Christine Pratilas, MD
Pediatric Medical Oncology
Sarcoma and Connective Tissue Medical Oncology
Highlights
Johns Hopkins Affiliations:
- Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Faculty
About Christine Pratilas
Professional Titles
Vice Chair, Pediatric Oncology
Director, Pediatric Sarcoma Program
Primary Academic Title
Associate Professor of Oncology
Background
Dr. Christine Pratilas is a pediatric medical oncologist at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and Associate Professor of Oncology, Pediatrics & Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She joined the Hopkins pediatric sarcoma team in 2014.
Dr. Pratilas received her undergraduate degree in Biology from Drew University in New Jersey and her medical degree from UMDNJ - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (now Rutgers University), where she also completed her internship and residency from 1999 to 2002. From 2002 to 2005 she was a fellow in hematology and oncology in the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) Department of Pediatrics, and in the Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at New York Weill Cornell Medical Center. She was a postdoctoral research fellow in Dr. Neal Rosen’s Molecular Oncogenesis Laboratory at MSKCC.
From 2006 to 2014 she was attending in Pediatric Oncology at MSKCC, specializing in developmental therapeutics & sarcoma. She has been the director of the pediatric sarcoma program at Hopkins since 2018.
Dr. Pratilas focuses her research on cancer-associated pathways and signal transduction, which involves figuring out how a cell’s internal molecular pathways work, and how those pathways can be molecularly controlled. This knowledge is the basis for developing promising new molecularly targeted cancer therapies, which is the focus of Dr. Pratilas’s research. Among her important scientific contributions is advancing our understanding of how certain proteins that can be mutated in cancer, known as RAF kinases (specifically BRAF), affect a cancer cell’s behavior.
The research in Dr. Pratilas' laboratory is focused on RAS signal transduction pathways, concentrating on pediatric sarcomas such as rhabdomyosarcoma and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors, in order to develop novel therapeutics for children with these tumors.
Centers and Institutes
Clinical Trial Keywords
Molecularly targeted therapy; pediatric cancer; solid tumor; rhabdomyosarcoma; Ewing sarcoma; MPNST; osteosarcoma; sarcoma;
Additional Academic Titles
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Research Interests
BRAF, cancer cell signaling pathways, molecularly targeted therapy, NF1, oncogenes, pediatric phase I clinical trials, pediatric sarcomas, RAF and MEK inhibitor therapy, RAS
Lab Website
Research Summary
Our lab focuses on the application of small molecule therapeutics to solid tumors harboring oncogenic activation of RAS and RAS effector pathways. We emphasize interrogation of adaptive signaling responses to small molecule inhibition of the ERK signaling pathway, to identify factors that predict and condition response to targeted therapeutics and to design novel treatment strategies.
Selected Publications
- Wang J, Calizo A, Zhang L, Pino JC, Lyu Y, Pollard K, Zhang X, Larsson AT, Conniff E, Llosa NJ, Wood DK, Largaespada DA, Moody SE, Gosline SJ, Hirbe AC, Pratilas CA. CDK4/6 inhibition enhances SHP2 inhibitor efficacy and is dependent upon RB function in malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors. Sci Adv. 2023 Nov 24;9(47):eadg8876. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adg8876. Epub 2023 Nov 24. PMID: 38000020; PMCID: PMC10672174.
- Larsson AT, Bhatia H, Calizo A, Pollard K, Zhang X, Conniff E, Tibbitts JF, Rono E, Cummins K, Osum SH, Williams KB, Crampton AL, Jubenville T, Schefer D, Yang K, Lyu Y, Pino JC, Bade J, Gross JM, Lisok A, Dehner CA, Chrisinger JSA, He K, Gosline SJC, Pratilas CA, Largaespada DA, Wood DK, Hirbe AC. Ex vivo to in vivo model of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors for precision oncology. Neuro Oncol. 2023 Nov 2;25(11):2044-2057. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/noad097. PMID: 37246765; PMCID: PMC10628938.
- Odeniyide P, Yohe ME, Pollard K, Vaseva AV, Calizo A, Zhang L, Rodriguez FJ, Gross JM, Allen AN, Wan X, Somwar R, Schreck KC, Kessler L, Wang J, Pratilas CA. Targeting farnesylation as a novel therapeutic approach in HRAS-mutant rhabdomyosarcoma. Oncogene. 2022 May;41(21):2973-2983. doi: 10.1038/s41388-022-02305-x. Epub 2022 Apr 22. Erratum in: Oncogene. 2022 May;41(21):3037. doi: 10.1038/s41388-022-02342-6. PMID: 35459782; PMCID: PMC9122815.
- Schreck KC, Morin A, Zhao G, Allen AN, Flannery P, Glantz M, Green AL, Jones C, Jones KL, Kilburn LB, Nazemi KJ, Samuel D, Sanford B, Solomon DA, Wang J, Pratilas CA, Nicolaides T, Mulcahy Levy JM. Deconvoluting Mechanisms of Acquired Resistance to RAF Inhibitors in BRAFV600E-Mutant Human Glioma. Clin Cancer Res. 2021 Nov 15;27(22):6197-6208. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-21-2660. Epub 2021 Aug 25. PMID: 34433654; PMCID: PMC8595717.
- Wang J, Pollard K, Calizo A, Pratilas CA. Activation of Receptor Tyrosine Kinases Mediates Acquired Resistance to MEK Inhibition in Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors. Cancer Res. 2021 Feb 1;81(3):747-762. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-20-1992. Epub 2020 Nov 17. PMID: 33203698; PMCID: PMC7854512.
Patents
10/12/10 Awarded, Biomarkers for Cancer Treatment - U.S. Patent No. 7,812,143 B2; Inventors: Pratilas, C; Rosen, N, U.S. Patent No. 7,812,143 B2, 10/12/10
Honors
- Young Investigator Award, Melanoma Research Alliance, 2011
- ASCO Foundation Young Investigators Award, 2004
- AACR Scholar-in-Training Award, 2004
Graduate Program Affiliations
Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Memberships
- American Association for Cancer Research
- American Society of Clinical Oncology
- Children's Oncology Group
- AACR Pediatric Cancer Working Group
Locations
- Johns Hopkins Children's Center
- 1800 Orleans Street, Bloomberg 11N, Baltimore, MD 21287
- phone: 410-955-8751
- fax: 410-614-1802
Expertise
Education
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Fellowship, Hematology and Oncology, 2005Rutgers RWJ University Hospital
Residency, Pediatrics, 2002Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Medical Education, Pediatrics, MD, 1999Board Certifications
Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
American Board of Pediatrics, 2016Pediatrics
American Board of Pediatrics, 2012Insurance
- Aetna
- CareFirst
- Cigna
- First Health
- Geisinger Health Plan
- HealthSmart/Accel
- Humana
- Johns Hopkins Health Plans
- MultiPlan
- Pennsylvania's Preferred Health Networks (PPHN)
- Point Comfort Underwriters
- Private Healthcare Systems (PHCS)
- UnitedHealthcare
- Veteran Affairs Community Care Network (Optum-VACCN)