Department of Pathology

Dalhousie University

Paola Marcato

Professor

PATH-MarcatoPaola-2025-12-15
Department of Pathology , Department of Microbiology & Immunology

Email: paola.marcato@dal.ca
Phone: 902-494-4239
Mailing Address: 
Dalhousie University
Sir Charles Tupper Medical Building, 11013
5850 College Street
PO Box 15000
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 4R2
 
Research Topics:
  • Pathobiology of cancer
  • Breast cancer stem cells
  • ALDH1A3
  • Immunotherapy
  • Drug resistance
  • Biomarkers
  • Gene expression profiling of cancer
  • Non-coding RNA
  • Novel therapeutics
  • Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation-Atlantic Region Endowed Chair in Breast Cancer Research
  • Nova Scotia Health Affiliate Scientist (Research)
  • Senior Scientist, Beatrice Hunter Cancer Research Institute

Recruiting graduate students and postdoctoral fellows

Research interests

The research projects in my laboratory have the long-term goal of developing improved therapeutic strategies for breast cancer based on a precision medicine approach. We use transcriptome and genome-wide functional assays, cell lines, patient-derived xenografts (PDXs), mouse tumor models, and analysis of published patient datasets to identify biomarkers, study breast cancer stem cells (CSCs) and identify novel therapeutic targets important in breast cancer progression and drug resistance. These factors include ALDH1A3, THSD4, and long non-coding RNA.

People

  • Dr. Jaganathan Venkatesh (senior scientist)
  • Dr. Raj Pranap Arun (postdoctoral fellow)
  • Dr. Perryn Kruth (postdoctoral fellow)
  • Dr. PD Sameera Fernando (postdoctoral fellow)
  • Dr. Marie-Claire Wasson (postdoctoral fellow)
  • Olivia Walker (graduate student)
  • Hannah Cahill (graduate student)
  • Maya MacLean (graduate student)
  • Bakhmala Khan (graduate student)
  • Cheryl Dean (research assistant/lab manager)
  • Dr. Geetha Marivel (research assistant/animal technologist)
  • Sam Hopkins (undergraduate student)
  • Jenavieve Coombs (undergraduate student)

Selected Publications

  1. Asleh K#, Bethune G, Marcato P# (2025) Expression of carcinoma ecotypes in the tumor microenvironment predicts response to neoadjuvant immunotherapy in early-stage breast cancer. Sci Reports. 2025 Nov 24. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-28810-z. #co-corresponding
  2. Walker OL, Wasson MCD, Kumar K, Nersesian S, Venkatesh J, Vijayan VV, Coates L, Fernando W, Arun RP, Cahill HF, Baker E, Dahn ML, Slauenwhite D, Cruickshank BM, Barnes P, Longjohn ML, Belbin TJ, Gaston D, Knapp GC, Melvin J, Gujar S, Boudreau JE, Bethune G, Marcato P (2025) THSD4 is a novel mediator of T cell exclusion and anti-PD-1 resistance in hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. Biomark Res 13(1):135. doi: 10.1186/s40364-025-00850-7
  3. Cahill HF, Brown JM, Leslie-Toogood M, Venkatesh J, Wasson MCD, Arun RP, McLean ME, Vidovic D, Marcato P (2025) LncRNA NRAD1 regulates the triple-negative breast cancer transcriptome through miRNA biogenesis, localization, and predominantly non-ceRNA interactions. Sci Reports 15(1):26708. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-12415-7
  4. The Terry Fox Research Institute Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network (2025) The Terry Fox Research Institute Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network: A pan-Canadian precision oncology initiative. Cancer Cell 43(4):587-592
    (Consortium publication; Network member listed in supplementary file)
  5. Fernando W, Cruickshank BM, Arun RP, MacLean MR, Cahill HF, Morales-Quintanilla F, Dean CA, Wasson MCD, Dahn ML, Coyle KM, Walker OL, Coombs MR, Marcato P. (2024) ALDH1A3 is the switch that determines the balance of ALDH+ and CD24-CD44+ cancer stem cells, EMT-MET, and glucose metabolism in breast cancer. Oncogene 43(43):3151-3169.
  6. Fernando W, MacLean E, Monro S, Power Coombs ML, Marcato P, Rupasinghe HPV, Hoskin DW. (2024) Phloridzin docosahexaenoate, an omega-3 fatty acid ester of a flavonoid precursor, inhibits angiogenesis by suppressing endothelial cell proliferation, migration, and differentiation. Biomolecules 14(7), 769; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom14070769
  7. MacLean MR, Walker OL, Arun RP, Fernando W, Marcato P (2024) Informed by cancer stem cells of solid tumors: advances in treatments targeting tumor-promoting factors and pathways. Int J Mol Sci. Apr 7;25(7):4102. doi: 10.3390/ijms25074102.
  8. Wasson M-CD*, Venkatesh J*, Cahill HF, McLean ME, Dean CA, Marcato P (2024) LncRNAs exhibit subtype-specific expression, survival associations, and cancer-promoting effects in breast cancer/ Gene. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gene.2024.148165. *co-first
  9. Bharadwaj AG*, McLean ME*, Dahn ML*, Cahill HF, Wasson M-CD, Arun RP, Walker OL, Cruickshank BM, Fernando W, Barnes PJ, Bethune G, Knapp G, Helyer LK, Giacomantonio CA, Waisman DM#, Marcato P# (2024) ALDH1A3 promotes invasion and metastasis in triple-negative breast cancer by regulating the plasminogen activation pathway. Mol Oncol. 18(1):91-112. *co-first #co-corresponding
  10. Chipurupalli S, Jiang P, Liu X, Santos JL, Marcato P, Rosen KV. (2023) Three-dimensional growth sensitizes breast cancer cells to treatment with ferroptosis-promoting drugs. Cell Death Dis14(9): 580
  11. McLean ME, MacLean M, Cahill HF, Arun RP, Walker OL, Wasson MCD, Fernando W, Venkatesh J, Marcato P (2023) The expanding role of cancer stem cell marker ALDH1A3 in cancer and beyond, Cancers 15(2): (492)
  12. 12. Arun RP, Cahill HF, Marcato P (2022) Breast cancer subtype-specific miRNAs: Networks, impacts, and the potential for intervention. Biomedicines 10(3), 651. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines10030651
  13. Walker OL, Dahn ML, Coombs MR, Marcato P. (2022) The Prostaglandin E2 Pathway and Breast Cancer Stem Cells: Evidence of Increased Signaling and Potential Targeting. Front Oncol https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2021.791696
  14. Dahn ML, Walsh HR, Dean CA, Giacomantonio MA, Fernando W, Murphy JP, Walker OL, Wasson MCD, Gujar S, Pinto DM, Marcato P (2022) Metabolite profiling reveals a connection between aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A3 and GABA metabolism in breast cancer metastasis. Metabolomics 18(1):9 doi: 10.1007/s11306-021-01864-6
  15. Wasson M-CD, Brown JM, Venkatesh J, Fernando W, Marcato P (2021) Datasets exploring putative lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA axes in breast cancer cell lines Data Brief 37:107241 doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2021.107241
  16. Cruickshank BM*, Wasson M-CD*, Brown JM, Fernando W, Venkatesh J, Walker OL, Morales-Quintanilla F, Dahn ML, Vidovic D, Dean CA, Van Iderstine C, Bedard K, Dellaire G, Marcato P (2021) LncRNA PART1 promotes proliferation and migration, is associated with cancer stem cells, and alters the miRNA landscape in triple-negative breast cancer. Cancers 13(11):2644. doi: 10.3390/cancers13112644    *co-first
  17. Alwithenani A, Bedard K, Bethune D, Castonguay M, Drucker A, Flowerdew G, Forsythe ML, French D, Fris J, Greer W, Henteleff H, MacNeil M, Marignani PA, Morzyci W, Mujoomdar A, Plourde M, Snow S, Marcato P#, Xu Z# (2021) Profiling targeted driver mutations with PD-L1 expression in non-small cell lung cancer reveals associations with EGFR mutations and invasive disease. PLOS One 16(5):e0251080. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251080.     #co-corresponding
  18. Sultan M, Nearing JT, Brown JM, Huynh TT, Cruickshank BM, Lamoureaux E, Vidovic D, Dahn ML, Fernando W, Giacomantonio CA, Langille MGI, Marcato P (2021). An in vivo genome-wide shRNA screen identifies BCL6 as a targetable paclitaxel resistance mediator in breast cancer. Mol Oncol. 15(8):2046-2064. doi: 10.1002/1878-0261.12964.
  19. Venkatesh J, Wasson M-CD, Brown JM, Fernando W, Marcato P (2021) LncRNA-miRNA axes in breast cancer: novel points of interaction for strategic attack Cancer Letters. 509:81-89. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2021.04.002.
  20. Brown JM*, Wasson MCD*, Marcato P (2021) Triple-negative breast cancer and the COVID-19 pandemic: clinical management perspectives and potential consequences of infection. Cancers 13(2): *co-first
  21. Dahn ML, Dean CA, Jo DB, Coyle KM, Marcato P (2021). Human-specific GAPDH RT-qPCR is an accurate and sensitive method of xenograft metastasis quantification. Mol Ther – Meth Clin D 20: 398-408.  doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omtm.2020.12.010
  22. Dahn ML and Marcato P (2021) Targeting the roots of recurrence: new strategies for eliminating therapy-resistant breast cancer stem cells. Cancers 13(1): 54 doi.org/10.3390/cancers13010054
  23.  Bharadwaj AG, Dahn ML, Liu R, Colp P, Thomas L, Holloway RW, Marignani P, Godbout R, Too C, Barnes P, Marcato P, Waisman D (2020). S100A10 Has a Critical Regulatory Function in Mammary Tumor Growth and Metastasis: Insights Using MMTV-PyMT Oncomice and Clinical Patient Sample Analysis. Cancers. 12(12): 3673  https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers12123673.
  24. Brown JM*, Wasson MC*, Marcato P (2020) The missing lnc: The potential of targeting triple-negative breast cancer and cancer stem cells by inhibiting long non-coding RNAs. Cells 9(3), 763; doi.org/10.3390/cells9030763.   *co-first
  25. Dahn ML, Cruickshank BM, Jackson A, Dean C, Holloway R, Hall S, Coyle KM, Maillet H, Waisman DM, Goralski K, Giacomantonio CA, Weaver IC, Marcato P (2020) Decitabine response in breast cancer requires efficient drug processing and is not limited by multidrug resistance.  Mol Cancer Ther  doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-19-0745
  26. Vidovic D, Huynh TT, Konda P, Dean CA, Sultan M, Cruickshank B, Coyle KM, Gujar SA, Marcato P (2020) ALDH1A3-regulated long non-coding RNA NRAD1 is a potential novel target for triple-negative breast tumors and cancer stem cells. Cell Death Diff 27(1):363-378. doi: 10.1038/s41418-019-0362-1.