Research Program: Tumor Biology and Progression
Assistant Professor, Veterinary Clinical Sciences Department sthil001@umn.edu
612-626-5787 — office
612-626-3543 — lab
Preferred method of contact: e-mail

Dr. St. Hill is an assistant professor in the Veterinary Clinical Sciences department (St. Paul) and is a faculty member of the Cancer Center, the Center for Immunology, and the MiCaB and CMB graduate programs. She received her D.V.M. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Minnesota and conducted postdoctoral training in corporate industry and the University of Minnesota. Dr. St. Hill was the recipient of a KO8 award from the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute in 2005.

Research Interests

Dr. St. Hill's laboratory studies the initial molecular mechanisms involved in metastasis. She examines the binding interactions between endothelial selectins and cancer cells before the latter extravasate into tissue sites remote from the primary tumor. The selectins are highly selective C-type lectins that bind sialyl-Lewis x (sLeX)-related glycans and are critical for leukocyte trafficking to lymphoid tissues and sites of inflammation. On leukocytes, sLex-modified core 2 O-glycans (C2-O-sLeX) are high affinity glycan ligands for the selectins. Dr. St.Hill's laboratory has shown that C2-O-sLeX glycans are expressed on colon, endometrial, and breast carcinoma cells but not in corresponding normal tissues by immunohistochemical and flow cytometric methods. C2-O-sLeX expression on colon carcinomas correlated with E-selectin (but not P- or L-selectin) binding in shear flow assays. Her studies utilize cell culture, immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry, and molecular biology techniques including transfection/transduction, siRNA, and in vivo mouse models to directly examine whether C2-O-sLeX confers carcinoma cells with high binding activity for the selectins and participates in metastasis.

Selected Publications

Walcheck B, Herrara A, St. Hill CA, Mattila PE, Whitney AR, DeLeo FR. ADAM17 activity during human neutrophil activation and apoptosis. Eur J Immunol. 2006;36:968-976.

St. Hill CA, Bullard KM, Walcheck B. Expression of the high-affinity selectin glycan ligand C2-O-sLeX by colon carcinoma cells. Cancer Lett. 2005;217:105-113.

St. Hill CA, Silva RF, Sharma JM. Detection and localization of avian alphaherpesviruses in embryonic tissues following in ovo exposure. Virus Res. 2004;100:243-248.

St. Hill CA, Alexander SR, Walcheck B. Indirect capture augments leukocyte accumulation on P-selectin in flowing whole blood. J Leukoc Biol. 2003;73:464-471.

Walcheck B, Alexander SR, St. Hill CA, Matala E. Adam-17-independent shedding of L-selectin. J Leukoc Biol. 2003;74:389-394.