Leonid Sitailo, PhD Research Assistant Professor Department of Pathology Cutaneous Oncology Research Program Division of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Molecular Biology Program Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center (888) LUHS-888

Dr. Leonid Sitailo received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, Kiev, Ukraine in 1991. His initial scientific interest was in the study of chromatin structure and DNA topoisomerase activity. From 1993 to 1995 he worked as a Visiting Scientist at the Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben ( Sachsen-Anhalt ), Germany. In 1995 he was recruited as Research Associate to the Department of Medicine at Loyola University of Chicago into the laboratory of Dr. David Hecht. In 2000 he joined the Skin Cancer Research Program at the Oncology Institute with Dr. Mitch Denning and was promoted to Research Assistant Professor in 2006.

Presently Dr. Sitailo works with Dr. Mitchell Denning and is studying the signal transduction pathway of UV induced apoptosis in human keratinocytes. UV-B from sunlight is a major factor for initiation of skin carcinogenesis and apoptosis is the major mechanism responsible for removing premalignant keratinocytes from the skin. Dr Sitailo has showed that the intrinsic or mitochondrial pathway is the main route of UV induced apoptosis response in keratinocytes. Understanding very early events of apoptosis induction led to identification of the significance of Bcl-2 family members: Bax, Bak, Bcl-XL and Mcl-1. Dr Sitailo continues to work on the anti-apoptotic protein Mcl-1, as the main anti-apoptotic protein protecting keratinocytes from apoptosis. A deep understanding of the molecular details of UV induced apoptosis is the foundation for our knowledge of skin carcinogenesis. Our undergoing work focuses on:

The role of protein kinase PKC delta in apoptosis, the regulation of PKC delta activity by phosphorylation or caspase cleavage, its substrate specificity and interaction with binding partners. Bcl-2 family of proteins, especially the function of anti-apoptotic Mcl-1 protein in PKC delta-dependent apoptosis in human keratinocytes.

A better understanding of the molecular pathway of UV induced skin carcinogenesis will have potential benefit for clinical intervention.

Publications

View a partial list of Dr. Sitailo's publications through the National Library of Medicine's PubMed online database.