Tobias Janowitz
Assistant Professor
Cancer Center Member
M.D., Ph.D., University of Cambridge, UK, 2007
janowitz@cshl.edu | 516-367-8422
Cancer is a systemic disease. Using both laboratory and clinical research, my group investigates the connections between metabolism, endocrinology, and immunology to discover how the body’s response to a tumor can be used to improve treatment for patients with cancer.
How do tumors interact with the biology of the host system? What can we learn from studying the physiology and biochemistry of the host system in the context of cancer? These are principle questions that drive the research in my laboratory. For example, we investigate the convergence of systemic metabolic stress, endocrinology, and suppressed anti-cancer immunity to discover mechanism-based strategies for combination therapy for patients with cancer. We have shown that interleukin-6 induced metabolic stress is sufficient to downregulate hepatic ketogenesis. This causes significant systemic stress during periods of caloric deficiency that are often part of the cancer care pathway. The resulting elevation of glucocorticoids suppresses anti-tumor immunity in model systems of pancreatic cancer. Using clinical samples and data, we have shown correlative findings of weight loss, reduced ketogenesis, and elevated glucocorticoids in patients with pancreatic cancer. Our work, therefore, confirms that cancer cannot be understood and probably not be treated, by investigating tumors in isolation. We use findings like these to develop strategies for interventional studies with the aim to improve outcome for patients with cancer.
Cancer Research UK Clinician Scientist Award
Wellcome Trust Translational Medicine and Therapeutics Academic Clinical Lectureship
Boehringer Ingelheim Fond PhD Fellowship
German National Merit Scholarship
The latest weapon against cancer is … a keto diet?
June 12, 2023
CSHL researchers find that pairing keto with a prescription steroid may offer a potential treatment for pancreatic and colorectal cancer.
President’s essay: Bringing bold visions to life
May 26, 2023
CSHL President & CEO Bruce Stillman sees the Laboratory as a global hub for scientific expertise and a powerful launchpad for early-career scientists.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory: Foundations for the Future
December 15, 2022
CSHL continues to lead in biomedical sciences by fostering a collaborative, innovative, and high-risk, high-reward research community.
Tobias Janowitz leads new, global Cancer Grand Challenges team
June 16, 2022
Janowitz received a $25 million grant to take on cachexia. This debilitating condition is responsible for up to 30% of cancer-related deaths.
Famotidine clinical trial shows COVID-19 symptom reduction
February 10, 2022
An over-the-counter heartburn drug shows promise in reducing several COVID-19 symptoms in a fully-remote outpatient clinical trial.
Research matters
June 8, 2021
Innovative research and educational activities never stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic.
CSHL designs at-home clinical trial for COVID-19 treatment
January 29, 2021
Adapting a cancer symptom tracker, researchers designed a statistically valid and completely at-home clinical trial for COVID-19 patients.
CSHL faculty Endeavor Awards: Cancer changes the whole body
January 6, 2021
Tobias Janowitz and Semir Beyaz won the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research’s first Endeavor Award for studying cancer as a whole body phenomenon.
Calibrating kidney function for cancer patients
December 10, 2020
Doctors frequently assess how well the kidneys work, but standard tests are not always accurate for cancer patients.
Giving the immune system a double boost against cancer
October 30, 2020
Immunotherapy enhances the body’s own defenses to kill cancer. A new regimen may increase the utility of these types of drugs.
- Cancer, host metabolism, and immunotherapy
- Tumors reprogram the liver, causing wasting and short-circuiting body’s immune response
- Weight loss condition provides insight into failure of cancer immunotherapies
- From cancer evolution to targeting faulty genetics – our new fellows
- In Accordance With Our Best Estimates
- New Model for Estimating Glomerular Filtration Rate and Accurately Dosing Carboplatin in Cancer Patients
- New way of predicting kidney function could improve chemotherapy dosing for many cancer patients
- You made a difference – December 2012
Selected Publications
Cancer: The Tumor-Driven Disease of the Host
3 Jul 2018 | Cell Metabolism | 28(1):5-6
Janowitz, T
A type III complement factor D deficiency: Structural insights for inhibition of the alternative pathway
Jul 2018 | Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology | 142(1):311-314.e6
Sng, C, O'Byrne, S, Prigozhin, D, Bauer, M, Harvey, J, Ruhle, M, Challis, B, Lear, S, Roberts, L, Workman, S, Janowitz, T, Magiera, L, Doffinger, R, Buckland, M, Jodrell, D, Semple, R, Wilson, T, Modis, Y, Thaventhiran, J
Rapid disease progression in a patient with mismatch repair-deficient and cortisol secreting adrenocortical carcinoma treated with pembrolizumab
21 Jun 2018 | Seminars in Oncology
Casey, R, Giger, O, Seetho, I, Marker, A, Pitfield, D, Boyle, L, Gurnell, M, Shaw, A, Tischowitz, M, Maher, E, Chatterjee, V, Janowitz, T, Mells, G, Corrie, P, Challis, B
A comparative analysis of immune privilege in pregnancy and cancer in the context of checkpoint blockade immunotherapy
26 Mar 2018 | Seminars in Oncology
Flint, T, Jones, J, Ferrer, M, Colucci, F, Janowitz, T
Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Underutilize Immune Response Monitoring
Jan 2018 | The Oncologist | 23(1):116-117
Connell, C, Raby, S, Beh, I, Flint, T, Williams, E, Fearon, D, Jodrell, D, Janowitz, T
All Publications
Ketogenic diet promotes tumor ferroptosis but induces relative corticosterone deficiency that accelerates cachexia.
7 Jun 2023 | Cell Metabolism
Ferrer, Miriam, Mourikis, Nicholas, Davidson, Emma, Kleeman, Sam, Zaccaria, Marta, Habel, Jill, Rubino, Rachel, Gao, Qing, Flint, Thomas, Young, Lisa, Connell, Claire, Lukey, Michael, Goncalves, Marcus, White, Eileen, Venkitaraman, Ashok, Janowitz, Tobias
Tumor Cytokine-Induced Hepatic Gluconeogenesis Contributes to Cancer Cachexia: Insights from Full Body Single Nuclei Sequencing.
18 May 2023 | bioRxiv
Liu, Ying, Dantas, Ezequiel, Ferrer, Miriam, Liu, Yifang, Comjean, Aram, Davidson, Emma, Hu, Yanhui, Goncalves, Marcus, Janowitz, Tobias, Perrimon, Norbert
Cachexia: A systemic consequence of progressive, unresolved disease.
27 Apr 2023 | Cell | 186(9):1824-1845
Ferrer, Miriam, Anthony, Tracy, Ayres, Janelle, Biffi, Giulia, Brown, Justin, Caan, Bette, Cespedes Feliciano, Elizabeth, Coll, Anthony, Dunne, Richard, Goncalves, Marcus, Grethlein, Jonas, Heymsfield, Steven, Hui, Sheng, Jamal-Hanjani, Mariam, Lam, Jie, Lewis, David, McCandlish, David, Mustian, Karen, O'Rahilly, Stephen, Perrimon, Norbert, White, Eileen, Janowitz, Tobias
Ketogenic diet promotes tumor ferroptosis but induces relative corticosterone deficiency that accelerates cachexia.
18 Feb 2023 | bioRxiv
Ferrer, Miriam, Mourikis, Nicholas, Davidson, Emma, Kleeman, Sam, Zaccaria, Marta, Habel, Jill, Rubino, Rachel, Flint, Thomas, Connell, Claire, Lukey, Michael, White, Eileen, Coll, Anthony, Venkitaraman, Ashok, Janowitz, Tobias
CRISPR-induced exon skipping of β-catenin reveals tumorigenic mutants driving distinct subtypes of liver cancer
15 Jan 2023 | Journal of Pathology
Mou, Haiwei, Eskiocak, Onur, Özler, Kadir, Gorman, Megan, Yue, Junjiayu, Jin, Ying, Wang, Zhikai, Gao, Ya, Janowitz, Tobias, Meyer, Hannah, Yu, Tianxiong, Wilkinson, John, Kucukural, Alper, Ozata, Deniz, Beyaz, Semir