Selected Publications
Qiao X*, Routila J*, Tienhaara M, Irjala H, Parimelazhagan Santhi P, Huusko T, Nissi L, Paatero I, Lehtinen N, Rantala J, Viljanen T, Leivo I, Koivunen P, Jouppila-Mättö A, Taulu R, Bäck L, Wilkman T, Haapio E, Kinnunen I, Kurppa K, Westermarck J§, Ventelä S§. LIMA1-alpha staining predicts curative intent surgery response in HPV negative head and neck cancer. EMBO Molecular Medicine 17(8): 2095-2114, 2025
Momeny M, Tienhaara M, Sharma M, Chakroborty D, Varjus R, Takala I, Merisaari J, Padzik A, Vogt A, Paatero I, Elenius K, Laajala TD, Kurppa KJ, Westermarck J. DUSP6 inhibition overcomes Neuregulin/HER3-driven therapy tolerance in HER2+ breast cancer. EMBO Molecular Medicine 16: 1603-1629, 2024
Denisova OV, Merisaari J, Huhtaniemi R, Qiao X, Yetukuri L, Jumppanen M, Kaur A, Pääkkonen M, von Schantz-Fant C, Ohlmeyer M, Wennerberg K, Kauko O, Koch R, Aittokallio T, Taipale M, Westermarck J. PP2A-based triple-strike therapy overcomes mitochondrial apoptosis resistance in brain cancer cells. Molecular Oncology 17(9): 1803-1820, 2023
Cazzoli R, Romeo F, Pallavicini I, Peri S, Romanenghi M, Pérez-Valencia JA, Hagag E, Ferrucci F, Elgendy M, Vittorio O, Pece S, Foiani M, Westermarck J, Minucci S. Endogenous PP2A inhibitor CIP2A degradation by chaperone-mediated autophagy contributes to the antitumor effect of mitochondrial complex I inhibition. Cell Reports 42(6): 112616, 2023
Aakula A*, Sharma M*, Tabaro F, Nätkin R, Kamila J, Honkanen H, Schapira M, Arrowsmith C, Nykter M, Westermarck J. RAS and PP2A activities converge on epigenetic gene regulation. Life Science Alliance 6(5): e202301928, 2023
Pavic K, Gupta N*, Domènech Omella J*, Derua R, Aakula A, Huhtaniemi R, Määttä JA, Höfflin N, Okkeri J, Wang Z, Kauko O, Varjus R, Honkanen H, Abankwa D, Köhn M, Hytönen VP, Xu W, Nilsson J, Page R, Janssens V, Leitner A, Westermarck J. Structural mechanism for inhibition of PP2A-B56a and oncogenicity by CIP2A. Nature Communications 14(1): 1143, 2023
Laine A*, Nagelli SG*, Farrington C, Butt U, Cvrljevic AN, Vainonen JP, Feringa FM, Grönroos TJ, Gautam P, Khan S, Sihto H, Qiao X, Pavic K, Connolly DC, Kronqvist P, Elo LL, Maurer J, Wennerberg K, Medema RH, Joensuu H, Peuhu E, de Visser K, Narla G, Westermarck J. CIP2A interacts with TopBP1 and drives basal-like breast cancer tumorigenesis. Cancer Research 81(16): 4319-4331, 2021
Vervoort SJ, Welsh SA, Devlin JR, Barbieri E, Knight DA, Offley S, Bjelosevic S, Costacurta M, Todorovski I, Kearney CJ, Sandow JJ, Fan Z, Blyth B, McLeod V, Vissers JHA, Pavic K, Martin BP, Gregory G, Demosthenous E, Zethoven M. Kong IY, Hawkins ED, Hogg SJ, Kelly MJ, Newbold A, Simpson KJ, Kauko O, Harvey KF, Ohlmeyer M, Westermarck J, Gray N, Gardini A, Johnstone RW. The PP2A-Integrator-CDK9 axis fine-tunes transcription and can be targeted therapeutically in cancer. Cell 184: 3143-3162, 2021
Mäkelä E, Pavic K, Varila TM, Salmenniemi U, Löyttyniemi E, Nagelli SG, Ammunet T, Kähäri VM, Clark RE, Elo LL, Bachanaboyina VK, Lucas CM, Itälä-Remes M, Westermarck J. Discovery of a Novel CIP2A Variant (NOCIVA) with clinical relevance in predicting TKI resistance in myeloid leukemias. Clinical Cancer Research 27(10): 2848-2860, 2021
Kauko O, Imanishi SY, Kulesskiy E, Yetukuri L, Laajala TD, Sharma M, Pavic K, Aakula A, Rupp C, Jumppanen M, Haapaniemi P, Ruan L, Yadav B, Suni V, Varila T, Corthals GL, Reimand J, Wennerberg K, Aittokallio T, Westermarck J. Phosphoproteome and drug response effects mediated by the three Protein Phosphatase 2A inhibitor proteins CIP2A, SET and PME-1. Journal of Biological Chemistry 295(13): 4194-4211, 2020
Qiao X, Liu Y*, Prada ML*, Mohan AK, Gupta A, Jaiswal A, Sharma M, Merisaari J, Haikala HM, Talvinen K, Yetukuri L, Pylvänäinen JW, Klefström J, Kronqvist P, Meinander A, Aittokallio T, Hietakangas V, Eilers M, Westermarck J. UBR5 is co-amplified with MYC in breast tumors and encodes an ubiquitin ligase that limits MYC-dependent apoptosis. Cancer Research 80(7): 1414-1427, 2020
Kauko O, O’Connor KM, Kulesskiy E, Sangodkar J, Aakula A, Izadmehr S, Yetukuri L, Yadav B, Padzik A, Laajala TD, Haapaniemi P, Momeny M, Varila T, Ohlmeyer M, Aittokallio T, Wennerberg K, Narla G, and Westermarck J; PP2A inhibition is a druggable MEK inhibitor resistance mechanism in KRAS-mutant lung cancer cells. Science Translational Medicine 10(450), 2018
Shentu YP, Huo Y, Feng XL, Gilbert J, Zhang Q, Liuyang ZY, Wang XL, Wang G, Zhou H, Wang XC, Wang JZ, Lu YM, Westermarck J, Man HY, Liu R. CIP2A Causes Tau/APP Phosphorylation, Synaptopathy, and Memory Deficits in Alzheimer’s Disease. Cell Reports 24(3):713-723, 2018
Wang J*, Okkeri J*, Pavic K§, Wang Z§, Kauko O, Halonen T, Sarek G, Ojala PM, Rao Z, Xu W#, Westermarck J#. Oncoprotein CIP2A is stabilized via interaction with tumor suppressor PP2A/B56. EMBO Reports 18: 437-450, 2017
Laine A, Sihto H, Come C, Rosenfeldt MT, Zwolinska A, Niemelä M, Khanna A, Chan EK, Kähäri VM, Kellokumpu-Lehtinen PL, Sansom OJ, Evan GI, Junttila MR, Ryan KM, Marine JC, Joensuu H, Westermarck J. Senescence sensitivity of breast cancer cells is defined by positive feedback loop between CIP2A and E2F1. Cancer Discovery 3(2):182-197, 2013
Junttila, MR, Puustinen P, Niemelä M, Ahola R, Arnold H, Böttzauw T, Ala-aho R, Nielsen C, Ivaska J, Taya Y, Lu SL, Li S, Chan EKL, Wang X-J, Grenman R, Kast J, Kallunki T, Sears R, Kähäri V-M, Westermarck J; CIP2A Inhibits PP2A in Human Malignancies. Cell 130: 51–62, 2007
Reviews
Nagelli S and Westermarck J. CIP2A coordinates phosphosignaling, mitosis, and the DNA damage response. Trends in Cancer 10(1):52-64, 2024
Vainonen J, Momeny M, Westermarck J. Druggable cancer phosphatases. Science Translational Medicine 13(588), 2021
Kurppa KJ and Westermarck J. Good Guy in Bad Company: How STRNs Convert PP2A into an Oncoprotein. Cancer Cell 38(1): 20–22, 2020
Westermarck J and Neel BG. Piecing Together a Broken Tumor Suppressor Phosphatase for Cancer Therapy. Cell 181(3):514-517, 2020
Kauko O and Westermarck J. Non-genomic mechanisms of Protein Phosphatase 2A (PP2A) regulation in cancer. Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 96:157-164, 2018
Kaur A and Westermarck J. Regulation of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) tumor suppressor function by PME-1. Biochemical Society Transactions 44(6): 1683-1693, 2016