Crystal Nicole Marconett, PhD

I am a member of the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center – Genetics and Epigenomic Regulation program, and junior faculty member in the Departments of Surgery, and Biochemistry/Molecular Medicine. My lab is focused is on the cellular and molecular origins of lung cancer. Specifically, we are studying molecular alterations that lead to lung adenocarcinoma development through understanding the roles long non-coding RNAs play in regulation of DNA fidelity. To this end, we have characterized a novel role for the lncRNA LINC00261 as a mediator of the DNA damage signaling and are translating these results into therapeutic applications. In addition, we are interested in the cellular origins of lung cancer, including which cell types and under what conditions account for the wide discrepancies seen in survival and overall patient outcomes between different patient cohorts. If interested in collaborating on the above please reach out via cmarcone at usc.edu.

• National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health: NCI R01, 2023-2028
• American Cancer Society: Research Scholar Grant, 2021-2024
• DOD Lung Cancer Research Program: IDEA New Investigator, 2021-2023
• STOP Cancer: Howard and Andree Shore Seed Grant, 2017-2018
• American Journal of Respiratory Cell Biology: Featured Researcher 2017, 2017-2017
• American Cancer Society: ACS/Canary Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, 2010-2013
• California Breast Cancer Research Program: CBCRP Dissertation Fellowship, 2007-2009
• UC Berkeley: Chancellors Predoctoral Award, 2005-2007

• Alveolar type I cells can give rise to KRAS-induced lung adenocarcinoma Cell Rep. 2023 Nov 22; 42(12):113286. . View in PubMed
• GRAMD2 + alveolar type I cell plasticity facilitates cell state transitions in organoid culture bioRxiv. 2023 Oct 18. . View in PubMed
• CLOCK’ing differences in DNA methylation signatures to understand the molecular etiology of lung cancer Transl Lung Cancer Res. 2023 Jun 30; 12(6):1338-1341. . View in PubMed
• Effect of Parental Adverse Childhood Experiences on Intergenerational DNA Methylation Signatures Res Sq. 2023 Jun 26. . View in PubMed
• PEACOCK: a machine learning approach to assess the validity of cell type-specific enhancer-gene regulatory relationships NPJ Syst Biol Appl. 2023 04 03; 9(1):9. . View in PubMed
• Development of human alveolar epithelial cell models to study distal lung biology and disease iScience. 2022 Feb 18; 25(2):103780. . View in PubMed
• FOXO1 Couples KGF and PI-3K/AKT Signaling to NKX21-Regulated Differentiation of Alveolar Epithelial Cells. Cells. 2022 03 26; 11(7). . View in PubMed
• Comprehensive epigenomic profiling of human alveolar epithelial differentiation identifies key epigenetic states and transcription factor co-regulatory networks for maintenance of distal lung identity BMC Genomics. 2021 Dec 18; 22(1):906. . View in PubMed
• Beyond the transcription factor: the under-studied role of epigenomics in lung differentiation Epigenomics. 2021 12; 13(23):1845-1848. . View in PubMed
• The evolutionarily conserved long non-coding RNA LINC00261 drives neuroendocrine prostate cancer proliferation and metastasis via distinct nuclear and cytoplasmic mechanisms Mol Oncol. 2021 07; 15(7):1921-1941. . View in PubMed
• The Sulfotransferase SULT1C2 Is Epigenetically Activated and Transcriptionally Induced by Tobacco Exposure and Is Associated with Patient Outcome in Lung Adenocarcinoma Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 12 31; 19(1). . View in PubMed
• TENET 20: Identification of key transcriptional regulators and enhancers in lung adenocarcinoma. PLoS Genet. 2020 09; 16(9):e1009023. . View in PubMed
• Tuberculosis infection and lung adenocarcinoma: Mendelian randomization and pathway analysis of genome-wide association study data from never-smoking Asian women Genomics. 2020 03; 112(2):1223-1232. . View in PubMed
• PEREGRINE: A genome-wide prediction of enhancer to gene relationships supported by experimental evidence PLoS One. 2020; 15(12):e0243791. . View in PubMed
• Genome-wide integration of microRNA and transcriptomic profiles of differentiating human alveolar epithelial cells Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2020 07 01; 319(1):L173-L184. . View in PubMed
• Integrated Single-Cell RNA-Sequencing Analysis of Aquaporin 5-Expressing Mouse Lung Epithelial Cells Identifies GPRC5A as a Novel Validated Type I Cell Surface Marker Cells. 2020 11 11; 9(11). . View in PubMed
• LINC00261 Is an Epigenetically Regulated Tumor Suppressor Essential for Activation of the DNA Damage Response Cancer Res. 2019 Jun 15; 79(12):3050-3062. . View in PubMed
• Positional integration of lung adenocarcinoma susceptibility loci with primary human alveolar epithelial cell epigenomes Epigenomics. 2018 09; 10(9):1167-1187. . View in PubMed
• Claudin-18-mediated YAP activity regulates lung stem and progenitor cell homeostasis and tumorigenesis J Clin Invest. 2018 03 01; 128(3):970-984. . View in PubMed
• CLDN181 attenuates malignancy and related signaling pathways of lung adenocarcinoma in vivo and in vitro. Int J Cancer. 2018 12 15; 143(12):3169-3180. . View in PubMed
• Intersecting transcriptomic profiling technologies and long non-coding RNA function in lung adenocarcinoma: discovery, mechanisms, and therapeutic applications Oncotarget. 2017 Oct 06; 8(46):81538-81557. . View in PubMed
• Cross-Species Transcriptome Profiling Identifies New Alveolar Epithelial Type I Cell-Specific Genes Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2017 03; 56(3):310-321. . View in PubMed
• Epigenome-wide analysis of DNA methylation in lung tissue shows concordance with blood studies and identifies tobacco smoke-inducible enhancers Hum Mol Genet. 2017 08 01; 26(15):3014-3027. . View in PubMed
• Association between GWAS-identified lung adenocarcinoma susceptibility loci and EGFR mutations in never-smoking Asian women, and comparison with findings from Western populations Hum Mol Genet. 2017 01 15; 26(2):454-465. . View in PubMed
• Somatic Genomics and Clinical Features of Lung Adenocarcinoma: A Retrospective Study PLoS Med. 2016 Dec; 13(12):e1002162. . View in PubMed
• Combinations of differentiation markers distinguish subpopulations of alveolar epithelial cells in adult lung Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2016 Jan 15; 310(2):L114-20. . View in PubMed
• Pleiotropic Analysis of Lung Cancer and Blood Triglycerides J Natl Cancer Inst. 2016 12; 108(12). . View in PubMed
• The 78-kD Glucose-Regulated Protein Regulates Endoplasmic Reticulum Homeostasis and Distal Epithelial Cell Survival during Lung Development Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2016 07; 55(1):135-49. . View in PubMed
• The importance of detailed epigenomic profiling of different cell types within organs Epigenomics. 2016 06; 8(6):817-29. . View in PubMed
• Transcriptomic Profiling of Primary Alveolar Epithelial Cell Differentiation in Human and Rat Genom Data. 2014 Dec 01; 2:105-109. . View in PubMed
• Claudin 4 knockout mice: normal physiological phenotype with increased susceptibility to lung injury Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2014 Oct 01; 307(7):L524-36. . View in PubMed
• Knockout mice reveal key roles for claudin 18 in alveolar barrier properties and fluid homeostasis Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2014 Aug; 51(2):210-22. . View in PubMed
• Characterizing the genetic basis of methylome diversity in histologically normal human lung tissue Nat Commun. 2014 Feb 27; 5:3365. . View in PubMed
• CDKN2A/p16 inactivation mechanisms and their relationship to smoke exposure and molecular features in non-small-cell lung cancer J Thorac Oncol. 2013 Nov; 8(11):1378-88. . View in PubMed
• Integrated transcriptomic and epigenomic analysis of primary human lung epithelial cell differentiation PLoS Genet. 2013 Jun; 9(6):e1003513. . View in PubMed
• Indole-3-carbinol disrupts estrogen receptor-alpha dependent expression of insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor and insulin receptor substrate-1 and proliferation of human breast cancer cells Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2012 Nov 05; 363(1-2):74-84. . View in PubMed
• Indole-3-carbinol downregulation of telomerase gene expression requires the inhibition of estrogen receptor-alpha and Sp1 transcription factor interactions within the hTERT promoter and mediates the G1 cell cycle arrest of human breast cancer cells Carcinogenesis. 2011 Sep; 32(9):1315-23. . View in PubMed
• BZL101, a phytochemical extract from the Scutellaria barbata plant, disrupts proliferation of human breast and prostate cancer cells through distinct mechanisms dependent on the cancer cell phenotype Cancer Biol Ther. 2010 Aug 15; 10(4):397-405. . View in PubMed
• 1-Benzyl-indole-3-carbinol is a novel indole-3-carbinol derivative with significantly enhanced potency of anti-proliferative and anti-estrogenic properties in human breast cancer cells Chem Biol Interact. 2010 Aug 05; 186(3):255-66. . View in PubMed
• Indole-3-carbinol triggers aryl hydrocarbon receptor-dependent estrogen receptor (ER)alpha protein degradation in breast cancer cells disrupting an ERalpha-GATA3 transcriptional cross-regulatory loop Mol Biol Cell. 2010 Apr 01; 21(7):1166-77. . View in PubMed
• Artemisinin selectively decreases functional levels of estrogen receptor-alpha and ablates estrogen-induced proliferation in human breast cancer cells Carcinogenesis. 2008 Dec; 29(12):2252-8. . View in PubMed

• Farnham, Peggy
• Haiman, Christopher
• Lenz, Heinz-Josef
• Crandall, Edward
• Warburton, David
• Zhou, Beiyun
• Maher, Toby
• Lee, Amy
• Minoo, Parviz