Crompton Lab Research
Our research team is conducting translational research in pediatric and rare cancers. We focus on utilizing proteomic and genomic approaches to expand our understanding of cancer biology and to identify novel treatment approaches for pediatric solid tumors and rare sarcomas. One research goal is to validate the use of specific tyrosine kinase inhibitors in combination with other targeted agents and chemotherapy in the treatment of Ewing sarcoma. Our scientists utilize cell line models and patient-derived xenografts to identify combinations of drugs that have synergistic activity against Ewing sarcoma growth.
Another goal of Dr. Crompton’s laboratory is to develop non-invasive tumor profiling techniques that aid in the diagnosis of cancer, quantify disease burden, assess response to therapy, and uncover clinically relevant patterns of tumor evolution. We have developed novel next-generation sequencing assays to detect and quantify circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in the blood of patients with the most common types of pediatric solid tumors. The Crompton lab team is also developing new workflows that allow isolation and single-cell profiling of ultra-rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from patient blood samples.
Together, we expect that these liquid biopsy strategies will provide unprecedented insight into how cancer cells respond to novel therapies and develop mechanisms of treatment resistance. We believe that the development of these tools will one day allow clinicians to provide more precise patient-specific risk-adapted therapy for children with pediatric cancers.
Select Publications
Abbou S, Klega K, Tsuji J, Tanhaemami M, Hall D, Barkauskas DA, Krailo MD, Cibulskis C, Nag A, Thorner AR, Pollock S, Imamovic-Tuco A, Shern JF, DuBois SG, Venkatramani R, Hawkins DS, Crompton BD. Circulating Tumor DNA Is Prognostic in Intermediate-Risk Rhabdomyosarcoma: A Report From the Children's Oncology Group. J Clin Oncol. 2023 May 1;41(13):2382-2393. doi: 10.1200/JCO.22.00409. Epub 2023 Feb 1. PubMed PMID: 36724417; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10150913
Shulman DS, Chen S, Hall D, Nag A, Thorner AR, Lessnick SL, Stegmaier K, Janeway KA, DuBois SG, Krailo MD, Barkauskas DA, Church AJ, Crompton BD. Adverse prognostic impact of the loss of STAG2 protein expression in patients with newly diagnosed localised Ewing sarcoma: A report from the Children's Oncology Group. Br J Cancer. 2022 Dec;127(12):2220-2226. doi: 10.1038/s41416-022-01977-2. Epub 2022 Oct 11. PubMed PMID: 36221002; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9726932.
Gillani R, Camp SY, Han S, Jones JK, Chu H, O'Brien S, Young EL, Hayes L, Mitchell G, Fowler T, Gusev A, Kamihara J, Janeway KA, Schiffman JD, Crompton BD, AlDubayan SH, Van Allen EM. Germline predisposition to pediatric Ewing sarcoma is characterized by inherited pathogenic variants in DNA damage repair genes. Am J Hum Genet. 2022 Jun 2;109(6):1026-1037. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2022.04.007. Epub 2022 May 4. PubMed PMID: 35512711.
Madanat-Harjuoja LM, Renfro LA, Klega K, Tornwall B, Thorner AR, Nag A, Dix D, Dome JS, Diller LR, Fernandez CV, Mullen EA, Crompton BD. Circulating Tumor DNA as a Biomarker in Patients With Stage III and IV Wilms Tumor: Analysis From a Children's Oncology Group Trial, AREN0533. J Clin Oncol. 2022 May 17;:JCO2200098. doi: 10.1200/JCO.22.00098. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 35580298.
Abbou S, Finstuen-Magro S, McDannell B, Feenstra M, Ward A, Shulman DS, Geoerger B, Duplan J, Comeau H, Janeway KA, Klega K, Crompton BD. Rapid and highly sensitive approach for multiplexed somatic fusion detection. Mod Pathol. 2022 Mar 28;. doi: 10.1038/s41379-022-01058-y. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 35347250.
Madanat-Harjuoja LM, Klega K, Lu Y, Shulman DS, Thorner AR, Nag A, Tap WD, Reinke DK, Diller L, Ballman KV, George S, Crompton BD. Circulating Tumor DNA Is Associated with Response and Survival in Patients with Advanced Leiomyosarcoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 Feb 21;:OF1-OF8. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-21-3951. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 35561344.
Schienda J, Church AJ, Corson LB, Decker B, Clinton CM, Manning DK, Imamovic-Tuco A, Reidy D, Strand GR, Applebaum MA, Bagatell R, DuBois SG, Glade-Bender JL, Kang W, Kim A, Laetsch TW, Macy ME, Maese L, Pinto N, Sabnis AJ, Schiffman JD, Colace SI, Volchenboum SL, Weiser DA, Nowak JA, Lindeman NI, Janeway KA, Crompton BD*, Kamihara J*. Germline Sequencing Improves Tumor-Only Sequencing Interpretation in a Precision Genomic Study of Patients With Pediatric Solid Tumor. JCO Precis Oncol. 2021;5. doi: 10.1200/PO.21.00281. eCollection 2021. PubMed PMID: 34964003; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8710335.
Adane B, Alexe G, Seong BKA, Lu D, Hwang EE, Hnisz D, Lareau CA, Ross L, Lin S, Dela Cruz FS, Richardson M, Weintraub AS, Wang S, Iniguez AB, Dharia NV, Conway AS, Robichaud AL, Tanenbaum B, Krill-Burger JM, Vazquez F, Schenone M, Berman JN, Kung AL, Carr SA, Aryee MJ, Young RA, Crompton BD*, Stegmaier K*. STAG2 loss rewires oncogenic and developmental programs to promote metastasis in Ewing sarcoma. Cancer Cell. 2021 Jun 14;39(6):827-844.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2021.05.007. PubMed PMID: 34129824; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8378827.
Wang S, Hwang EE, Guha R, O'Neill AF, Melong N, Veinotte CJ, Conway Saur A, Wuerthele K, Shen M, McKnight C, Alexe G, Lemieux ME, Wang A, Hughes E, Xu X, Boxer MB, Hall MD, Kung A, Berman JN, Davis MI, Stegmaier K, Crompton BD. High-throughput Chemical Screening Identifies Focal Adhesion Kinase and Aurora Kinase B Inhibition as a Synergistic Treatment Combination in Ewing Sarcoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2019 Jul 15;25(14):4552-4566. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-17-0375. Epub 2019 Apr 12. PubMed PMID: 30979745; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6634997.
Shulman DS, Klega K, Imamovic-Tuco A, Clapp A, Nag A, Thorner AR, Van Allen E, Ha G, Lessnick SL, Gorlick R, Janeway KA, Leavey PJ, Mascarenhas L, London WB, Vo KT, Stegmaier K, Hall D, Krailo MD, Barkauskas DA, DuBois SG, Crompton BD. Detection of circulating tumour DNA is associated with inferior outcomes in Ewing sarcoma and osteosarcoma: a report from the Children's Oncology Group. Br J Cancer. 2018 Aug;119(5):615-621. doi: 10.1038/s41416-018-0212-9. Epub 2018 Aug 21. PubMed PMID: 30131550; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6162271.
Crompton BD, Stewart C, Taylor-Weiner A, Alexe G, Kurek KC, Calicchio ML, Kiezun A, Carter SL, Shukla SA, Mehta SS, Thorner AR, de Torres C, Lavarino C, Suñol M, McKenna A, Sivachenko A, Cibulskis K, Lawrence MS, Stojanov P, Rosenberg M, Ambrogio L, Auclair D, Seepo S, Blumenstiel B, DeFelice M, Imaz-Rosshandler I, Schwarz-Cruz Y Celis A, Rivera MN, Rodriguez-Galindo C, Fleming MD, Golub TR, Getz G, Mora J, Stegmaier K. The genomic landscape of pediatric Ewing sarcoma. Cancer Discov. 2014 Nov;4(11):1326-41. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-13-1037. Epub 2014 Sep 3. PubMed PMID: 25186949.