMCID: PMC9098878.
• Li D, Yu X, Kottur J, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Discovery of a dual WDR5 and Ikaros PROTAC degrader as an anti-cancer therapeutic. Oncogene. 2022. PMID: 35525905. PMCID: PMC9189076.
• Wardell CP, Darrigues E, De Loose A, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Genomic and Transcriptomic Profiling of Brain Metastases. Cancers. 2021 13(22). PMID: 34830758. PMCID: PMC8615723.
• Paidi SK, Troncoso JR, Raj P, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Raman Spectroscopy and Machine Learning Reveals Early Tumor Microenvironmental Changes Induced by Immunotherapy. Cancer research. 2021. PMID: 34645610. PMCID: PMC8841097.
• Delgado M, Washam CL, Urbaniak A, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Phosphoproteomics Provides Novel Insights into the Response of Primary Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Cells to Microtubule Depolymerization in G1 Phase of the Cell Cycle. ACS omega. 2021 6(38):24949-24959. PMID: 34604676. PMCID: PMC8482483.
• Xu C, Meng F, Park KS, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. A NSD3-targeted PROTAC suppresses NSD3 and cMyc oncogenic nodes in cancer cells. Cell chemical biology. 2021. PMID: 34469831. PMCID: PMC8882712.
• Wang Y, Liu S, Yang Z, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Anti-PD-1/L1 lead-in before MAPK inhibitor combination maximizes antitumor immunity and efficacy. Cancer cell. 2021. PMID: 34416167. PMCID: PMC9126729.
• Ahn JH, Davis ES, Daugird TA, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Phase separation drives aberrant chromatin looping and cancer development. Nature. 2021. PMID: 34163069. PMCID: PMC8647409.
• Chappell K, Tackett A, Manna K, [et al.]. Multi-omics data integration reveals correlated regulatory features of triple negative breast cancer. Molecular omics. 2021. PMID: 34142686. PMCID: PMC8504614.
• Reed MR, Maddukuri L, Ketkar A, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Inhibition of tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase impairs DNA damage tolerance and repair in glioma cells. NAR cancer. 2021 3(2):zcab014. PMID: 33870196. PMCID: PMC8034706.
• Fan H, Guo Y, Tsai YH, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. A conserved BAH module within mammalian BAHD1 connects H3K27me3 to Polycomb gene silencing. Nucleic acids research. 2021 49(8):4441-4455. PMID: 33823544. PMCID: PMC8096256.
• Xu C, Tsai YH, Galbo PM, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Cistrome analysis of YY1 uncovers a regulatory axis of YY1:BRD2/4-PFKP during tumorigenesis of advanced prostate cancer. Nucleic acids research. 2021. PMID: 33849067. PMCID: PMC8136773.
• Kelliher J, Tackett A, Ghosal G, Leung JWC. New answers to the old RIDDLE: RNF168 and the DNA damage response pathway. The FEBS journal. 2021. PMID: 33797206. PMCID: PMC8486888.
• Jenkins SV, Alimohammadi M, Terry AS, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Dysbiotic stress increases the sensitivity of the tumor vasculature to radiotherapy and c-Met inhibitors. Angiogenesis. 2021. PMID: 33629198. PMCID: PMC8295215.
• Li J, Galbo PM Jr, Gong W, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. ZMYND11-MBTD1 induces leukemogenesis through hijacking NuA4/TIP60 acetyltransferase complex and a PWWP-mediated chromatin association mechanism. Nature communications. 2021 12(1):1045. PMID: 33594072. PMCID: PMC7886901.
• Mohan M, Tackett A, Kumar M, [et al.]. Bone remineralization of lytic lesions in multiple myeloma - The Arkansas experience. Bone. 2021 146:115876. PMID: 33556629. PMCID: PMC8627246.
• Kore RA, Wang X, Ding Z, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. MSC exosome-mediated cardioprotection in ischemic mouse heart comparative proteomics of infarct and peri-infarct areas. Molecular and cellular biochemistry. 2021. PMID: 33423165. PMCID: PMC8186026.
• Graw S, Tackett A, Chappell K, [et al.]. Multi-omics data integration considerations and study design for biological systems and disease. Molecular omics. 2020. PMID: 33347526. PMCID: PMC8058243.
• Hong A, Piva M, Liu S, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Durable Suppression of Acquired MEK Inhibitor Resistance in Cancer by Sequestering MEK from ERK and Promoting Antitumor T-cell Immunity. Cancer discovery. 2020. PMID: 33318037. PMCID: PMC7933113.
• Ramirez AM, Beenken KE, Byrum SD, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. SarA plays a predominant role in controlling the production of extracellular proteases in the diverse clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus LAC and UAMS-1. Virulence. 2020 11(1):1738-1762. PMID: 33258416. PMCID: PMC7738309.
• Koss B, Boerma M, Shields BD, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Epigenetic Control of Cdkn2a.Arf Protects Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes from Metabolic Exhaustion. Cancer research. 2020. PMID: 33004350. PMCID: PMC7642172.
• Karaduta O, Glazko G, Dvanajscak Z, [et al., including Tackett A]. Resistant starch slows the progression of CKD in the 5/6 nephrectomy mouse model. Physiological reports. 2020 8(19):e14610. PMID: 33038060. PMCID: PMC7547583.
• Mao XW, Nishiyama NC, Byrum SD, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Spaceflight induces oxidative damage to blood-brain barrier integrity in a mouse model. FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. 2020. PMID: 32981077. PMCID: PMC8191453.
• Taylor EM, Byrum SD, Edmondson JL, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Proteogenomic analysis of melanoma brain metastases from distinct anatomical sites identifies pathways of metastatic progression. Acta neuropathologica communications. 2020 8(1):157. PMID: 32891176. PMCID: PMC7487560.
• Harrison DK, Tackett A, Waldrip ZJ, [et al.]. DNA-PKcs Inhibition Extends Allogeneic Skin Graft Survival. Transplantation. 2020. PMID: 32890138. PMCID: PMC7902289.
• Storey AJ, Naceanceno KS, Lan RS, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. ProteoViz: a tool for the analysis and interactive visualization of phosphoproteomics data. Molecular omics. 2020. PMID: 32347222. PMCID: PMC7423749.
• Davis LE, Shalin SC, Tackett AJ. Utility of histone H3K27me3 and H4K20me as diagnostic indicators of melanoma. Melanoma research. 2020 30(2):159-165. PMID: 32142497. PMCID: PMC7080300.
• Storey AJ, Hardman RE, Byrum SD, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Accurate and Sensitive Quantitation of the Dynamic Heat Shock Proteome Using Tandem Mass Tags. Journal of proteome research. 2020 19(3):1183-1195. PMID: 32027144. PMCID: PMC7241437.
• Ramirez AM, Byrum SD, Beenken KE, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Exploiting Correlations between Protein Abundance and the Functional Status of saeRS and sarA To Identify Virulence Factors of Potential Importance in the Pathogenesis of Staphylococcus aureus Osteomyelitis. ACS infectious diseases. 2020 6(2):237-249. PMID: 31722523. PMCID: PMC7294808.
• Trentzsch M, Nyamugenda E, Miles TK, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Delivery of phosphatidylethanolamine blunts stress in hepatoma cells exposed to elevated palmitate by targeting the endoplasmic reticulum. Cell death discovery. 2020 6:8. PMID: 32123584. PMCID: PMC7028721.
• Taylor EM, Koss B, Davis LE, Tackett AJ. Histone Modifications as Biomarkers for Immunotherapy. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.). 2020 2055:213-228. PMID: 31502154.
• Waldrip ZJ, Jenjaroenpun P, DeYoung O, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Genome-wide Cas9 binding specificity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. PeerJ. 2020 8:e9442. PMID: 32821531. PMCID: PMC7395602.
• Kore RA, Henson JC, Hamzah RN, [et al., including Tackett AJ]. Molecular events in MSC exosome mediated cytoprotection in cardiomyocytes. Scientific reports. 2019 9(1):19276. PMID: 31848380. PMCID: PMC6917778.