Doug Yee, M.D.

Dr. Yee is a Professor in Medicine, Division of Hematology, Oncology, and Transplantation and holds the Tickle Land Grant Chair in Breast Cancer Research. He is also the Director of the Breast Cancer Program at the University of Minnesota Cancer Center and Professor of Pharmacology. Dr. Yee was named Director of the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota in 2007.

Dr. Yee received his MD in 1981 from the University of Chicago. He received his internal medicine training and was Chief Medical Resident at the University of North Carolina. His medical oncology training was done at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. Prior to his coming to Minnesota, he held faculty positions at Georgetown University Medical Center and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

 Dr. Yee's clinical interest is in breast cancer. His research interests focus on the regulation of breast cancer cells by peptide growth factors. His laboratory is examining the insulin-like growth factor signaling system with the hope of developing new therapies to disrupt breast cancer cell growth and metastasis. He is also studying the use of magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy to predict response to chemotherapy.

Selected Publications

Jackson JG, White MF, Yee D. Insulin receptor substrate-1 is the predominant signaling molecule activated by insulin-like growth factor-I, insulin, and interleukin-4 in estrogen receptor positive human breast cancer cells. J Biol Chem 1998; 273: 9994-10003.

Lee AV, Jackson JG, Gooch JG, Hilsenbeck SG, Coronado-Heinsohn E, Osborne CK, Yee D. Enhancement of the insulin-like growth factor pathway by estrogen in human breast cancer cells. Mol Endocrinol 1999; 13: 787-796.

Jackson JG, Yee D. IRS-1 expression and activation are not sufficient to activate downstream pathways and enable IGF-I growth response in estrogen receptor negative breast cancer cells. Growth Horm IGF Res 1999; 9: 280-289.

Gooch JL, Van Den Berg CL, Yee D. Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I rescues breast cancer cells from chemotherapy-induced cell death--proliferative and anti-apoptotic effects. Breast Cancer Res Treat 1999; 56: 1-10.

Jackson JG, Yoneda, T, Clark GM, Yee D. Elevated levels of p66 Shc are found in breast cancer cell lines and primary tumors with high metastatic potential. Clin Cancer Res 2000; 6: 1135-1139.

Lee AV, Gooch JL, Oesterreich S, Guler RL, Yee D. IGF-I induced degradation of insulin receptor substrate-1 is mediated by the 26S proteasome and blocked by phophatidylinostiol 3'-kinase inhibition. Mol Cell Biol 2000; 20: 1489-1496.

Yee D, Lee AV. Crosstalk between the insulin-like growth factors and estrogens in breast cancer. J Mammary Gland Biology & Neoplasia 2000; 5: 107-115.

Zhang X, Yee D. Tyrosine kinase signalling in breast cancer: Insulin-like growth factors and their receptors in breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res 2000; 2: 170-175.

Sachdev D, Yee D.  The IGF system and breast cancer. Endocr Relat Cancer 2001; 8:197-209.

Gross JM, Yee D.  How does the estrogen receptor work?  Breast Cancer Res 2002; 4:62-64.

Yee D.  Are the insulin-like growth factors relevant to cancer?  Growth Horm IGF Res 2001; 11:339-345.

Yee D.  The insulin-like growth factor system as a treatment target in breast cancer.  Semin Oncol 2002; 29:86-95.

Zhang X, Yee D.  Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) inhibits breast cancer cell motility.  Cancer Res 2002; 62:4369-4375.

Gupta K, Kshirsagar S, Chang L, Schwartz R, Law PY, Yee D, Hebbel RP.  Morphine stimulates angiogenesis by activating proangiogenic and survival-promoting signaling and promotes breast tumor growth.  Cancer Res 2002; 62:4491-4498.

Schmitz KH, Ahmed RL, Yee D.  Effects of a 9-month strength training intervention on insulin, insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I, IGF-binding protein (IGFBP)-1, and IGFBP-3 in 30-50-year-old women.  Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2002; 11:1597-1604.

Sachdev D, Li SL, Hartell JS, Fujita-Yamaguchi Y, Miller JS, Yee D.  A chimeric humanized single-chain antibody against the type I insulin-like growth factor (IGF) receptor renders breast cancer cells refractory to the mitogenic effects of IGF-I.  Cancer Res 2003; 63:627-635.

Zhang X, Cromwell JW, Kunjummen BD, Yee D, Garcia-Aguilar J.  The alpha2 and alpha3 integrins are required for morphologic differentiation of an intestinal epithelial cell line.  Surgery 2003; 133:429-437.

Repka T, Chiorean EG, Gay J, Herwig KE, Kohl VK, Yee D, Miller JS.  Trastuzumab and interleukin-2 in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer: A pilot study.  Clin Cancer Res 2003; 9:2440-2446.

Gross JM, Yee D.  The type-1 insulin-like growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase and breast cancer: Biology and therapeutic relevance.  Cancer Metastasis Rev 2003; 22:327-336.

Byron SA, Yee D.  Potential therapeutic strategies to interrupt insulin-like growth factor signaling in breast cancer.  Semin Oncol 2003; 30:125-132.

Sachdev D, Hartell JS, Lee AV, Zhang X, Yee D.  A dominant negative type I insulin-like growth factor receptor inhibits metastasis of human cancer cells.  J Biol Chem 2004; 279:5017-5024.

DeLarco JE, Wuertz BR, Yee D, Rickert BL, Furcht LT.  Atypical methylation of the interleukin-8 gene correlates strongly with the metastatic potnetial of breast carcinoma cells.  Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2003; 100:13988-13993.

Bolan PJ, Meisamy S, Baker EH, Lin J, Emory T, Nelson M, Everson LI, Yee D, Garwood M.  In vivo quantification of choline compounds in the breast with 1H MR spectroscopy.  Magn Reson Med 2003; 50:1134-1143.

Zhang X, Kamaraju S, Hakuno F, Kabuta T, Takahashi S, Sachdev D, Yee D.  Motility response to insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) in MCF-7 cells is associated with IRS-2 activation and integrin expression. Breast Cancer Res Treat 2004; 83:161-170.

Avdulov S, Li S, Michalek V, Burrichter D, Peterson M, Perlman DM, Manivel JC, Sonenberg N, Yee D, Bitterman PB, Polunovsky VA. Activation of translation complex eIF4F is essential for the genesis and maintenance of the malignant phenotype in human mammary epithelial cells.  Cancer Cell 2004; 5:553-563.

Ibrahim YH, Yee D.  Insulin-like growth factor-I and cancer risk.  Growth Horm IGF Res 2004; 14:261-269.

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.

Meisamy S, Bolan PJ, Baker EH, Bliss RL, Gulbahce E, Everson LI, Nelson MT, Emory TH, Tuttle TM, Yee D, Garwood M.  Neoadjuvant chemotherapy of locally advanced breast cancer: Predicting response with in vivo (1)H MR spectroscopy -- a pilot study at 4 T.  Radiology 2004; 233:424-431. 

Bolan PJ, Nelson MT, Yee D, Garwood M. Imaging in breast cancer: Magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Breast Cancer Res. 2005; 7:149-52. (Review).

Zhang X, Lin M, van Golen KL, Yoshioka K, Itoh K, Yee D. Multiple signaling pathways are activated during insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) stimulated breast cancer cell migration. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2005; 93:159-68.

Lau H, Brar S, Hao D, MacKinnon J, Yee D, Gluck S. Concomitant low-dose cisplatin and three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy for locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: Analysis of survival and toxicity. Head Neck. 2006; 28:189-96.

Miller BS, Yee D.  Type I insulin-like growth factor receptor as a therapeutic target in cancer. Cancer Res. 2005; 65:10123-7 (Review).

Yee D. Targeting insulin-like growth factor pathways. Br J Cancer. 2006; 94:465-8 (Review).

Sachdev D, Singh R, Fujita-Yamaguchi Y, Yee D.  Down-regulation of insulin receptor by antibodies against the type I insulin-like growth factor receptor: implications for anti-insulin-like growth factor therapy in breast cancer.  Cancer Res. 2006; 66:2391-402.

Kirstein MN, Brundage RC, Elmquist WF, Remmel RP, Marker PH, Guire DE, Yee D. Characterization of an in vitro cell culture bioreactor system to evaluate anti-neoplastic drug regimens. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2006; 96:217-25.

Farooqui M, Geng ZH, Stephenson EJ, Zaveri N, Yee D, Gupta K.

Naloxone acts as an antagonist of estrogen receptor activity in MCF-7 cells.
Mol Cancer Ther. 2006; 5:611-20.

Haddad T, Yee D. Targeting the insulin-like growth factor axis as a cancer therapy. Future Oncol. 2006; 2:101-10.