|
Dr. Soto received her M.D. degree from the University of California, San Diego in 1994. After her residency in Internal Medicine at Georgetown University, she did her Pulmonary and Critical Care medicine subspecialty at the University of California, San Francisco, where she joined the faculty in 2003. Her academic activities include biomedical research in the laboratory and teaching to medical students and pulmonary fellows. She sees patients in her pulmonary practice at Mt. Zion Cancer Center. Her practice is part of the multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Group that manages patients with lung cancer. She also attends the Mt. Zion hospital intensive care unit.
Research Interests
The overall focus of my research is to understand the role of the immune system in the development of lung cancer. I have begun my studies by focusing on mast cells, which are innate immune cells that secrete various tumor-promoting factors, such as angiogenic proteins and proteases. We study the function of mast cells during lung cancer development by using a transgenic mouse that lacks mast cells (KitWshKitWsh) and a mouse model of lung adenocarcinoma (CC10-SV40-Tag). We have found that mast cell deficiency improves survival in CC10Tag mice. Experiments are ongoing to determine why survival is worse in the presence of mast cells and which mast cell factors contribute to this finding. Future studies will also explore the role of other innate immune cells such as macrophages and neutrophils, as well as the role of the adaptive immune cells, T-cells and B-cells. With these studies we hope to better understand the mechanisms of malignant conversion and progression in the lung and how cancer evades the immune system. With this information we hope to find more specific anti-cancer therapeutic targets in the future.
Recent Publications
1. Soto, D., Malmsten, C., Blount, J., Muilenburg, D. and G.H. Caughey, “Deficiency of Human Mast Cell a-Tryptase: Genetic Mechanism, Frequency and Population Variation,” 2002, Clinical and Experimental Allergy, 32(7):1000-1006.
2. Soto, D. and S. Sukumar, “Improved Detection of Mutations in the p53 Gene in Human Tumors as Single-Stranded Conformation Polymorphs and Double-Stranded Heteroduplex DNA,” 1992, PCR Methods and Applications, 2:96-98.
3. Runnebaum, I., Nagarajan, M., Bowman, M., Soto, D. and S. Sukumar, “Mutations in p53 as Potential Molecular Markers for Human Breast Cancer,” 1991, PNAS, 88:10657-661.
4. LaPolt, P., Piquette, G., Soto, D., Sincich, C. and A. Hsueh, “Regulation of Inhibin Subunit Messenger Ribonucleic Acid Levels by Gonadotropins, Growth Factors and Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone in Cultured rat Granulosa Cells,” 1990, Endocrinology, 127(2):823-31.
5. LaPolt, P., Soto, D., Su, J., Campen, C., Vaughan, J., Vale, W. and A. Hsueh, “Activin Stimulation of Inhibin Secretion and Messenger Ribonucleic Acid levels in Cultured Granulosa Cells,” 1989, Molecular Endocrinology, 3(10):1666-73.
6. Fauser, B., Soto, D., Czekala, N. and A. Hsueh, “Granulosa Cell Aromatase Bioasssay: Changes of Bioactive follicle-Stimulating Hormone Levels in the Female,” 1989, Journal of Steroid Biochemistry, 33(4B): 721-26. |
