Brian M. Wolpin, MD, MPH
Director, Hale Family Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research
Director, Gastrointestinal Cancer Center
Co-Director, Pancreatic and Biliary Tumor Center
Robert T. and Judith B. Hale Chair in Pancreatic Cancer
Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Bio
Dr. Brian Wolpin, MD, MPH is a medical oncologist and serves as director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. His research program is dedicated to the investigation of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) biology and oncology.
Dr. Wolpin has built resources to facilitate investigation into blood-based biomarkers as well as both germline (inherited) and somatic (tumor) genomic alterations in PDAC patients. He leads a highly productive collaboration of prospective cohort studies that leverage prediagnostic blood specimens to identify novel circulating biomarkers in PDAC. His group has developed extensive expertise in analyzing markers of altered metabolism in pancreatic cancer.
Dr. Wolpin serves as co-principal investigator (PI) for the Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium (PanScan), a multi-institutional NCI-based collaboration studying the inherited genetic causes of sporadic PDAC. Together, they have performed the first large-scale genome-wide interrogations of genetic variation and PDAC risk. Dr. Wolpin is also chair of the NCI Pancreatic Cancer Detection Consortium Steering Committee and leads a PDAC biospecimen bank at Dana-Farber for the collection of patient data, blood specimens, and tumor samples to fuel research in early detection and predictive biomarkers. Dr. Wolpin serves as Medical Oncology Study Chair for the ALLIANCE clinical trial (A021501) investigating new treatment approaches for patients with borderline-resectable PDAC. He is a PI on many additional projects including: a project to establish a translational science pipeline focused on serial biospecimen collection to understand the mechanisms of therapeutic response and resistance in pancreatic cancer; a grant from the Lustgarten Foundation focused on personalized medicine in PDAC; and the Harvard Cancer Center Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Precision Promise Consortium. Collectively, his group has extensive experience in generating and analyzing large, multi-dimensional datasets related to PDAC development and progression.
Research Interests
The Wolpin Lab focuses on diagnosis, risk factors, survival determinants, and clinical trials for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).
Our lab has examined the links between altered metabolism and pancreatic cancer. We used prediagnostic blood samples to show for the first time that insulin resistance is both a classical risk factor and a paraneoplastic syndrome due to subclinical PDAC (Wolpin, 2013); we leveraged high-throughput metabolomics to demonstrate that pancreatic tumors cause an elevation in circulating branched chain amino acids in the six to eight years before diagnosis (Mayers, 2014); and we also investigated metabolic alterations associated with patient outcomes (Yuan, 2016).
We have also studied inherited genetic predisposition to pancreatic cancer. As co-principal investigator of the Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium (PanScan), I have played a vital role in identifying the first regions of the genome associated with sporadic PDAC risk, and some of the genes contained in these regions (ABO, TERT) are now being studied in greater detail to elucidate biology. Additionally, we have focused on circulating markers and pancreatic cancer risk, specifically defining new circulating markers that can be used for PDAC risk stratification in the general population.
Furthermore, we have studied how various determinants, for example, altered metabolism, inherited genetic variation, and somatic alterations, impact PDAC survival. Thus, we demonstrated that patients with chronic obesity have shorter survival than non-obese patients (Yuan, 2013), and we showed that long-term diabetes is associated with reduced patient survival (Yuan, 2015).
Finally, I have extensive experience designing and leading clinical trials for patients with pancreatic cancer. I am PI of a grant from the Lustgarten Foundation focused on personalized medicine in PDAC and also a Harvard Cancer Center PI of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Precision Promise Consortium. I serve on national committees for pancreatic cancer treatment, including the NCCN Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Guidelines Panel, the ALLIANCE Gastrointestinal Cancer Committee, and the NCI Pancreas Cancer Task Force.