†Equal contribution, *Corresponding Author
Selected Publications
2026
Guerriero JL, Merad M, Ginhoux F, Ostuni R, de Visser KE, Pittet MJ, Brandau S, Merghoub T, Egeblad M, Umansky V, van Vlerken-Ysla L, Marron TU, Coussens LM, Zarif JC, Ruffell B, Barry ST, Varner JA, Gabrilovich DI. Expert opinion on burning questions in cancer myeloid cell biology. J Immunother Cancer. 2026;14(6):e015830. doi:10.1136/jitc-2026-015830.
2025
Zennami K, Graham M, Chikara S, Sysa-Shah P, Rafiqi FH, Wang R, Abel B, Zeng Q, Krueger TEG, Brennen WN, Ganguly S, Zarif JC, Simons B, DeWeese TL, De Marzo A, Yegnasubramanian S, Lupold SE. Cell type-specific effects of miR-21 loss attenuate tumor progression in MYC-driven prostate cancer. bioRxiv. Preprint published May 18, 2025. doi:10.1101/2025.05.14.654101.
2024
Praharaj M, Shen F, Lee AJ, Zhao L, Nirschl TR, Theodros D, Singh AK, Wang X, Adusei KM, Lombardo KA, Williams RA, Sena LA, Thompson EA, Tam A, Yegnasubramanian S, Pearce EJ, Leone RD, Alt J, Rais R, Slusher BS, Pardoll DM, Powell JD, Zarif JC. Metabolic reprogramming of tumor-associated macrophages using glutamine antagonist JHU083 drives tumor immunity in myeloid-rich prostate and bladder cancers. Cancer Immunol Res. 2024;12(7):854-875. doi:10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-23-1105.
Singla N, Nirschl TR, Obradovic AZ, Shenderov E, Lombardo K, Liu X, Pons A, Zarif JC, Rowe SP, Trock BJ, Hammers HJ, Bivalacqua TJ, Pierorazio PM, Deutsch JS, Lotan TL, Taube JM, Ged YMA, Gorin MA, Allaf ME, Drake CG. Immunomodulatory response to neoadjuvant nivolumab in non-metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Sci Rep. 2024;14(1):1458. doi:10.1038/s41598-024-51889-9.
Zheng Y, Lebid A, Chung L, Fu J, Wang X, Otrocol A, Zarif JC, Yu H, Llosa NJ, Pardoll DM. Targeting the activin receptor 1C on CD4+ T cells for cancer immunotherapy. Oncoimmunology. 2024;13(1):2297503. doi:10.1080/2162402X.2023.2297503.
2023
Jayaraman S, Montagne JM, Nirschl TR, Marcisak E, Johnson J, Huff A, Hsiao MH, Nauroth J, Heumann T, Zarif JC, Jaffee EM, Azad N, Fertig EJ, Zaidi N, Larman HB. Barcoding intracellular reverse transcription enables high-throughput phenotype-coupled T cell receptor analyses. Cell Rep Methods. 2023;3(10):100600. doi:10.1016/j.crmeth.2023.100600.
2022
Yamaguchi Y, Gibson J, Ou K, Lopez LS, Ng RH, Leggett N, Jonsson VD, Zarif JC, Lee PP, Wang X, Martinez C, Dorff TB, Forman SJ, Priceman SJ. PD-L1 blockade restores CAR T cell activity through IFN-γ regulation of CD163+ M2 macrophages. J Immunother Cancer. 2022;10(6):e004400. doi:10.1136/jitc-2021-004400.
Miyahira AK, Zarif JC, Coombs CC, Flavell RR, Russo JW, Zaidi S, Zhao D, Zhao SG, Pienta KJ, Soule HR. Prostate cancer research in the 21st century; report from the 2021 Coffey-Holden prostate cancer academy meeting. Prostate. 2022;82(2):169-181. doi:10.1002/pros.24262.
2021
McKay RR, Gold T, Zarif JC, Chowdhury-Paulino IM, Friedant A, Gerke T, Grant M, Hawthorne K, Heath E, Huang FW, Jackson MD, Mahal B, Ogbeide O, Paich K, Ragin CR, Rencsok EM, Simmons S, Yates C, Vinson J, Kantoff PW, George DJ, Mucci LA. Tackling diversity in prostate cancer clinical trials: a report from the Diversity Working Group of the IRONMAN Registry. JCO Glob Oncol. 2021;7:495-505. doi:10.1200/GO.20.00571.
Manukian G, Kivolowitz C, DeAngelis T, Shastri AA, Savage JE, Camphausen K, Rodeck U, Zarif JC, Simone NL. Caloric restriction impairs regulatory T cells within the tumor microenvironment after radiation and primes effector T cells. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2021;110(5):1341-1349. doi:10.1016/j.ijrobp.2021.02.029.
2020
Lopez-Bujanda ZA, Obradovic A, Nirschl TR, Crowley L, Macedo R, Papachristodoulou A, O’Donnell T, Laserson U, Zarif JC, Reshef R, Yuan T, Soni MK, Antonarakis ES, Haffner MC, Larman HB, Shen MM, Muranski P, Drake CG. TGM4: an immunogenic prostate-restricted antigen. J Immunother Cancer. 2021;9(6):e001649. doi:10.1136/jitc-2020-001649.
Theodros D, Murter BM, Sidhom JW, Nirschl TR, Clark DJ, Chen L, Tam AJ, Blosser RL, Schwen ZR, Johnson MH, Pierorazio PM, Zhang H, Ganguly S, Pardoll DM, Zarif JC. High-dimensional cytometry (ExCYT) and mass spectrometry of myeloid infiltrate in clinically localized clear cell renal cell carcinoma identifies novel potential myeloid targets for immunotherapy. Mol Cell Proteomics. 2020;19(11):1850-1859. doi:10.1074/mcp.RA120.002049.
Rencsok EM, Bazzi LA, McKay RR, Huang FW, Friedant A, Vinson J, Peisch S, Zarif JC, Simmons S, Hawthorne K, Villanti P, Kantoff PW, Heath E, George DJ, Mucci LA. Diversity of enrollment in prostate cancer clinical trials: current status and future directions. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2020;29(7):1374-1380. doi:10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-19-1616.
Nirschl TR, El Asmar M, Ludwig WW, Ganguly S, Gorin MA, Johnson MH, Pierorazio PM, Drake CG, Allaf ME, Zarif JC. Transcriptional profiling of tumor associated macrophages in human renal cell carcinoma reveals significant heterogeneity and opportunity for immunomodulation. Am J Clin Exp Urol. 2020;8(1):48-58.
Jaynes JM, Sable R, Ronzetti M, Bautista W, Knotts Z, Abisoye-Ogunniyan A, Li D, Calvo R, Dashnyam M, Singh A, Guerin T, White J, Ravichandran S, Kumar P, Talsania K, Chen V, Ghebremedhin A, Karanam B, Bin Salam A, Amin R, Odzorig T, Aiken T, Nguyen V, Bian Y, Zarif JC, de Groot AE, Mehta M, Fan L, Hu X, Simeonov A, Pate N, Abu-Asab M, Ferrer M. Mannose receptor (CD206) activation in tumor-associated macrophages enhances adaptive and innate antitumor immune responses. Sci Transl Med. 2020;12(530):eaax6337. doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aax6337.
2019
Simons BW, Kothari V, Benzon B, Ghabili K, Hughes R, Zarif JC, Ross AE, Hurley PJ, Schaeffer EM. A mouse model of prostate cancer bone metastasis in a syngeneic immunocompetent host. Oncotarget. 2019;10(64):6845-6854. doi:10.18632/oncotarget.27317.
Zarif JC, Baena-Del Valle JA, Hicks JL, Heaphy CM, Vidal I, Luo J, Lotan TL, Hooper JE, Isaacs WB, Pienta KJ, De Marzo AM. Mannose receptor-positive macrophage infiltration correlates with prostate cancer onset and metastatic castration-resistant disease. Eur Urol Oncol. 2019;2(4):429-436. doi:10.1016/j.euo.2018.09.014.
Sidhom JW, Theodros D, Murter B, Zarif JC, Ganguly S, Pardoll DM, Baras A. ExCYT: a graphical user interface for streamlining analysis of high-dimensional cytometry data. J Vis Exp. 2019;(143). doi:10.3791/57473.
2018
Zarif JC, Antonarakis ES. Targeting ELK1: a wELKome addition to the prostate cancer armamentarium. AME Med J. 2018;3:104. doi:10.21037/amj.2018.10.08.
Zarif JC, Chalfin HJ, Pierorazio PM, Gorin MA. Characterization of the macrophage infiltrate in a case of xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis. J Clin Urol. 2018;11(3):226-228. doi:10.1177/2051415817716014.
2017
Sharma A, Mendonca J, Ying J, Kim HS, Verdone JE, Zarif JC, Carducci M, Hammers H, Pienta KJ, Kachhap S. The prostate metastasis suppressor gene NDRG1 differentially regulates cell motility and invasion. Mol Oncol. 2017;11(6):655-669. doi:10.1002/1878-0261.12059.
Zarif JC, Yang W, Hernandez JR, Zhang H, Pienta KJ. The identification of macrophage-enriched glycoproteins using glycoproteomics. Mol Cell Proteomics. 2017;16(6):1029-1037. doi:10.1074/mcp.M116.064444.
2016
Zarif JC, Miranti CK. The importance of non-nuclear AR signaling in prostate cancer progression and therapeutic resistance. Cell Signal. 2016;28(5):348-356. doi:10.1016/j.cellsig.2016.01.013.
Zarif JC, Hernandez JR, Verdone JE, Campbell SP, Drake CG, Pienta KJ. A phased strategy to differentiate human CD14+ monocytes into classically and alternatively activated macrophages and dendritic cells. Biotechniques. 2016;61(1):33-41. doi:10.2144/000114435.
2015
Verdone JE, Zarif JC, Pienta KJ. Aerobic glycolysis, motility, and cytoskeletal remodeling. Cell Cycle. 2015;14(2):169-170. doi:10.1080/15384101.2014.995493.
Zarif JC, Lamb LE, Schulz VV, Nollet EA, Miranti CK. Androgen receptor non-nuclear regulation of prostate cancer cell invasion mediated by Src and matriptase. Oncotarget. 2015;6(9):6862-6876. doi:10.18632/oncotarget.3119.
Shiraishi T, Verdone JE, Huang J, Kahlert UD, Hernandez JR, Torga G, Zarif JC, Epstein T, Gatenby R, McCartney A, Elisseeff JH, Mooney SM, An SS, Pienta KJ. Glycolysis is the primary bioenergetic pathway for cell motility and cytoskeletal remodeling in human prostate and breast cancer cells. Oncotarget. 2015;6(1):130-143. doi:10.18632/oncotarget.2766.
2014
Yang KR, Mooney SM, Zarif JC, Coffey DS, Taichman RS, Pienta KJ. Niche inheritance: a cooperative pathway to enhance cancer cell fitness through ecosystem engineering. J Cell Biochem. 2014;115(9):1478-1485. doi:10.1002/jcb.24813.
Zarif JC, Taichman RS, Pienta KJ. TAM macrophages promote growth and metastasis within the cancer ecosystem. Oncoimmunology. 2014;3(7):e941734. doi:10.4161/21624011.2014.941734.
2011
Lamb LE, Zarif JC, Miranti CK. The androgen receptor induces integrin α6β1 to promote prostate tumor cell survival via NF-κB and Bcl-xL independently of PI3K signaling. Cancer Res. 2011;71(7):2739-2749. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-10-2745.