La Creis R. Kidd, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Education:La Creis R. Kidd, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Ph.D., Toxicology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1997)
M.P.H., Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins University (2001)

Curriculum Vitae

Current Positions:

Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology
Our Highest Potential Endowed Chair in Cancer Research

Contact Information:

Kosair Charities Clinical & Translational Research Building
Room 306
505 South Hancock Street
Louisville, KY 40202
Phone 502/852-3465

Email lareis.kidd@louisville.edu

Research Description:

Dr. Kidd’s research focuses on utilization of state of the art bioinformatics tools to identify and validate genetic susceptibilities related to cancer risk and poor disease prognosis (i.e., high tumor grade/stage, disease/biochemical recurrence).  Although Dr. Kidd is intrigued by major cancer malignancies, a majority of her work has centered on prostate cancer.  Her earlier work focused on complex interactions among xenobiotic metabolism, DNA repair, oxidative stress-related genes, and angiogenesis in relation to prostate and breast cancer outcomes.  She was a lead author on the first study on the role of genomic anomalies in the chemokine ligand 5 (CCL5) and chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) associated genetic alterations in prostate cancer risk among men of African and Caribbean descent (Hered Cancer Clin Pract. 2012 Nov 20;10(1):16).  A majority of her work focuses on understanding the role genetic plays in high cancer incidence and mortality rates among underserved populations.  She has 3 patents for important prostate cancer predictors from her population-based studies (61/240089, 61/313,595, 61/655,243). Dr. Kidd was a significant contributor of a multi-center genome wide study for genetic susceptibility genes for prostate cancer among men of African and European descent.

Recently, Dr. Kidd’s lab demonstrated the up-regulation of one particular miRNA, miR-186-5p in metastatic prostate cancer cell lines and serum from prostate cancer patients. Her lab also demonstrated a decrease in cell proliferation, colony formation and cell invasion in miR-186 depleted metastatic prostate cancer cell lines.  Based on pre-clinical studies, the decrease in cell invasion may be related to an up-regulation of AKAP12 following the repression of miR-186 in metastatic prostate cancer cell lines.  Presumably, AKAP12, a tumor suppressor gene, inhibits pAkt, which in turn suppresses beta-catenin, a gene essential for cell invasion, epithelial mesenchymal transition and chemo-sensitivity.  It is her hope that her research findings will lead to the discovery of therapeutic targets for the effective treatment of aggressive and lethal forms of cancer.  Such efforts will help to reduce the burden of this disease among cancer patients and their families. 

Representative Publications:

  1.  Kidd LC, Woodson K, Taylor PR, Albanes D, Virtamo J, Tangrea JA.  Polymorphisms in glutathione-S-transferase genes (GST-M1, GST-T1 and GST-P1) and susceptibility to prostate cancer among male smokers of the ATBC cancer prevention study.  Eur J Cancer Prev 2003 Aug;12(4):317-20. PMID: 12883385.
  2. Kidd LC, Paltoo DN, Wang S, Chen W, Akereyeni F, Isaacs W, Ahaghotu C, Kittles R.  Sequence variation within the 5' regulatory regions of the vitamin D binding protein and receptor genes and prostate cancer risk.  Prostate 2005 Aug 1;64(3):272-82. PMID: 15717311.
  3. Faupel-Badger JM, Kidd LC, Albanes D, Virtamo J, Woodson K, Tangrea JA.  Association of IL-10 polymorphisms with prostate cancer risk and grade of disease. Cancer Causes Control 2008 Mar;19(2):119-24. Epub 2007 Nov 13. PMID: 17999153.
  4. Lavender NA, Benford ML, VanCleave TT, Brock GN, Kittles RA, Moore JH, Hein DW, Kidd LC.  Examination of polymorphic glutathione S-transferase (GST) genes, tobacco smoking and prostate cancer risk among men of African descent: a case-control study.  BMC Cancer 2009 Nov 16;9:397. doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-9-397. PMID: 19917083; PMCID: PMC2783040.
  5. Lavender NA, Komolafe OO, Benford M, Brock G, Moore JH, Vancleave TT, States JC, Kittles RA, Kidd LC.  No association between variant DNA repair genes and prostate cancer risk among men of African descent.  Prostate 2010 Feb 1;70(2):113-9. doi: 10.1002/pros.21048. PMID: 19760636; PMCID: PMC2798907.
  6. VanCleave TT, Moore JH, Benford ML, Brock GN, Kalbfleisch T, Baumgartner RN, Lillard JW Jr, Kittles RA, Kidd LC.  Interaction among variant vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptor in relation to prostate cancer risk.  Prostate 2010 Mar 1;70(4):341-52. doi: 10.1002/pros.21067. PMID: 19908237; PMCID: PMC4433472.
  7. Taioli E, Flores-Obando RE, Agalliu I, Blanchet P, Bunker CH, Ferrell RE, Jackson M, Kidd LC, Kolb S, Lavender NA, McFarlane-Anderson N, Morrison SS, Multigner L, Ostrande EA, Park JY, Patrick AL, Rebbeck TR, Romana M, Stanford JL, Ukoli F, Vancleave TT, Zeigler-Johnson CM, Mutetwa B, Ragin C.  Multi-institutional prostate cancer study of genetic susceptibility in populations of African descent.  Carcinogenesis 2011 Sep;32(9):1361-5. doi: 10.1093/carcin/bgr119. Epub 2011 Jun 24. PMID: 21705483; PMCID: PMC3165127.
  8. Kidd LC, Vancleave TT, Doll MA, Srivastava DS, Thacker B, Komolafe O, Pihur V, Brock GN, Hein DW.  No association between variant N-acetyltransferase genes, cigarette smoking and prostate cancer susceptibility among men of African descent.  Biomark Cancer 2011 Feb 3;2011(3):1-13. PMID: 21709725; PMCID: PMC3122269.
  9. Lavender NA, Rogers EN, Yeyeodu S, Rudd J, Hu T, Zhang J, Brock GN, Kimbro KS, Moore JH, Hein DW, Kidd LC.  Interaction among apoptosis-associated sequence variants and joint effects on aggressive prostate cancer.  BMC Med Genomics 2012 Apr 30;5:11. doi: 10.1186/1755-8794-5-11. PMID: 22546513; PMCID: PMC3355002.
  10. Kidd LR, Jones DZ, Rogers EN, Kidd NC, Beache S, Rudd JE, Ragin C, Jackson M, McFarlane-Anderson N, Tulloch-Reid M, Morrison S, Brock GN, Barve SS, Kimbro KS.  Chemokine Ligand 5 (CCL5) and chemokine receptor (CCR5) genetic variants and prostate cancer risk among men of African descent: a case-control study.  Hereditary Cancer in Clinical Practice 2012 Nov 20;10(1):16. doi: 10.1186/1897-4287-10-16. PMID: 23168091; PMCID: PMC3527309.
  11. Kidd LC, Rogers EN, Yeyeodu ST, Jones DZ, Kimbro KS.  Contribution of toll-like receptor signaling pathways to breast tumorigenesis and treatment.  Breast Cancer (Dove Med Press) 2013 Jun 28;5:43-51. doi: 10.2147/BCTT.S29172. eCollection 2013. Review. PMID: 24648757; PMCID: PMC3929246.
  12. Lavender N, Hein DW, Brock G, Kidd CR.  Evaluation of oxidative stress response related genetic variants, pro-oxidants, antioxidants and prostate cancer.  AIMS Med Sci 2015;2(4):271-94. Epub 2015 Sep 10. PMID: 26636131; PMCID: PMC4664461.
  13. Hein DW, Kidd CR.  Design and success of a 21st Century Cancer Education Program at the University of Louisville.  J Cancer Educ 2018 Apr;33(2):298-308.  doi: 10.1007/s13187-016-1083-5. PMID: 27474114; PMCID: PMC5280580.

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