David H. Sherr, PhD
Professor
Boston University School of Public Health
Environmental Health

PhD, Cornell University
BA, Brandeis University



Since 1993, Dr. Sherr's laboratory has conducted research on how common environmental pollutants, such as dioxins, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and PCBs, suppress the immune system and induce cancer. This work has focused on molecular signals initiated by the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), a cell protein that famously is activated by a variety of common environmental chemicals. Reasoning that evolution did not select out the AhR to recognize human pollution, the Sherr lab began using environmental chemicals that activate the AhR to learn what the true function of this curious protein is. The Sherr lab was the first to demonstrate dramatically high levels of the AhR in breast cancer, an observation that would eventually be extended to cancers of the oral cavity, brain, and lung. The lab showed that, while the AhR in these cancers could be hyper-activated with environmental chemicals, the receptor was already in the “on” position, even in the absence of such chemicals. Furthermore, the Sherr lab determined that this chronic on signal was mediated at least by production of endogenous AhR activators (agonists) produced in excessive levels by malignant cells themselves. Using novel AhR inhibitors that the laboratory developed, and state-of-the-art molecular technologies including CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, the lab demonstrated that pre-cancers and cancers were exploiting this receptor/signaling protein to up-regulate expression of genes that drive cancer invasion, metastasis, and longevity and, in doing so, enhance the production of "cancer stem cells", a small subset of the tumor capable of withstanding chemo- and radiation therapy.

Again returning to the biologic effects of environmental chemicals, the Sherr lab then began to investigate why environmental chemicals tend to be immunosuppressive, an effect of exposure to these chemicals known to toxicologists for many years. Again, using these chemicals as probes of AhR function in biologic systems, the lab demonstrated that the AhR suppresses otherwise effective cancer-specific immune responses through the up-regulation of “immune checkpoints”, molecules that shut the immune system off. The evolving ability to inhibit these immune checkpoints with specific immune checkpoint inhibitors (PD-L1-targeted drugs) is driving the current excitement around cancer immunotherapy. That environmental chemicals increase immunosuppression through up-regulation of these immune checkpoints not only explains why environmental chemicals suppress immunity (they activate the AhR in suppressive cells of the immune system), but also suggests that some environmental chemicals deliver a double hit, first by pushing benign cells towards becoming aggressive malignancies and then through inhibition of the one biologic system capable of defending against all forms of cancers, i.e., the immune system.

While the Sherr laboratory has historically been oriented towards understanding the biologic effects of environmental chemicals to prevent cancer and to understand the basic molecular mechanisms behind cancer aggression and immunosuppression, it has most recently begun investigating how to detect the changes in cells that precede cancer formation and how to intercept cancer at these inflection points before it develops. To this end, the laboratory is now exploiting its proprietary AhR inhibitors and advanced gene editing techniques to boost anti-cancer immunity and to block transformation of benign cells into malignant cells. The lab is currently funded by grants from the NIH, The Find The Cause Breast Cancer Foundation (https://findthecausebcf.org/)(a private foundation dedicated to finding the causes of cancer and strategies to prevent cancer), and the Hahnemann Foundation.

Dr. Sherr came to BUSPH from the faculty of Harvard Medical School, where he had earlier been a postdoctoral fellow with Martin Dorf in the department of Nobel Laureate Baruj Benacerraf. His research has been supported continually by the NIH through the R01, P01, and/or P42 mechanisms since 1987. He was the founding Director of the BU Flow Cytometry Core, a former Director of the BU Immunology Training Program, and a former Director of the NIH-funded Boston University Superfund Research Program. He is currently a Co-director of the Cancer Interception Group in the BU-BMC Cancer Center and is the Director of the Find The Cause Breast Cancer Foundation Research Consortium (https://findthecausebcf.org/ftc-research-consortium). He has trained 13 undergraduate students, four Masters students, 14 Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. students and 24 Postdoctoral Fellows and has won the BU School of Public Health Excellence in Teaching award three times and has been nominated for the Boston University-wide Educator of the Year award 4 times.

Professor
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Pathology & Laboratory Medicine


Member
Boston University
BU-BMC Cancer Center


Member
Boston University
Amyloidosis Center


Member
Boston University
Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research


Member
Boston University
Genome Science Institute


Director
Boston University
Superfund Research Program


Director
Boston University
Immunology Training Program


Graduate Faculty (Primary Mentor of Grad Students)
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences




An Environmental Chemical Receptor, the AhR, as a Mediator of Multiple Immune Checkpoints in Oral Cancer
09/01/2022 - 06/30/2027 (PI)
NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
5R01ES033692-03

AHR-mediated Immunosuppression in Glioblastoma
09/01/2019 - 07/31/2024 (Multi-PI)
PI: David H. Sherr, PhD
The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc. NIH NIEHS
5R01ES029136-05

Endogenous and Environmental AHR Ligands in Head and Neck Cancer Aggression and Immunosuppression
05/01/2019 - 04/30/2022 (PI)
NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
5R21ES029624-02

Intercepting the AHR in Lung Cancer (2nd Year Renewal) - WWDA
12/01/2020 - 12/31/2021 (PI)
Janssen Research & Development, LLC


Intercepting the AhR in Lung Cancer
06/01/2020 - 12/31/2021 (PI)
Johnson & Johnson Enterprise Innovation, Inc.


Defining the role of the AHR in Blood Cell Specification
01/01/2016 - 11/30/2021 (Multi-PI)
PI: David H. Sherr, PhD
NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
5R01ES025409-05

Superfund Research Program at Boston University
08/01/2017 - 03/31/2021 (PI)
NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
3P42ES007381-23

The Role of the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor (AHR) in Autoimmunity and Tumor Immunity
01/25/2018 - 01/25/2021 (PI)
AnTolRx, Inc.


Intercepting the AHR to Enhance Tumor Immunity and Prevent Lung Cancer
12/12/2018 - 04/30/2020 (PI)
Johnson & Johnson


Research Training in Immunology
09/01/2014 - 08/31/2019 (PI of Sub-Project / SP)
PI: Thomas Kepler, PhD
NIH/National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases
5T32AI007309-30

Showing 10 of 37 results. Show All Results


Title


Yr Title Project-Sub Proj Pubs
2024 An Environmental Chemical Receptor, the AhR, as a Mediator of Multiple Immune Checkpoints in Oral Cancer 5R01ES033692-03
2023 An Environmental Chemical Receptor, the AhR, as a Mediator of Multiple Immune Checkpoints in Oral Cancer 5R01ES033692-02
2023 AHR-mediated immunosuppression in glioblastoma 5R01ES029136-05
2022 AHR-mediated immunosuppression in glioblastoma 5R01ES029136-04
2021 AHR-mediated immunosuppression in glioblastoma 5R01ES029136-03 1
2020 AHR-mediated immunosuppression in glioblastoma 5R01ES029136-02 1
2020 Endogenous and Environmental AHR Ligands in Head and Neck Cancer Aggression and Immunosuppression 5R21ES029624-02
2020 Defining the Role of the AHR in Blood Cell Specifications 5R01ES025409-05 4
2019 AHR-mediated immunosuppression in glioblastoma 1R01ES029136-01A1 1
2019 Endogenous and Environmental AHR Ligands in Head and Neck Cancer Aggression and Immunosuppression 1R21ES029624-01A1
Showing 10 of 79 results. Show All Results

Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.

iCite Analysis       Copy PMIDs To Clipboard

  1. Hahn ME, Sherr DH. The enigmatic AHRR: beyond aryl hydrocarbon receptor repression. J Leukoc Biol. 2024 Nov 04; 116(5):915-918. PMID: 39030724
     
  2. Snyder M, Wang Z, Lara B, Fimbres J, Pichardo T, Mazzilli S, Khan MM, Duggineni VK, Monti S, Sherr DH. The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Controls IFN?-Induced Immune Checkpoints PD-L1 and IDO via the JAK/STAT Pathway in Lung Adenocarcinoma. bioRxiv. 2024 Aug 13.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39185148; DOI: 10.1101/2024.08.12.607602;
     
  3. Perdew GH, Esser C, Snyder M, Sherr DH, van den Bogaard EH, McGovern K, Fernández-Salguero PM, Coumoul X, Patterson AD. The Ah Receptor from Toxicity to Therapeutics: Report from the 5th AHR Meeting at Penn State University, USA, June 2022. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Mar 14; 24(6). PMID: 36982624; PMCID: PMC10058801; DOI: 10.3390/ijms24065550;
     
  4. Perdew GH, Esser C, Snyder M, Sherr DH, van den Bogaard EH, McGovern K, Fernández-Salguero PM, Coumoul X, Patterson AD. The Ah Receptor from Toxicity to Therapeutics: Report from the 5th AHR Meeting at Penn State University, USA, June 2022. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Mar 14; 24(6). PMID: 36982624; DOI: 10.3390/ijms24065550;
     
  5. Arinze NV, Yin W, Lotfollahzadeh S, Napoleon MA, Richards S, Walker JA, Belghasem M, Ravid JD, Hassan Kamel M, Whelan SA, Lee N, Siracuse JJ, Anderson S, Farber A, Sherr D, Francis J, Hamburg NM, Rahimi N, Chitalia VC. Tryptophan metabolites suppress the Wnt pathway and promote adverse limb events in chronic kidney disease. J Clin Invest. 2022 01 04; 132(1).View Related Profiles. PMID: 34752422; DOI: 10.1172/JCI142260;
     
  6. Kenison JE, Wang Z, Yang K, Snyder M, Quintana FJ, Sherr DH. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor suppresses immunity to oral squamous cell carcinoma through immune checkpoint regulation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 05 11; 118(19).View Related Profiles. PMID: 33941684; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2012692118;
     
  7. Koual M, Tomkiewicz C, Guerrera IC, Sherr D, Barouki R, Coumoul X. Aggressiveness and Metastatic Potential of Breast Cancer Cells Co-Cultured with Preadipocytes and Exposed to an Environmental Pollutant Dioxin: An in Vitro and in Vivo Zebrafish Study. Environ Health Perspect. 2021 03; 129(3):37002. PMID: 33683140; DOI: 10.1289/EHP7102;
     
  8. Wang Z, Snyder M, Kenison JE, Yang K, Lara B, Lydell E, Bennani K, Novikov O, Federico A, Monti S, Sherr DH. How the AHR Became Important in Cancer: The Role of Chronically Active AHR in Cancer Aggression. Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Dec 31; 22(1).View Related Profiles. PMID: 33396563; DOI: 10.3390/ijms22010387;
     
  9. Kenison JE, Jhaveri A, Li Z, Khadse N, Tjon E, Tezza S, Nowakowska D, Plasencia A, Stanton VP, Sherr DH, Quintana FJ. Tolerogenic nanoparticles suppress central nervous system inflammation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 12 15; 117(50):32017-32028.View Related Profiles. PMID: 33239445; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2016451117;
     
  10. Giovannoni F, Bosch I, Polonio CM, Torti MF, Wheeler MA, Li Z, Romorini L, Rodriguez Varela MS, Rothhammer V, Barroso A, Tjon EC, Sanmarco LM, Takenaka MC, Modaresi SMS, Gutiérrez-Vázquez C, Zanluqui NG, Dos Santos NB, Munhoz CD, Wang Z, Damonte EB, Sherr D, Gehrke L, Peron JPS, Garcia CC, Quintana FJ. Author Correction: AHR is a Zika virus host factor and a candidate target for antiviral therapy. Nat Neurosci. 2020 Oct; 23(10):1307. PMID: 32778795
     
Showing 10 of 237 results. Show More

This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown, or last author.

Bar chart showing 228 publications over 42 distinct years, with a maximum of 15 publications in 1996

YearPublications
19802
19816
19821
19831
19843
19853
19864
19872
19882
19903
19925
19941
19952
199615
19976
19984
19995
20008
20014
20025
20037
20049
200513
200610
20078
20088
20096
20106
20114
20124
20139
201411
20154
201614
201710
20187
20196
20204
20212
20221
20231
20242


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2014-2016 Avon Foundation: Research Award
In addition to these self-described keywords below, a list of MeSH based concepts is available here.

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor
Breast cancer and the environment
Immunology
Toxicology
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