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Faculty Detail Faculty Entry   
Name ANDRA R FROST  
Campus Address WTI 320B Zip 3300
Phone 205-934-2746
E-mail afrost@uab.edu" id="FacultyDetail1EmailAddress"><a href="mailto:afrost@uab.edu">afrost@uab.edu</a>
URL
 
 

Department Affiliations(s)
Appointment Type Department Division Rank
Center  Comprehensive Cancer Center  Comprehensive Cancer Center Professor
Center  General Clinical Research Center  Ctr for Clinical & Translational Sci Professor
Primary  Pathology   Clinical Pathology Professor
Secondary  Cell, Developmntl, & Integrative Biology  Cell, Developmntl, & Integrative Biology Professor

Biographical Sketch 
Dr. Frost received her B.A. in Liberal Arts from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (1981) after two years in electrical engineering at Purdue University. She obtained her MD degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (1985), followed by residency training in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology and a combined Surgical Pathology and Cytopathology Fellowship at the George Washington University (1985-1990). She was a faculty member of the Departments of Pathology at Georgetown University (1990-1991) and George Washington University (1991-1997) before joining the faculty at UAB (1997). Dr. Frost has practiced as a diagnostic surgical pathologist, cytopathologist, and autopsy pathologist. Her research is focused in breast cancer. She was honored with the Leonard H. Robinson Award for Excellence in Resident Education in Anatomic Pathology in 1998.

Society Memberships
Organization Name Position Held Org Link
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)     
American Society of Cytopathology     
 

Research/Clinical Interest
Title
Fibroblast-Epithelial Cell Interactions and Developmental Pathways in the Growth and Metastasis of Breast Cancer
Description
Dr. Frost’s research is focused on understanding the effects of the microenvironment of the breast on breast carcinogenesis and the progression of breast cancer, with the ultimate goal of identifying new targets for prevention of invasive and metastatic disease. To this end, on-going projects utilize in vitro and in vivo model systems to explore the effects of human breast-derived fibroblasts on the progression of epithelial cells of the breast to carcinoma and metastatic disease, with a current emphasis on the involvement of Hedgehog signaling, and in particular the Gli1 transcription factor, and other developmental pathways in these epithelial-stromal interactions and in breast cancer development and progression in general. Another current focus is the role of primary cilia in epithelial cells and fibroblasts of the breast and their potential contribution to breast cancer development.

Postdoc Positions Available
Date Posted Position Title
No records
 

Selected Publications 
Publication PUBMEDID
Frost AR, Hurst DR, Shevde LA, Samant RS. The influence of the cancer microenvironment on the process of metastasis. Int J Breast Cancer 2012:756257.   22570792 
Kwon YJ, Hurst DR, Steg AD, Yuan K, Vaidya KS, Welch DR, Frost AR. Gli1 promotes metastasis and enhances migration and invasion via up-regulation of MMP-11 in ER- negative breast cancer. Clinical & Experimental Metastasis 2011;28(5):437-49.   21442356 
Yuan K, Frolova N, Xie Y, Wang D, Cook L, Kwon YJ, Steg AD, Serra R, Frost AR. Primary Cilia Are Decreased in Breast Cancer: Analysis of a Collection of Human Breast Cancer Cell Lines and Tissues. J Histochem Cytochem. 2010 Oct;58(10):857-70.  20530462  
Frolova N, Edmonds MD, Bodenstine TM, Seitz R, Johnson MR, Feng R, Welch DR, Frost AR. A Shift from Nuclear to Cytoplasmic BRMS1 Expression Is Associated with Highly Proliferative ER-negative Breast Cancers. Tumour Biol 2009;30(3):148-59.  19609101 
Xu L, Kwon YJ, Frolova N, Steg AD, Yuan K, Johnson MR, Grizzle WE, Desmond RA, Frost AR. Gli1 promotes cell survival and is predictive of a poor outcome in ERalpha-negative breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2010 Aug;123(1):59-712009 Nov 10.   19902354 
Sadlonova A, Bowe DB, Novak Z, Mukherjee S, Duncan VE, Page GP, Frost AR. Identification of Molecular Distinctions between Normal Breast-Associated Fibroblasts and Breast Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts. Cancer Microenvironment 2009 2 (1):9-21, Epub 2009 March 19.  19308679 
Talley LI, Chhieng DC, Bell WC, Grizzle WE, Frost AR. Immunohistochemical detection of EGFR, p185erbB-2, Bcl-2 and p53 in breast carcinomas in pre-menopausal and post-menopausal women. Biotech Histochem. 2008 Feb;83(1):5-14  18568671 
Hatsell S, Frost AR. Hedgehog Signaling in Mammary Gland Development and Breast Cancer. Journal of Mammary Gland Biology and Neoplasia. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia. 2007 Sep;12(2-3):163-73.  17623270  
Steg A, Vickers SM, Eloubeidi M, Wang W, Eltoum IA, Grizzle WE, Saif MW, Lobuglio AF, Frost AR and Johnson MR. Hedgehog pathway expression in heterogeneous pancreatic adenocarcinoma; implications for the molecular analysis of clinically available biopsies. Diagn Mol Pathol. 2007 Dec;16(4):229-37.   18043287 
Sadlonova A, Gault SR, Bowe DB, Dumas NA, Van Tine BA, Mukherjee S, Frolova N, Page GP, Welch DR, Novak L, Frost AR. Human breast fibroblasts inhibit growth of the MCF10AT xenograft model of proliferative breast disease. Am J Pathol 2007 Mar;170(3):1064-76.  17322389 
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Keywords
breast cancer, tumor-stromal interactions, Gli1, primary cilia

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