Ite A. Offringa, PhD

Dr. Offringa is Professor of Surgery and of Cancer Biology at USC Keck School of Medicine. She received her Ph.D. in 1991 from University of Leiden (the Netherlands), and she undertook a postdoctoral research fellowship from 1991–1996 at Harvard Medical School (Boston, MA). She joined the USC faculty in 1996. Research in the Offringa laboratory is/has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, American Lung Association, the Wright Foundation, the Whittier Translational Research Fund, the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, Joan’s Legacy, the Department of Defense, the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Fund, the Thomas G Labrecque Foundation, the V Foundation, the Canary Foundation, the Kazan Foundation, the Hoag Family Foundation, the California Community Foundation, STOP Cancer, and private donations from many generous individuals, including the Mettler family, Wally and Conya Pembroke, Michelle and Paul Zygielbaum, Steven Schwartz, Sharon Binder, Bonnie and Tony Addario, Larry Auerbach, Judy Glick, and others.

The Offringa lab studies the cancer that kills the most Americans every year (over 125,000 people per year, almost one Boeing 747 of people per day!). More people die of lung cancer than from breast, prostate, and colon cancer combined. The high death rate is largely the result of detecting this cancer too late.

On the one hand, the Offringa lab focuses on lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), the most common histological type of lung cancer. It arises in the alveoli or air sacs, which make up 90% of the lung surface and, for one adult, constitute a surface the size of half a tennis court. The alveolar epithelium is thus inordinately exposed to airborne environmental carcinogens and viruses. We study global gene expression in primary LUAD samples and cell lines, the epigenetic basis of normal alveolar lung development, the effects of the environment on the lung epigenome, the interplay between the genome and the epigenome, and single cell transcriptomics.
We are also studying the role of single nucleotide polymorphisms in lung cancer predisposition; one aspect of early detection is risk classification. Understanding how genetic differences between individuals influences cancer risk will help identify the subjects at highest risk, for whom it is even more important that they should be screened.

Another important area of focus of the Offringa lab is small cell lung cancer (SCLC), the most aggressive type of lung cancer. SCLC rapidly metastasizes and patients have an average 5-year survival of just 8%. We are analyzing patients’ anti-cancer immune responses to see how these could be leveraged for targeted immunotherapy.

Lastly, we are interested in protein engineering and biomolecular interactions, which are key to the development of new drugs and therapies. The Offringa lab oversees the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Bruker heliX Biosensor, which is used to analyze biomolecular interactions.

• University of Leiden, The Netherlands — BS, MS — 1985 — Molecular Biology
• University of Leiden, The Netherlands — PhD — 1991 — Medical Biochemistry

• Development of a new tool to treat small cell lung cancer
  NIH · R21CA301276 · Apr 1, 2025 – Mar 31, 2027 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Role of tobacco smoke exposure of alveolar epithelial cells in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
  TRDRP · Jul 1, 2024 – Jun 30, 2027 · Role: Co-Investigator
• Analysis of a missense SNP in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor repressor gene that may disproportionately increase lung cancer risk in Black Americans
  NIH · R21CA290319 · Apr 1, 2024 – Mar 31, 2026 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Elucidating the Cellular Origins of lung adenocarcinoma
  NIH · R01CA262258 · Jul 11, 2023 – Apr 30, 2029 · Role: Co-Investigator
• A Novel Murine Single Cell RNA Sequencing Model for Small Cell Lung Cancer Development/
  TRDRP · Jul 1, 2022 – Jun 30, 2026 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Pre-clinical evaluation of immunization with isoAsp-ELAVL4 and an anti-isoAsp-ELAVL4 mAb as SCLC therapy
  Wright Foundation · Jul 1, 2021 – Jun 30, 2024 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Elucidating the mechanism by which cg05575921 predicts lung cancer risk
  TRDRP · Jul 1, 2020 – Jun 30, 2024 · Role: Principal Investigator
• 3/3 Florida-California Cancer Research, Education and Engagement (CaRE2) Health Center
  NIH · U54CA233465 · Sep 19, 2018 – Aug 31, 2028 · Role: Co-Investigator
• Epigenetic profiling of human alveolar epithelial cells in health and disease
  NIH · R01HL114094 · Sep 23, 2011 – Jun 30, 2017 · Role: Principal Investigator
• DNA Methylation Changes During Development and Progression of Lung Adenocarcinoma
  NIH · R01CA120869 · Jul 1, 2007 – May 31, 2013 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
• Development of DNA Methylation Markers for Early Detection of Lung Cancer
  NIH · R01CA119029 · Sep 1, 2006 – Jul 31, 2012 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
• Lung Cancer Diagnosis Using DNA Methylation Signatures
  NIH · R21CA102247 · Sep 1, 2003 – Aug 31, 2006 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
• DEREGULATION BY HU PROTEINS IN LUNG CANCER
  NIH · R29CA078407 · Jul 10, 1998 – Jun 30, 2003 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator

• Lung Cancer, Epigenomics, Genetic Risk, Immunotherapy
• Lung Adenocarcinoma, Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC)
• Early Detection, Biomolecular Interactions

• USC cancer researcher receives $1.5 million NCI grant (9/14/2007)

• Lenz, Heinz-Josef
• Peters, Anne
• Kim, Anthony
• Crandall, Edward
• Haiman, Christopher
• Zhou, Beiyun