Clinical Focus

• Cancer> Medical Oncology
• Cancer> Non-Hematologic Cancers
• Medical Oncology
• New Drug Studies

Administrative Appointments

• Associate Director, Stanford Cancer Center (2009 - present)
• Co-Director, Stanford Center for Clinical and Translational Education and Research, Stanford University (2008 - present)
• Director, Clinical and Translational Research Unit, Stanford University (2008 - present)
• Scientific Program Committee Chair, American Society of Clinical Oncology (2005 - 2006)

Honors and Awards

• Presidential Medal for Science and Medicine, Government of Croatia (2010)
• Statesman Award, American Society of Clinical Oncology (2010)
• John H. Blaffer Visiting Professor, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (2003)
• Best Doctors in America, "Best Doctors" annual survey (2002-10)
• Oncology Teaching Award, Oncology Division, Stanford (2000)

Professional Education

Postdoctoral Advisees

Francois Moisan,  Aya Sultan,  Victor Villalobos

Graduate & Fellowship Program Affiliations

• Cancer Biology
• Chemical and Systems Biology

Community and International Work

• Central European Oncology Congress, Opatija, Croatia 

Internet Links

• Stanford Medical School - Sikic Laboratory

Industry Relationships

Stanford is committed to ethical and transparent interactions with our industry partners. It is our policy to disclose payments of $5,000 or more, equity valued at $5,000 or more in a publicly traded company, or any equity in a privately held company, to physicians and scientists employed by Stanford University from companies or other commercial entities with which they interact as part of their professional activities. View Full Information

Current Research Interests

Our goals are to understand mechanisms of drug resistance in cancer cells and to develop more effective therapies. Current research ranges from biochemical and molecular studies in cellular models to Phase I, II and III clinical trials of new inhibitors of drug resistance and novel therapies such as multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors and activators of TRAIL signaling. We are developing approaches to personalized therapies of ovarian cancer using biomarkers to select individualized treatments for patients.

Laboratory projects include studies of the multidrug transporter P-glycoprotein, regulation of the MDR1 gene, the role of beta tubulin gene expression in resistance to taxanes and vinca alkaloids, and the use of gene expression profiling in discovering molecular and genetic determinants of outcomes in cancer treatment in various cancers, particularly ovarian, colorectal, and acute myeloid leukemias.

Clinical investigations include the prognostic significance of resistance gene expression in cancers, pharmacokinetic consequences of MDR modulation, development of new modulators of drug resistance, and new targeted drugs, including kinase inhibitors and inhibitors of apoptosis. We are performing pharmacogenetic and pharmacogenomic studies to investigate determinants of response and toxicities in these patients.

Clinical Trials

• An Investigational Drug, PF-02341066, Is Being Studied In Patients With Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer With A Specific Gene Profile Involving The Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK) Gene Recruiting
• Genome, Proteome and Tissue Microarray in Childhood Acute Leukemia Recruiting
• A Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic Study of RO5185426 in Previously Treated Patients With Metastatic Melanoma No longer recruiting
• A Phase 1 Dose Escalation Study of OMP-21M18 in Subjects With Solid Tumors No longer recruiting
• A Phase I/II Study of HKI-272 in Combination With Paclitaxel in Subjects With Advanced Solid Tumors and Breast Cancer No longer recruiting

Publications

• A phase I trial of vandetanib combined with capecitabine, oxaliplatin and bevacizumab for the first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. Cabebe EC, Fisher GA, Sikic BI. Invest New Drugs. 2011
• NFKBIA deletion in glioblastomas. Bredel M, Scholtens DM, Yadav AK, Alvarez AA, Renfrow JJ, Chandler JP, Yu IL, Carro MS, Dai F, Tagge MJ, Ferrarese R, Bredel C, Phillips HS, Lukac PJ, Robe PA, Weyerbrock A, Vogel H, Dubner S, Mobley B, He X, Scheck AC, Sikic BI, Aldape KD, Chakravarti A, Harsh GR. N Engl J Med. 2011; 364 (7): 627-37
• Phase I trial of oblimersen (Genasense®) and gemcitabine in refractory and advanced malignancies. Galatin PS, Advani RH, Fisher GA, Francisco B, Julian T, Losa R, Sierra MI, Sikic BI. Invest New Drugs. 2011; 29 (5): 971-7
• Expression and silencing of the microtubule-associated protein Tau in breast cancer cells. Spicakova T, O'Brien MM, Duran GE, Sweet-Cordero A, Sikic BI. Mol Cancer Ther. 2010; 9 (11): 2970-81
• Phase I and pharmacokinetic study of lexatumumab (HGS-ETR2) given every 2 weeks in patients with advanced solid tumors. Wakelee HA, Patnaik A, Sikic BI, Mita M, Fox NL, Miceli R, Ullrich SJ, Fisher GA, Tolcher AW. Ann Oncol. 2010; 21 (2): 376-81