Breadcrumb

null Ivan Litvinov, MD, PhD, FRCPC

Scientist, RI-MUHC, Glen site

Cancer Research Program

Centre for Translational Biology

Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University

Department of Medicine, Division of Dermatology, MUHC

 

Keywords

skin cancer • sun protection • melanoma • retrotransposons • gene-environment interaction • meiomitosis • genomic instability • retinoid resistance

Research Focus

My lab studies the genetic bases of carcinogenesis and disease progression of cutaneous-t cell lymphoma and non-melanoma skin cancers (cutaneous squamous, basal and basal cell carcinomas) with the focus on application/translation of discovered molecular knowledge into clinical practice. We are analyzing the expression and activity of cancer testis, meiosis regulatory, embryonic stem cell genes and retrotransposon reactivation in these malignancies and their impact on promoting genomic instability/cancer progression. We study how these machineries can be used as diagnostic/prognostic markers and targeted for therapy development. With respect to melanoma/skin cancers, my lab is studying the epidemiology and geographic distribution of these malignancies, how weather and geography impacts incidence and what motivates sun exposure behaviours in different communities.

Selected Publications

Click on Pubmed to see my current publications list

  • Richie Jeremian, Alexandra Malinowski, Yuliya Lytvyn, Jorge R. Georgakopoulos, Anastasiya Muntyanu, Asfandyar Mufti, Philippe Lefrançois, Jensen Yeung, Ivan V Litvinov. “Skin photoaging following sun exposure is associated with decreased epigenetic and biological age and correlates with basal cell carcinoma phenotype.” Br J Dermatol. 190(4):590-592. doi: 10.1093/bjd/ljad527.

  • Richie Jeremian, Pingxing Xie, Misha Fotovati, Philippe Lefrançois, Ivan V. Litvinov. “Gene-Environment Analyses in a UK Biobank Skin Cancer Cohort Identifies Important SNPs in DNA Repair Genes That May Help Prognosticate Disease Risk” Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 32(11):1599-1607. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-23-0545.

  • Jennifer Gantchev, Julia Messina-Pacheco, Amelia Martínez Villarreal, Brandon Ramchatesingh, Philippe Lefrançois, Pingxing Xie, Laetitia Amar, Hong Hao Xu, Keerthenan Raveendra, Daniel Sikorski, Daniel Josue Guerra Ordaz, Raman Preet Kaur Gill, Marine Lambert, Ivan V. Litvinov. “Ectopically Expressed Meiosis-Specific Cancer Testis Antigen HORMAD1 Promotes Genomic Instability in Squamous Cell Carcinomas.” Cells 12(12):1627. doi: 10.3390/cells12121627.

  • Fadi Touma, Marine Lambert, Amelia Martínez Villarreal, Jennifer Gantchev, Brandon Ramchatesingh and Ivan V. Litvinov. “The Ultraviolet Irradiation of Keratinocytes Induces Ectopic Expression of LINE-1 Retrotransposon Machinery and Leads to Cellular Senescence.” Biomedicines 11(11):3017. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines11113017.

  • Jennifer Gantchev, Brandon Ramchatesingh, Melissa Berman-Rosa, Daniel Sikorski, Keerthenan Raveendra, Laetitia Amar, Hong Hao Xu, Amelia Martínez Villarreal, Daniel Josue Guerra Ordaz and Ivan V. Litvinov. “Tools used to assay genomic instability in cancers and cancer meiomitosis.” J Cell Commun Signal 16(2):159-177. (Jan 2022) doi: 10.1007/s12079-021-00661-z.