פרופ' יצחק [איציק] ויץ | אוניברסיטת ת"א

CV

Place & Date of Birth: Vienna, Austria, November 7, 1934

Personal Details

1939 (September) - Immigrated to Mandatory British Palestine (Jerusalem)

1940-1946 Tachkemoni Elementary School, Jerusalem

1946-1952 Leyada High School, Jerusalem - (High School Diploma)

1959 Married Chava (Eva) Shneidowitz

Children: Maritte (1963), Oded (1964)

Israel Defense Forces (IDF)

1952-1954 Israel Defense Force - Officer in the armored corps

1954 Premature discharge from the army to enable study at the university

1954-1960 Led a civilian life (as a university student) but formally was an enlisted officer in the IDF. Called to active duty once (October 1956)

1960 Officially discharged from the IDF, (Lieutenant)

1960-1977 Reserve Officer (Medical Corps). Discharged from the IDF reserve force in November 1977

Academic Education:

1954-1959 Undergraduate and M.Sc studies (Microbiology, Biochemistry, Parasitology) - Hebrew University, Jerusalem.– M.Sc.

1959-1965 Graduate studies (Immunology, Cancer Research) Hebrew University, Jerusalem – Ph.D

1965–1968 Post-doctoral Training (Cancer Immunology) - Roswell Park Memorial Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA

Ranks in Academic or Research Institutions:

1968 Lecturer of Immunology, Tel Aviv University

1969 Senior Lecturer of Immunology, Tel Aviv University

1972 Associate Professor of Immunology, Tel Aviv University

1975 Professor of Immunology, Tel Aviv University

2003 Professor Emeritus

Visiting Professorships

1974 Dept. of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, USA

1974-1975 Dept. of Tumor Biology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

1978-1990 Div. of Cancer Treatment, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA

1989 Center for Molecular Medicine and Immunology, Newark, NJ, USA

1999 John Wayne Cancer Institute, Santa Monica, CA, USA

1998 Institute for Cancer Research, University of Vienna, Austria

2000 “

2002 “

2003 MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

2010 University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA

2011 “

2012 “

Professional Occupations:

1969-1972 Chairman, Department of Microbiology, Tel Aviv University

1979-1984 Founding Head, Tel Aviv University Cancer Biology Research Center

1979-1984 Dean, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University

1979-1987 Member of the Managing Council, Board of Directors, Tel Aviv University

1979-1989 Member of Board of Governors, Tel Aviv University

1981-1986 Council Member of the European Association of Cancer Research

1982-1989 Director, The Moise and Frida Eskenasy Institute for Cancer Research, Tel Aviv University

1982-1989 Member of Editorial Board - Leukemia Reviews

1984-1987 Vice President for Research and Development, Tel Aviv University

1984-1987 Chairman - Board of Directors, Ramot, Tel Aviv University Authority for Applied Research and Industrial Development

1984-1987 Member of the Board of Directors, The Belfer Center for Energy Research Tel Aviv

1984-1992 Member of Executive Council of Ramot, Tel Aviv University Authority for Applied Research and Industrial Development

1986-1988 Chairman, The Scientific Reviews Committee, The Landau Prize, Mifal Hapais

1986-1989 President, Israel Immunological Society

1986-1989 Council Member of the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS)

1991-1993 Founding Chairman, Department of Cell Research and Immunology, Tel Aviv University

1994-1997 Committee Chairman, French-Israeli Scientific Cooperation in Immunology

1994-1997 Member, Honorary Degrees Committee, Tel Aviv University

1995-1998 Member, Advisory Committee - Association of Biological Societies of Israel

1995-1999 Member, Research Council, Tel Aviv University

1995-1999 Founding Member, Middle Eastern Cancer Society

1996-1999 Member, Committee for Nominations and Promotions, Tel Aviv University

1996-2003 Founding Member and Chairman of Steering Committee, International Cancer Microenvironment Forum

1997-2000 Member, Board of Governors, Tel Aviv University

1998-2001 Head, The Cancer Biology Research Center, Tel Aviv University

1992-2003 Head, The Ela Kodesz Institute for Research on Cancer Development and Prevention, Tel Aviv University

2002-2005 Member, National Human Experimentation Ethics Committee

2002-2007 Consultant, German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research & Development

2005-2010 Member Steering Committee AACR’s Tumor Microenvironment Working Group

2008-2011 President – Israel Association for Cancer Research

2005-2011 Editorial Board - Clinical & Experimental Metastasis

2010-2013 Editorial Board – American Journal of Pathology

1998-2015 Member, Scientific Committee of the German-Israeli Cooperation (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum - Ministry of Science) in Cancer Research

2003-2016 Scientific Adviser - Dan David Prize, Tel Aviv University

2003-2015 President, International Cancer Microenvironment Society

1981- Member of Board of Governors of the Israel Cancer Association

1982- Academic Organizer - The Annual Otto Herz Memorial Lectureship in Cancer Research - TAU.

2008- Member - Scientific Advisory Board of the International Institute of Anticancer Research, Greece

2007- Editor in Chief – Cancer Microenvironment

2008- Editorial Board - Journal of Translational Medicine

2013- Editor- Biochemical & Biophysical Research Communications

Membership in Scientific Societies: Israel Immunological Society, American Association for Cancer Research, The Transplantation Society, The American Association of Immunologists, European Association for Cancer Research, The International Cytokine Society, The International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research, The International Metastasis Research Society, The International Cancer Microenvironment Society (Founding President).

Awards and Fellowships:

1960 Gurevitch Award, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

1961 Anne Frank Fellowship to enable research in Villejuif, France

1974 Eleanor Roosevelt International Cancer Fellowship

1980-2003 The David Furman Chair of Cancer Immunobiology

1990 Fogarty Scholar in Residence, NIH, Bethesda, Md., USA

1996 Elected Member of the World Academy of Art and Science

2003 The Jacqueline Seroussi Award for Cancer Research

2008 Life Time Achievement Award for Scientific Contributions, Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine

2014 The Otto Herz Memorial Lectureship in Cancer Research, Tel Aviv University

President & Organizer - International Conferences on Tumor Microenvironment

1978 Tel Aviv, Israel - In Situ Expressions of Tumor Immunity

1995 Beit Gabriel & Tiberias, Israel – 1st International Conference on Tumor Microenvironment

2002 Baden, Austria 2nd International Conference on Tumor Microenvironment

2004 Prague, Czech Republic, 3rd International Conference on Tumor Microenvironment

2007 Florence, Italy, 4th International Conference on Tumor Microenvironment

2009 Versailles, France, 5th International Conference on Tumor Microenvironment

2012 Suzhou, China, 6th International Conference on Tumor Microenvironment

2015 Tel Aviv, Israel, 7th International Conference on Tumor Microenvironment

Publications

Authored 210 research papers & reviews

Edited and guest-edited 11 books

Wrote the Chapter on: “Tumor Microenvironment” – Encyclopedia of Cancer – 2nd & 3rd Edition (M. Schwab Editor)

Research Interests

The focus of the laboratory is on interactions between tumor cells and tumor microenvironmental factors such as components of the extracellular matrix, cytokines and immunocytes, and the involvement of such interactions in tumor progression and metastasis formation.

Specific topics:

Molecules mediating the interaction of cancer cells with endothelial cells of metastatic sites.
The interaction of melanoma and neuroblastoma cells with the metastatic microenvironment
Molecular signatures of melanoma brain metastasis and of neuroblastoma macro and micro metastasis

Scientific Contributions

A receptor for Fc of IgG (FcRII) may function as a tumor progression factor in non-immunohematopoietic cancer.
Murine Ly-6 proteins are involved in the progression of 2 independent tumor systems.
A murine model system for secondary leukemia has been established.
A regulatory mechanism regulating the expression of selectin ligands in tumor cells and activated lymphocytes.
A chemokine-chemokine receptor interaction may be involved in site-specific metastasis of neuroblastoma cells.

Recent Publications

See here for a full list of publications

Publications since retirement (2003)

Levy-Nissenbaum, O., Sagi-Assif, O., Raanani, P., Avigdor, A., Ben-Bassat, I. and Witz, I.P. cDNA microarray analysis reveals an over expression of the dual-specificity MAPK phosphatase PYST2 in acute leukemia. Meth. Enzymology, 366:103-113, 2003.

Neumark, E., Sagi-Assif, O., Shalmon, B., Ben-Baruch, A. and Witz, I.P. Progression of mouse mammary tumors: MCP-1-TNFa cross-regulatory pathway and clonal expression of pro-malignancy and anti-malignancy factors. Int. J. Cancer, 106: 879-868, 2003.

Levy-Nissenbaum, O., Sagi-Assif, O., Raanani, P., Avigdor, A., Ben-Bassat, I. and Witz, I.P. Over expression of the dual-specificity MAPK phosphatase PYST2 in acute leukemia. Cancer Letters, 199: 185-192, 2003.

Levy-Nissenbaum, O., Sagi-Assif, O., Kapon, D., Hantisteanu, S., Burg, T., Raanani, P., Avigdor, A., Ben-Bassat, I. and Witz, I.P. The dual-specificity phosphatase PYST2 is constitutively highly expressed in myeloid leukemia and other malignant cells. Oncogene, 22: 7649-60, 2003.

Levy-Nissenbaum O, Sagi-Assif O, Raanani P, Avigdor A, Ben-Bassat I, Witz IP. cDNA microarray analysis reveals an overexpression of the dual-specificity MAPK phosphatase PYST2 in acute leukemia. Methods Enzymol. 366:103-113, 2003.

Levy-Nissenbaum O, Sagi-Assif O, Witz IP. Characterization of the dual-specificity phosphatase PYST2 and its transcripts. Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 39: 37-47, 2004.

Levy-Nissenbaum O, Barak E, Burg TG, Sagi-Assif O., Kloog Y, Witz IP. Does the dual-specificity MAPK phosphatase Pyst2-L lead a monogamous relationship with the Erk2 protein? Immunol Lett. 92: 149-156, 2004.

Nevo I, Sagi-Assif O, Meshel T, Geminder H, Goldberg-Bittman L, Ben-Menachem S, Shalmon B, Goldberg I, Ben-Baruch A, Witz IP. The tumor microenvironment: CXCR4 is associated with distinct protein expression patterns in neuroblastoma cells. Immunol Lett. 92: 163-169, 2004.

Goldberg-Bittman L, Neumark E, Sagi-Assif O, Azenshtein E, Meshel T, Witz IP, Ben-Baruch A. The expression of the chemokine receptor CXCR3 and its ligand, CXCL10, in human breast adenocarcinoma cell lines. Immunol Lett. 92: 171-178, 2004.

Zipin A, Israeli-Amit M, Meshel T, Sagi-Assif O, Yron I, Lifshitz V, Bacharach E, Smorodinsky NI, Many A, Czernilofsky PA, Morton DL, Witz IP. Tumor-microenvironment interactions: the fucose-generating FX enzyme controls adhesive properties of colorectal cancer cells. Cancer Res. 2004 64: 6571-6578.

Goldberg-Bittman L, Sagi-Assif O, Meshel T, Nevo I, Levy-Nissenbaum O, Yron I, Witz IP, Ben-Baruch A. Cellular characteristics of neuroblastoma cells: regulation by the ELR(-)-CXC chemokine CXCL10 and expression of a CXCR3-like receptor. Cytokine. 29: 105-117, 2005.

Witz IP. The involvement of selectins and their ligands in tumor-progression. Immunol. Lett. 104: 89-93, 2006.

Levy-Nissenbaum O, Ben-Menachem S, Sagi-Assif O, Witz IP. The Pyst2-L phosphatase is involved in cell-crowding. Immunol. Lett. 104: 138-145, 2006.

Witz IP. Tumor-microenvironment interactions: the selectin-selectin ligand axis in tumor-endothelium cross talk. Cancer Treat Res. 130: 125-140, 2006.

Witz IP, Levy-Nissenbaum O. The tumor microenvironment in the post-PAGET era. Cancer Lett. 242: 1-10, 2006.

Zipin A, Meshel T, Sagi-Assif O, Shalmon B, Witz IP, Ben-Baruch A. CXCL10 promotes invasion-related properties in colorectal carcinoma cells. Cancer Res. 67: 3396-405, 2007.

Lifshitz V, Chen-Levi L, Zipin-Roitman A, Meshel T, Sagi-Assif O, Levi-Nissenbaum O, Witz IP, Yron I. The tumour microenvironment regulates components of the fucose biosynthesis pathways in colorectal cancer cells. In: Gasche C, Gassull M, Herrerias Gutierrez JM, Monterio E, editors. Intestinal Inflammation and Colorectal Cancer. Heidelberg: Springer. 294-305, 2007.

Ben David T, Sagi-Assif O, Meshel T, Yron I and Witz IP. The Involvement of the Sialyl Lewis-A Selectin Ligand in the Extravasation of Human Colorectal Carcinoma Cells. Immunol. Letters, 116: 218-24. 2007.

Witz IP. Yin-yang activities and vicious cycles in the tumor microenvironment. Cancer Res. 68: 9-13, 2008.

Witz IP. The Role of the Selectin-Selectin Ligand Axis in Tumor Progression. Cancer Metastasis Rev. Cancer & Metastasis Rev, 27: 10-30, 2008

Aychek T, Miller K, Sagi-Assif O, Israeli-Amit M, Levi-Nissenbaum O, Pasmanik-Chor M, Jacob-Hirsch J, Amariglio N, Rechavi G and Witz IP. E-Selectin Regulates Gene Expression in Metastatic Colorectal Carcinoma Cells and enhances HMGB1 Release. Int J Cancer, 123: 1741-1750, 2008.

Witz IP Tumor- Microenvironment Interactions: Dangerous Liaisons. Adv. Cancer Res. 100: 203-229, 2008.

Nevo I, Sagi-Assif O, Edry Botzer L, Amar D, Maman S, Kariv N, Leider-Trejo LE, Savelyeva, L, Schwab M, Yron I and Witz IP. Generation and Characterization of Novel Local and Metastatic Human Neuroblastoma Variants. Neoplasia, 10: 816-827, 2008.

Nevo I, Sagi-Assif O, Meshel T, Ben-Baruch A, Jöhrer K, Leider Trejo L, Kharenko O, Yron I and Witz IP. The Involvement of Fractalkine Receptor in Bone Marrow-Endothelium Transmigration of Neuroblastoma Cells. Cancer Letters, 273: 127-139, 2009

Witz IP. The Tumor Microenvironment: Making of a Paradigm. Cancer Microenvironment, Suppl 1:9-17, 2009

Nevo I, Oberthuer A, Edri-Botzer L, Sagi-Assif O, Maman S, Pasmanik-Chor M, Kariv N, Fischer M, Yron I and Witz IP. Gene-Expression-Based Analysis of Local and Metastatic Neuroblastoma Variants Reveals a Set of Genes Associated with Metastatic Progression. Int. J. Cancer, 126: 1570-81, 2010

Izraely S, Klein A, Sagi-Assif O, Meshel T, Tsarfaty G, Hoon DS, Witz IP. Chemokine-chemokine receptor axes in melanoma brain metastasis. Immunol Lett. 130:107-14, 2010.

Mohla, S. and Witz, IP. The 5th International Conference on Tumor Microenvironment: Progression, Therapy and Prevention, 3: 1-5, 2010

Vidal-Vanaclocha F and Witz IP. Introducing the cancer microenvironment section of Journal of Translational Medicine. J Transl Med. 8:60, 2010

Izraely S, Witz IP. The Metastatic Microenvironment: The Case of Brain Metastasis. In: Inflammation and Cancer (in press), 2011

Edry Botzer L, Maman S, Sagi-Assif O, Meshel T, Nevo I, Bäuerle T, Yron I, Witz IP. Lung-Residing Metastatic and Dormant Neuroblastoma Cells. Am J Pathol; 179:524-36. 2011

Izraely S, Sagi-Assif O, Klein A, Meshel T, Tsarfaty G, Pasmanik-Chor M, Nahmias C, Couraud, PO, Ateh E, Bryant JL, Hoon DSB, Witz IP. The Metastatic Microenvironment. Brain Residing Melanoma Metastasis and Dormant Micro-Metastasis Int. J. Cancer 131:1071-82, 2012

Izraely S, Witz IP. The Metastatic Microenvironment. In: The Inflammatory Milieu of Tumors. A. Ben Baruch Editor, Bentham, 3-13, 2012

Klein A, Sagi-Assif O, Izraely S, Meshel T, Pasmanik-Chor M, Nahmias C, Couraud PO, Erez N, Hoon DS, Witz IP. The metastatic microenvironment: Brain-derived soluble factors alter the malignant phenotype of cutaneous and brain-metastasizing melanoma cells. Int J Cancer 131:2509-18, 2012

Maman S, Witz IP. The Metastatic Microenvironment. In: The Tumor Microenvironment. M. R. Shurin et al. Editors, Springer Science+Business Media, pp.15-38, 2013

Klein-Goldberg A, Maman S, Witz IP. The role played by the microenvironment in site-specific metastasis. Cancer Lett. 13: 604-6, 2013

Maman S, Edry-Botzer L, Sagi-Assif O, Meshel T, Yuan W, Lu W, Witz IP. The metastatic microenvironment: lung-derived factors control the viability of neuroblastoma lung metastasis. Int J Cancer. 133: 2296-306, 2013

Izraely S, Sagi-Assif O, Meshel T, Ben-Menachem S, Zaritsky A, Ehrlich M, Klein A, Prieto VG, Bar-Eli M, Pirker C, Berger W, Hoon DSB and Witz IP. The Metastatic Microenvironment: Claudin-1 Suppresses the Malignancy Phenotype of Melanoma Brain Metastasis Int J Cancer; 136:1296-307, 2015.

Wang J, Huang SK, Marzese DM, Hsu SC, Kawas NP, Chong KK, Long GV, Menzies AM, Scolyer RA, Izraely S, Sagi-Assif O, Witz IP, Hoon DS. Epigenetic Changes of EGFR Have an Important Role in BRAF Inhibitor-Resistant Cutaneous Melanomas. J Invest Dermatol. J Invest Dermatol. 135: 532-41, 2015.

Klein A,,Schwartz H,, Sagi-Assif O, Meshel T, Izraely S, Ben-Menachem S, Bengaiev R, Ben-Shmuel A , Nahmias C, Couraud PO, Witz IP, Erez N. Astrocytes facilitate melanoma brain metastasis via secretion of IL-23. J. Pathol. 236: 116-27, 2015.

Zubrilov I, Sagi-Assif O, Izraely S, Meshel T, Ben-Menahem S, Ginat R, Pasmanik-Chor M, Nahmias C, Couraud PO, Hoon DS, Witz IP. Vemurafenib resistance selects for highly malignant brain and lung-metastasizing melanoma cells. Cancer Lett. 361: 86-96, 2015.

Lessard L, Liu M, Marzese DM, Wang H, Chong K, Kawas N, Donovan NC, Kiyohara E, Hsu S, Nelson N, Izraely S, Sagi-Assif O, Witz IP, Ma XJ, Luo Y, Hoon DS. The CASC15 Long Intergenic Noncoding RNA Locus Is Involved in Melanoma Progression and Phenotype Switching. J Invest Dermatol. 135:2464-74, 2015

Marzese DM, Witz IP, Kelly DF, Hoon DS. Epigenomic landscape of melanoma progression to brain metastasis: unexplored therapeutic alternatives. Epigenomics.7:1303-1311, 2015

Edry-Botzer L, Maman S, Sagi-Assif O, Meshel T, Yron I, Witz IP. Hexokinase 2 is a Determinant of Neuroblastoma Metastasis. Br J Cancer. 114:759-66, 2016

Naftali O, Maman S , Meshel T, Sagi-Assif O, Ginat R, Witz IP. PHOX2B is a suppressor of neuroblastoma metastasis. Oncotarget. 7:10627-37, 2016

Maman S, Sagi-Assif O, Yuan W, Ginat R, Meshel T, Zubrilov I. Keisari Y, Lu We, Lu Wu and Witz IP. The beta subunit of hemoglobin suppresses tumor growth and metastasis. Cancer Res., 77:1-13, 2017

Books

In situ Expression of Tumor Immunity. Contemporary Topics in Immunobiology, Vol. 10. Isaac P. Witz and M.G. Hanna Jr., Eds., Plenum Press, New York and London, 1980.

The Tumour Microenvironment - Seminars in Cancer Biology, Vol. 12/2, Isaac P. Witz, Guest Editor, 2002

Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Tumor Microenvironment, Baden, Austria. Isaac P. Witz, Editor, Monduzzi Editore. Bologna, 2002

Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Tumor Microenvironment, Prague, Czech Republic. Isaac P. Witz, Editor, Monduzzi Editore. Bologna, 2004

Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Tumor Microenvironment, Florence, Italy. Isaac P. Witz, Editor, Monduzzi Editore. Bologna, 2007

Tumor Extravasation and Organ Selectivity of Metastasis – Clinical & Experimental Metastasis, Special issue. Isaac P. Witz, Guest Editor, 2008

The Tumor Microenvironment. Isaac P. Witz, Series Editor. Innate and Adaptive Immunity in the Tumor Microenvironment. Eitan Yefenof Guest Editor. Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008

The Tumor Microenvironment. Isaac P. Witz, Series Editor. Regulation of Gene Expression in the Tumor Microenvironment. Menashe Bar-Eli Guest Editor. Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008

The Tumor Microenvironment. Isaac P. Witz, Series Editor. From Molecular to Modular Tumor Therapy. Albrecht Reichle Guest Editor. Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010

The Tumor Microenvironment. Isaac P. Witz, Series Editor. Tumor-Associated Fibroblasts and their Matrix. Margareta M Mueller, Norbert E Fusenig Guest Editors. Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

The Tumor Microenvironment. Isaac P. Witz, Series Editor. Tumor Ablation. Yona Keisari Guest Editor. Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2013

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CANCER 2^nd & 3^rd Edition (M. Schwab Editor)

Chapter on: Tumor Microenvironment