Environmental Health Sciences Research Center

EHSRC Investigator Detail

COEC

Douglas R. Spitz, Jr., Ph.D.
Professor of Radiation Oncology
Email: douglas-spitz@uiowa.edu
Phone: (319) 335-8001
EHSRC Role(s):	Member, Oxidative Stress and Metabolism Research Cluster

Dr. Spitz's laboratory is involved with the study of free radicals and oxidative stress in biology and medicine. Ongoing projects include the study of phenotypic changes associated with oxidative stress-resistant mammalian cell lines, oxidative stress induced by PCB exposure, nitric oxide toxicology, molecular mechanisms of resistance to oxidative stress, molecular imaging of responses to cancer therapy, redox regulation of the cell cycle, redox regulation of signal transduction and gene expression as well as metabolic oxidative stress associated with glucose deprivation-induced cytotoxicity in human tumor cells. Dr. Spitz's long term goal is to use a basic science understanding of mechanisms associated with free radical toxicology to elucidate novel methods for manipulating clinically significant outcomes in areas of medicine relevant to cancer biology and degenerative diseases associated with aging.

Recent Publications

Spitz DR, Sim JE, Ridnour LA, Galoforo SS, and Lee YJ: Glucose deprivation-induced oxidative stress in human tumor cells: a fundamental defect in metabolism? Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 2000; 899:349-362.
Lin X, Zhang F, Bradbury CW, Kaushal A, Li L, Spitz DR, Aft R, and Gius D: 2-Deoxy-d-glucose-induced cytotoxicity and radiosensitization in tumor cells is mediated via disruptions in thiol metabolism. Cancer Res. 2003; 63:3413–3417.
Spitz DR, Azzam EI, Li JJ, and Gius D: Metabolic oxidation/reduction reactions and cellular responses to ionizing radiation: a unifying concept in stress response biology. Cancer and Metastasis Reviews 2004; 23:311–322.
Ahmad IM, Aykin-Burns N, Sim JE, Walsh SA, Higashikubo R, Buettner GR, Venkataraman S, Mackey MA, Flanagan S, Oberley LW, and Spitz DR: Mitochondrial O2•- and H2O2 mediate glucose deprivation-induced cytotoxicity and oxidative stress in human cancer cells. J. Biol. Chem. 2005; 280(6):4254-4263.
Simons AL, Ahmad IM, Mattson DM, Dornfeld KJ, Spitz DR. 2-Deoxy-D-glucose combined with cisplatin enhances cytotoxicity via metabolic oxidative stress in human head and neck cancer cells. Cancer Res. 2007 Apr 1;67(7):3364-70.
Fan M, Ahmed KM, Coleman MC, Spitz DR, Li JJ. Nuclear factor-kappaB and manganese superoxide dismutase mediate adaptive radioresistance in low-dose irradiated mouse skin epithelial cells. Cancer Res. 2007 Apr 1;67(7):3220-8.
Brown KE, Meleah Mathahs M, Broadhurst KA, Coleman MC, Ridnour LA, Schmidt WN, Spitz DR. Increased hepatic telomerase activity in a rat model of iron overload: a role for altered thiol redox state? Free Radic Biol Med. 2007 Jan 15;42(2):228-35. Epub 2006 Oct 17.