Robert Kratzke, M.D.

Dr. Kratzke graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine in 1983 and completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in 1986.  Between 1986 and 1988, Dr. Kratzke did research at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research at the University of Wisconsin Madison in the laboratory of Dr. Jeff Ross.  Dr. Kratzke was a Medical Oncology Fellow at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health from 1988 to 1991, and stayed at the NCI doing research with Dr Frederick Kaye until 1994.  From 1993 through 1994 Dr. Kratzke was also an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD.  From 1994 to 2004 Dr. Kratzke was a Staff Physician at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center in the Section of Hematology/Oncology.  He is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School in the Section of Hematology, Oncology, and Transplantation.

Dr. Kratzke’s research has centered around molecular abnormalities in lung cancer and mesothelioma, focusing primarily on cell cycle regulator genes and their loss of function in cancer.  In addition, in collaboration with Dr. Michael Maddaus of the Section of General Thoracic Surgery, Dr. Kratzke is conducting research into the detection of micrometastatic disease in lung cancer and the characterization of the acquired molecular abnormalities in the micrometastases.

Selected Publications

Kratzke RA, Otterson GA, Lincoln CE, Ewing S, Oie H, Geradts J, Kaye FJ. Immunohistochemical analysis of the p16INK4 cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor in malignant mesothelioma. JNCI 1995, 87:1870-1875.

Kratzke RA, Greatens TM, Rubins JB, Maddaus MA, Niewoehner DE, Niehans GA, Geradts J.  Rb and p16INK4 expression in resected non-small cell lung tumors.  Cancer Res 1996, 56:3415-3420.

Niehans GA, Brunner T, Frizelle SP, Liston JC, Salerno CT, Knapp DT, Green DR, Kratzke RA.  Human lung carcinomas express Fas ligand.  Cancer Research 1997, 57:1007-1011.

Frizelle SP, Grim J, Curiel DT, Geradts J, Kratzke RA.  Re-expression of p16INK4 in mesothelioma cells results in cell cycle arrest, cell death, tumor suppression and tumor regression.  Oncogene 1998, 16: 3087-3095.

Frizelle SP, Rubins JB, Zhou JX, Curiel DT, Kratzke RA.  Gene therapy of established mesothelioma xenografts with recombinant p16INK4a adenovirus.  Cancer Gene Therapy 2000; 7:1421-1425.

Zhou JX, Niehans GA, Shar A, Rubins JB, Frizelle SP, Kratzke RA.  Mechanisms of G1 checkpoint loss in resected early stage non-small cell lung cancer.  Lung Cancer 2001; 32:27-38.

Wong L,. Zhou J, Anderson D, Kratzke RA.  Inactivation of p16INK4a expression in malignant mesothelioma by methylation.  Lung Cancer 2002; 38:131-6.

Ho SB, Hyslop A, Albrecht R, Jacobson A, Spencer M, Rothenberger DA, Niehans GA, D'Cunha J, Kratzke RA. Quantification of colorectal cancer micrometastases in lymph nodes by nested and real-time reverse transcriptase-PCR analysis for carcinoembryonic antigen. Clin Cancer Res 2004; 10: 5777-5784.

Hoang CD, D'Cunha J, Kratzke MG, Casmey CE, Frizelle SP, Maddaus MA, Kratzke RA. Gene expression profiling identifies matriptase overexpression in malignant mesothelioma. Chest 2004; 125: 1843-1852.

Hoang CD, Zhang X, Scott PD, Guillaume TJ, Maddaus MA, Yee D, Kratzke RA. Selective activation of insulin receptor substrate-1 and -2 in pleural mesothelioma cells: association with distinct malignant phenotypes. Cancer Res 2004; 64: 7479-7485.

Dudek AZ, Lesniewski-Kmak K, Bliss RL, Brunstein C, Condon DL, Kratzke RA. Pilot phase II study of gemcitabine and vinorelbine in patients with recurrent or refractory small cell lung cancer.  Lung. 2005; 183:43-52.

Hoang CD, Guillaume TJ, Engel SC, Tawfic SH, Kratzke RA, Maddaus MA. Analysis of paired primary lung and lymph node tumor cells: a model of metastatic potential by multiple genetic programs. Cancer Detect Prev. 2005; 29:509-17.

Jagadeeswaran R, Ma PC, Seiwert TY, Jagadeeswaran S, Zumba O, Nallasura V, Ahmed S, Filiberti R, Paganuzzi M, Puntoni R, Kratzke RA, Gordon GJ, Sugarbaker DJ, Bueno R, Janamanchi V, Bindokas VP, Kindler HL, Salgia R. Functional analysis of c-Met/hepatocyte growth factor pathway in malignant pleural mesothelioma. Cancer Res. 2006; 66:352-61.

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

Sawhney MS, Kratzke RA, Lederle FA, Holmstrom AM, Nelson DB, Kelly RF. Endoscopic ultrasound and positron emission tomography for lung cancer staging.
Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2006 May 5; [Epub ahead of print]

Sawhney MS, Kratzke RA, Lederle FA, Holmstrom AM, Nelson DB, Kelly RF.  EUS-guided FNA for the diagnosis of advanced lung cancer.  Gastrointest Endosc. 2006; 63:959-65.