Research Program: Women's Cancer
Professor, Department of Medicine

polun001@umn.edu
612-626-2112 — office
612-625-7615 — lab
Preferred contact method: e-mail

Dr. Polunovsky received his Ph.D. in cell biology and Doctor of Biology from Moscow Medical University in Russia. He was a professor in the Department of Genetics at State Pedagogical University, Moscow, 1986-1989, before coming to the University of Minnesota as a post-doctoral research associate in the Department of Internal Medicine, 1990-1992. Dr. Polunovsky has held positions in the University of Minnesota Department of Medicine as research associate, 1992-1996; assistant research professor of medicine, 1996-1999; associate professor of medicine, 1999-2002. He has been a professor of medicine in the Department of Medicine since 2002.

Research Interests

• Mechanisms regulating cell propagation and viability
• Translational control of the cell cycle and apoptosis
• Translational control of cancer
• The translational apparatus as a target for anti-cancer interventions

Selected Publications

Epifanova OI, Smolenskaya IM, Polunovsky VA. Responses of proliferating and non-proliferating Chinese hamster cells to cytotoxic agents. Brit J Cancer 1978;37:377-85.

Epifanova OI, Terskikh VV, Polunovsky VA. Monograph: Resting Cells (Russian) Moscow "Nauka", pp.178, 1983.

Epifanova OI and Polunovsky VA. Cell-cycle controls in higher eukaryotic cells - resting state or a prolonged G1 period. J Theor Biol. 1986;120:467-77.

Polunovsky VA, Rosenwald IB, Tan A, White J, Chiang L, Sonenberg N, Bitterman PB. Translational control of programmed cell death: Eukaryotic translation Initiation factor 4E in growth factor restricted fibroblasts with physiologically expressed or deregulated Myc. Mol Cell Biol. 1996;16:6573-81.

Tan A, Bitterman P, Sonenberg N, Peterson M, Polunovsky V. Inhibition of Myc-dependent apoptosis by eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E requires cyclin D1. Oncogene. 2000;19:1437-47.

Polunovsky VA, Gingras AC, Sonenberg N, Peterson M, Tan A, Rubins J, Manivel JC, Bitterman PB. Translational control of the antiapoptotic function of Ras. J Biol Chem. 2000;275:24776-80.

Li S, Sonenberg N, Gingras AC, Peterson M, Avdulov S, Polunovsky V, Bitterman P. Translational control of cell fate: Availability of phosphorylation sites on the translational repressor 4E-BP1 governs its pro-apoptotic potency. Mol Cell Biol. 2002;22:2853-61.

Li S, Takasu T, Perlman D, Peterson M, Burrichter D, Avdulov S, Bitterman P, Polunovsky V. Translation factor eIF4E rescues cells from Myc-dependent apoptosis by inhibiting cytochrome c release. J Biol Chem. 2003;278:3015-22.

Li S, Perlman DM, Peterson M, Burrichter D, Avdulov S,. Polunovsky VA, Peter B. Bitterman. Translation initiation factor 4E blocks endoplasmic reticulum-mediated apoptosis. J Biol Chem. 2004;279:21312-7.

Avdulov S, Li S, Michalek V, Burrichter D, Peterson M, Perlman D, ,Manivel JC, Sonenberg N, Yee, D Bitterman P, Polunovsky V. Activation of translation complex eIF4F is essential for the genesis and maintenance of the malignant phenotype in human mammary epithelial cells. Cancer Cell. 2004;5:553-63.

Ghosh P, Park C, Peterson M, Bitterman P, Polunovsky V, Wagner C. Synthesis and evaluation of eIF4E cap binding to 7-methyl GTP. Bioorganic Med Chem Let. 2005;15:2177-80.

Jacobson BA, Alter MD, Kratzke MG, Frizelle SP, Zhang Y, Peterson MS, Avdulov S, Mohorn R, Whitson BA, Bitterman PB, Polunovsky VA, Kratzke RA. Repression of cap-dependent translation attenuates the transformed phenotype in non-small cell lung cancer both on vivo and in vitro. Cancer Res. 2006;66:4256-62.

Polunovsky VA and Bitterman PB. The cap-dependent translational apparatus integrates and amplifies cancer pathways. RNA Biology. 2006;3:10-7.

Larsson O, Li Sh, Issaenko OA, Avdulov S, Peterson M, Smith K, Bitterman PB and Polunovsky VA Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E-induced progression of primary human mammary epithelial cells along the cancer pathway is associated with targeted translational deregulation of oncogenic drivers and inhibitors. Cancer Res. 2007,67: 6814-6824.