Rushika Perera, PhD

Associate Professor
Anatomy

In our lab we study how autophagy and the lysosome regulate the response to cellular stress to promote cancer progression.

Publications: 

Lysosomes as coordinators of cellular catabolism, metabolic signalling and organ physiology.

Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology

Settembre C, Perera RM

Functional characterization of Alzheimer's disease genetic variants in microglia.

Nature genetics

Yang X, Wen J, Yang H, Jones IR, Zhu X, Liu W, Li B, Clelland CD, Luo W, Wong MY, Ren X, Cui X, Song M, Liu H, Chen C, Eng N, Ravichandran M, Sun Y, Lee D, Van Buren E, Jiang MZ, Chan CSY, Ye CJ, Perera RM, Gan L, Li Y, Shen Y

Emerging roles of the MiT/TFE factors in cancer.

Trends in cancer

Zoncu R, Perera RM

Coordinated transcriptional and catabolic programs support iron dependent adaptation to RAS-MAPK pathway inhibition in pancreatic cancer.

Cancer discovery

Ravichandran M, Hu J, Cai C, Ward NP, Venida A, Foakes C, Kuljanin M, Yang A, Hennessey CJ, Yang Y, Desousa BR, Rademaker G, Staes AAL, Cakir Z, Jain IH, Aguirre AJ, Mancias JD, Shen Y, DeNicola GM, Perera RM

Lysosomal GPCR-like protein LYCHOS signals cholesterol sufficiency to mTORC1.

Science (New York, N.Y.)

Shin HR, Citron YR, Wang L, Tribouillard L, Goul CS, Stipp R, Sugasawa Y, Jain A, Samson N, Lim CY, Davis OB, Castaneda-Carpio D, Qian M, Nomura DK, Perera RM, Park E, Covey DF, Laplante M, Evers AS, Zoncu R

Autophagy in cancer cell remodeling and quality control.

Molecular cell

Hernandez GA, Perera RM

Challenges and opportunities in 2021.

Nature cancer

Akkari L, Finley SD, Ho PC, Jenkins M, Maier BB, McGranahan N, Mutebi M, Perera RM, Robles-Espinoza CD, Vardhana S, Wan L, Xu MM

Zooming in on the cell biology of disease.

Molecular biology of the cell

Perera RM

Autophagy in major human diseases.

The EMBO journal

Klionsky DJ, Petroni G, Amaravadi RK, Baehrecke EH, Ballabio A, Boya P, Bravo-San Pedro JM, Cadwell K, Cecconi F, Choi AMK, Choi ME, Chu CT, Codogno P, Colombo MI, Cuervo AM, Deretic V, Dikic I, Elazar Z, Eskelinen EL, Fimia GM, Gewirtz DA, Green DR, Hansen M, Jäättelä M, Johansen T, Juhász G, Karantza V, Kraft C, Kroemer G, Ktistakis NT, Kumar S, Lopez-Otin C, Macleod KF, Madeo F, Martinez J, Meléndez A, Mizushima N, Münz C, Penninger JM, Perera RM, Piacentini M, Reggiori F, Rubinsztein DC, Ryan KM, Sadoshima J, Santambrogio L, Scorrano L, Simon HU, Simon AK, Simonsen A, Stolz A, Tavernarakis N, Tooze SA, Yoshimori T, Yuan J, Yue Z, Zhong Q, Galluzzi L, Pietrocola F

Oncogene-regulated release of extracellular vesicles.

Developmental cell

Kilinc S, Paisner R, Camarda R, Gupta S, Momcilovic O, Kohnz RA, Avsaroglu B, L'Etoile ND, Perera RM, Nomura DK, Goga A

Lysosomal retargeting of Myoferlin mitigates membrane stress to enable pancreatic cancer growth.

Nature cell biology

Gupta S, Yano J, Mercier V, Htwe HH, Shin HR, Rademaker G, Cakir Z, Ituarte T, Wen KW, Kim GE, Zoncu R, Roux A, Dawson DW, Perera RM

NPC1-mTORC1 Signaling Couples Cholesterol Sensing to Organelle Homeostasis and Is a Targetable Pathway in Niemann-Pick Type C.

Developmental cell

Davis OB, Shin HR, Lim CY, Wu EY, Kukurugya M, Maher CF, Perera RM, Ordonez MP, Zoncu R

Selective autophagy of MHC-I promotes immune evasion of pancreatic cancer.

Autophagy

Yamamoto K, Venida A, Perera RM, Kimmelman AC

Autophagy promotes immune evasion of pancreatic cancer by degrading MHC-I.

Nature

Yamamoto K, Venida A, Yano J, Biancur DE, Kakiuchi M, Gupta S, Sohn ASW, Mukhopadhyay S, Lin EY, Parker SJ, Banh RS, Paulo JA, Wen KW, Debnath J, Kim GE, Mancias JD, Fearon DT, Perera RM, Kimmelman AC

Transcriptional control of subtype switching ensures adaptation and growth of pancreatic cancer.

eLife

Adams CR, Htwe HH, Marsh T, Wang AL, Montoya ML, Subbaraj L, Tward AD, Bardeesy N, Perera RM

Host Control of Tumor Feeding: Autophagy Holds the Key.

Cell metabolism

Venida A, Perera RM

MiT/TFE Family of Transcription Factors, Lysosomes, and Cancer.

Annual review of cancer biology

Perera RM, Di Malta C, Ballabio A

Transcriptional activation of RagD GTPase controls mTORC1 and promotes cancer growth.

Science (New York, N.Y.)

Di Malta C, Siciliano D, Calcagni A, Monfregola J, Punzi S, Pastore N, Eastes AN, Davis O, De Cegli R, Zampelli A, Di Giovannantonio LG, Nusco E, Platt N, Guida A, Ogmundsdottir MH, Lanfrancone L, Perera RM, Zoncu R, Pelicci PG, Settembre C, Ballabio A

Lysosomal cholesterol activates mTORC1 via an SLC38A9-Niemann-Pick C1 signaling complex.

Science (New York, N.Y.)

Castellano BM, Thelen AM, Moldavski O, Feltes M, van der Welle RE, Mydock-McGrane L, Jiang X, van Eijkeren RJ, Davis OB, Louie SM, Perera RM, Covey DF, Nomura DK, Ory DS, Zoncu R

Beige Adipocyte Maintenance Is Regulated by Autophagy-Induced Mitochondrial Clearance.

Cell metabolism

Altshuler-Keylin S, Shinoda K, Hasegawa Y, Ikeda K, Hong H, Kang Q, Yang Y, Perera RM, Debnath J, Kajimura S

The Lysosome as a Regulatory Hub.

Annual review of cell and developmental biology

Perera RM, Zoncu R

Transcriptional control of autophagy-lysosome function drives pancreatic cancer metabolism.

Nature

Perera RM, Stoykova S, Nicolay BN, Ross KN, Fitamant J, Boukhali M, Lengrand J, Deshpande V, Selig MK, Ferrone CR, Settleman J, Stephanopoulos G, Dyson NJ, Zoncu R, Ramaswamy S, Haas W, Bardeesy N

YAP Inhibition Restores Hepatocyte Differentiation in Advanced HCC, Leading to Tumor Regression.

Cell reports

Fitamant J, Kottakis F, Benhamouche S, Tian HS, Chuvin N, Parachoniak CA, Nagle JM, Perera RM, Lapouge M, Deshpande V, Zhu AX, Lai A, Min B, Hoshida Y, Avruch J, Sia D, Campreciós G, McClatchey AI, Llovet JM, Morrissey D, Raj L, Bardeesy N

Stromal response to Hedgehog signaling restrains pancreatic cancer progression.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Lee JJ, Perera RM, Wang H, Wu DC, Liu XS, Han S, Fitamant J, Jones PD, Ghanta KS, Kawano S, Nagle JM, Deshpande V, Boucher Y, Kato T, Chen JK, Willmann JK, Bardeesy N, Beachy PA

CDK4/6 and IGF1 receptor inhibitors synergize to suppress the growth of p16INK4A-deficient pancreatic cancers.

Cancer research

Heilmann AM, Perera RM, Ecker V, Nicolay BN, Bardeesy N, Benes CH, Dyson NJ

Glutamine supports pancreatic cancer growth through a KRAS-regulated metabolic pathway.

Nature

Son J, Lyssiotis CA, Ying H, Wang X, Hua S, Ligorio M, Perera RM, Ferrone CR, Mullarky E, Shyh-Chang N, Kang Y, Fleming JB, Bardeesy N, Asara JM, Haigis MC, DePinho RA, Cantley LC, Kimmelman AC

On oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes in the mammary gland.

Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology

Perera RM, Bardeesy N

Cancer: when antioxidants are bad.

Nature

Perera RM, Bardeesy N

The inositol 5-phosphatase SHIP2 regulates endocytic clathrin-coated pit dynamics.

The Journal of cell biology

Nakatsu F, Perera RM, Lucast L, Zoncu R, Domin J, Gertler FB, Toomre D, De Camilli P

A genome-wide screen for microdeletions reveals disruption of polarity complex genes in diverse human cancers.

Cancer research

Rothenberg SM, Mohapatra G, Rivera MN, Winokur D, Greninger P, Nitta M, Sadow PM, Sooriyakumar G, Brannigan BW, Ulman MJ, Perera RM, Wang R, Tam A, Ma XJ, Erlander M, Sgroi DC, Rocco JW, Lingen MW, Cohen EE, Louis DN, Settleman J, Haber DA

Mechanistic Insights into Membrane Remodeling Through BAR-Domain Proteins.

The FASEB Journal

Adam Frost, Carsten Mim, Rushika Perera, Krasimir Spasov, Edward Egelman, Pietro De Camilli, Vinzenz M Unger

A phosphoinositide switch controls the maturation and signaling properties of APPL endosomes.

Cell

Zoncu R, Perera RM, Balkin DM, Pirruccello M, Toomre D, De Camilli P

Structural basis of membrane invagination by F-BAR domains.

Cell

Frost A, Perera R, Roux A, Spasov K, Destaing O, Egelman EH, De Camilli P, Unger VM

Internalization, intracellular trafficking, and biodistribution of monoclonal antibody 806: a novel anti-epidermal growth factor receptor antibody.

Neoplasia (New York, N.Y.)

Perera RM, Zoncu R, Johns TG, Pypaert M, Lee FT, Mellman I, Old LJ, Toomre DK, Scott AM

The efficacy of epidermal growth factor receptor-specific antibodies against glioma xenografts is influenced by receptor levels, activation status, and heterodimerization.

Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research

Johns TG, Perera RM, Vernes SC, Vitali AA, Cao DX, Cavenee WK, Scott AM, Furnari FB

Loss of endocytic clathrin-coated pits upon acute depletion of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Zoncu R, Perera RM, Sebastian R, Nakatsu F, Chen H, Balla T, Ayala G, Toomre D, De Camilli PV

Two synaptojanin 1 isoforms are recruited to clathrin-coated pits at different stages.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Perera RM, Zoncu R, Lucast L, De Camilli P, Toomre D

Treatment of human tumor xenografts with monoclonal antibody 806 in combination with a prototypical epidermal growth factor receptor-specific antibody generates enhanced antitumor activity.

Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research

Perera RM, Narita Y, Furnari FB, Gan HK, Murone C, Ahlkvist M, Luwor RB, Burgess AW, Stockert E, Jungbluth AA, Old LJ, Cavenee WK, Scott AM, Johns TG

The tumor-specific de2-7 epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) promotes cells survival and heterodimerizes with the wild-type EGFR.

Oncogene

Luwor RB, Zhu HJ, Walker F, Vitali AA, Perera RM, Burgess AW, Scott AM, Johns TG

Antitumor efficacy of cytotoxic drugs and the monoclonal antibody 806 is enhanced by the EGF receptor inhibitor AG1478.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Johns TG, Luwor RB, Murone C, Walker F, Weinstock J, Vitali AA, Perera RM, Jungbluth AA, Stockert E, Old LJ, Nice EC, Burgess AW, Scott AM