Jesse Zaretsky, MD PhD

Jesse Zaretsky, MD PhD

Hometown: Santa Monica, California
Medical School: University of California, Los Angeles
Residency: Washington University in St. Louis/Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Research/Academic Interests: Translational research in cancer immunotherapy, including mechanisms of response vs resistance to therapy. Specific interests include local dynamics between tumors and T-cells, cancer genomics and evolution under treatment, and applications of next-gen sequencing and high-dimensional bioinformatics. I’m grateful to be at WashU, a research-focused quaternary NCI Cancer Center with current strength and a long history in Immunology and Cancer Genomics.
Bio: I’m an L.A. native, and enjoy hiking, biking, rock climbing, yoga, surfing, games (of all kinds), and gardening. I’m able to do all but one of those in St Louis. Forest Park and Tower Grove Park here are magnificent and filled with varied activity year-round, from farmer’s markets, to theater festivals, the zoo, museums, and ice skating. You can usually find me there.

Selected Publications/Abstracts

  • Zaretsky JM, Garcia-Diaz A, Shin DS, Escuin-Ordinas H, Hugo W, Hu-Lieskovan S, Torrejon DY, Abril-Rodriguez G, Sandoval S, Barthly L, Saco J, Homet Moreno B, Mezzadra R, Chmielowski B, Ruchalski K, Shintaku IP, Sanchez PJ, Puig-Saus C, Cherry G, Seja E, Kong X, Pang J, Berent-Maoz B, Comin-Anduix B, Graeber TG, Tumeh PC, Schumacher TN, Lo RS, Ribas A. Mutations Associated with Acquired Resistance to PD-1 Blockade in Melanoma. N Engl J Med. 2016 Sep 1;375(9):819-29. PMID: 27433843
  • Hugo W, Zaretsky JM, Sun L, Song C, Moreno BH, Hu-Lieskovan S, Berent-Maoz B, Pang J, Chmielowski B, Cherry G, Seja E, Lomeli S, Kong X, Kelley MC, Sosman JA, Johnson DB, Ribas A, Lo RS. Genomic and Transcriptomic Features of Response to Anti-PD-1 Therapy in Metastatic Melanoma. Cell. 2016 Mar 24;165(1):35-44 PMID: 28129544
  • Shin DS, Zaretsky JM, Escuin-Ordinas H, Garcia-Diaz A, Hu-Lieskovan S, Kalbasi A, Grasso CS, Hugo W, Sandoval S, Torrejon DY, Palaskas N, Rodriguez GA, Parisi G, Azhdam A, Chmielowski B, Cherry G, Seja E, Berent-Maoz B, Shintaku IP, Le DT, Pardoll DM, Diaz LA Jr, Tumeh PC, Graeber TG, Lo RS, Comin-Anduix B, Ribas A. Primary Resistance to PD-1 Blockade Mediated by JAK1/2 Mutations. Cancer Discov. 2017 Feb;7(2):188-201 PMID: 27903500
  • Eroglu Z, Zaretsky JM, Hu-Lieskovan S, Kim DW, Algazi A, Johnson DB, Liniker E, Ben Kong, Munhoz R, Rapisuwon S, Gherardini PF, Chmielowski B, Wang X, Shintaku IP, Wei C, Sosman JA, Joseph RW, Postow MA, Carlino MS, Hwu WJ, Scolyer RA, Messina J, Cochran AJ, Long GV, Ribas A. High response rate to PD-1 blockade in desmoplastic melanomas. Nature. 2018 Jan 18;553(7688):347-350 PMID: 29320474
  • Peng S, Zaretsky JM, Ng AHC*, Chour W, Bethune MT, Choi J, Hsu A, Holman E, Ding X, Guo K, Kim J, Xu AM, Heath JE, Noh WJ, Zhou J, Su Y, Lu Y, McLaughlin J, Cheng D, Witte ON, Baltimore D, Ribas A, Heath JR. Sensitive Detection and Analysis of Neoantigen-Specific T Cell Populations from Tumors and Blood. Cell Rep. 2019 Sep 3;28(10):2728-2738. PMID: 31484081
  • Torrejon DY, Abril-Rodriguez G, Champhekar AS, Tsoi J, Campbell KM, Kalbasi A, Parisi G, Zaretsky JM, Garcia-Diaz A, Puig-Saus C, Cheung-Lau G, Wohlwender T, Krystofinski P, Vega-Crespo A, Lee CM, Mascaro P, Grasso CS, Berent-Maoz B, Comin-Anduix B, Hu-Lieskovan S, Ribas A. Overcoming genetically-based resistance mechanisms to PD-1 blockade. Cancer Discov. 2020 May 28:CD-19-1409 PMID: 32467343
  • Peng S, Zaretsky JM, Ng AHC*, Chour W, Bethune MT, Choi J, Hsu A, Holman E, Ding X, Guo K, Kim J, Xu AM, Heath JE, Noh WJ, Zhou J, Su Y, Lu Y, McLaughlin J, Cheng D, Witte ON, Baltimore D, Ribas A, Heath JR. Sensitive Detection and Analysis of Neoantigen-Specific T Cell Populations from Tumors and Blood. Cell Rep. 2019 Sep 3;28(10):2728-2738. PMID: 31484081