Pathology and Lab Medicine
Graduate Training Programs
Residency Training Programs
Individual Faculty Labs
UNC Pathology Home

 
 

Ryan Miller, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
 
Office: 919-966-4585
E-mail: rmiller@med.unc.edu
 
 
 
 
Research Interests
 
A fundamental problem in cancer chemotherapy is the heterogeneity of patient responses and the largely unpredictable nature of toxic side effects. My research focus is on characterization of the molecular genetic mechanisms responsible for this heterogeneity using tumor tissues. Pharmacogenomics is the post-genome era science of “personalized medicine.” Because cancer is an acquired, somatic genetic disease, personalization of cancer chemotherapy will require detailed molecular genetic analyses of surgical tumor specimens. Stuart Schnitt coined the term “pharmacopathology” for this nascent subfield of molecular surgical pathology that has evolved during the era of molecularly targeted cancer therapeutics. This knowledge will aid development of increasingly sophisticated molecular classifications of cancer with improved prognostic and predictive utility. My work to date has focused on preclinical experimental therapeutics and clinical biomarker research in gliomas, a heterogeneous group of diseases with potentially dismal patient outcomes and a tractable model system for coordinated drug-biomarker co-development. The successes of Herceptin in breast cancer and Gleevec in leukemia illustrate the utility of integrating experimental therapeutics and biomarker research and have shown that molecularly targeted chemotherapy and improved molecular tumor classification are inextricably linked. These drugs also represent paradigms for future development of “personalized” chemotherapy targeted to the specific molecular abnormalities present in an individual patient’s tumor.
 
Selected Publications
 

Miller CR and McLeod HL. Pharmacogenomics of cancer chemotherapy-related toxicity. Journal of Supportive Oncology. 5(1):1 Jan 2007. Review article.

Yuan L, Siegel M, Choi K, Khosla C, Miller CR, Jackson EN, Piwnica-Worms D, Rich KM. Tissue transglutaminase 2 inhibitor, KCC009, disrupts fibronectin assembly in the extracellular matrix and sensitizes orthotopic glioblastomas to chemotherapy. Oncogene. DOI: 10.1038/sj.onc.1210048

Miller CR, Dunham C, Scheithauer B, Perry A. Significance of necrosis in grading of oligodendroglial neoplasms: A clinicopathological and genetic study of 1093 high-grade gliomas. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 24(34):5419 Dec 2006.

Vadivelu S, Mangano FT, Miller CR, Leonard JR. Multifocal Langerhans cell histiocytosis of the pediatric spine: a case report and literature review. Child's nervous system. Sep 2006. DOI 10.1007/s00381-006-0172-x. Case report.

Conrad CA, Miller CR, Ji Y, Gumin J, Gomez-Manzano C, Bharara S, McMurray JS, Lang FF, Wong F, Sawaya R, Yung WKA, Fueyo J. Δ24-hyCD adenovirus suppresses glioma growth in vivo by combining oncolysis and chemosensitization. Cancer Gene Therapy 12(3):284 Mar 2005.

Miller CR and Perry A. Immunohistochemical differentiation of hemangioblastoma from metastatic clear cell renal carcinoma: An update. Advances in Anatomic Pathology 11(6):325 Nov 2004. Review article.

Miller CR and Perry A. CD34 and MAP-2 immunohistochemistry in the differential diagnosis of epilepsy-associated glioneuronal tumors. Advances in Anatomic Pathology 11(6):326 Nov 2004. Review article.

Buchsbaum DJ, Miller CR, Mahasreshti P, Curiel DT. Cancer gene therapy. In: RK Oldham (ed), Principles of Cancer Biotherapy, 4th Ed., Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2003. ISBN 1-4020-0706-X

Miller CR, Williams CR, Buchsbaum DJ, Gillespie GY. Intratumoral 5-fluorouracil produced by cytosine deaminase/5-fluorocytosine gene therapy is effective for experimental human glioblastomas. Cancer Research 62(3):773 Feb 2002.

Miller CR, Gustin AN, Buchsbaum DJ, Vickers SM, Manne U, Grizzle WE, Cloud GA, Diasio RB, Johnson MR. Quantitation of cytosine deaminase mRNA by real-time RT-PCR: A sensitive method for assessing 5-fluorocytosine toxicity in vitro. Analytical Biochemistry 301(2):189 Feb 2002.

Gustin A, Pederson L, Miller R, Chan C, Vickers SM. Application of molecular biology studies to gene therapy treatment strategies. World Journal of Surgery 26(7):854 Apr 2002. Review article.

Blanquicett C, Gillespie GY, Nabors LB, Miller CR, Bharara S, Buchsbaum DJ, Diasio RB, Johnson MR. Induction of thymidine phosphorylase (TP) in both irradiated and shielded, bilateral human U87MG glioma xenografts: Implications for a dual modality treatment using capecitabine and irradiation. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics 1(12):1139 Oct 2002.

Kelly FJ, Miller CR, Navarro JN, Siegal G, Barnes MN, Alvarez R, Buchsbaum DJ, Curiel DT. Selectivity of TAG-72 targeted adenovirus gene transfer to primary ovarian carcinoma versus autologous mesothelial cells in vitro. Clinical Cancer Research 6(11):4323 Nov 2000.
 
 
 
UNC Pathology    |   UNC School of Medicine    |    UNC Healthcare