Christina Laukaitis, MD, PhD, FACP

Assistant Professor

Clinical Information
Clinical Focus: 

Cancer Genetics

Medical Genetics

General Medicine

Clinical Practice Sites: 
The University of Arizona Cancer Center - North Campus
The University of Arizona Medical Center - University Campus
Research Information
Research Program: 
4. Cancer Prevention and Control
Member Status: 
Member
Year of Membership Acceptance: 
2008
Summary of Research Activity: 

My professional goal is to provide individual risk assessment and counseling to develop a plan for treating neoplasia before metastatic cancer develops in people at high-risk of cancer because of genetic factors. My training and board certification in Medical Genetics have provided me with expertise and experience caring for people at high-risk for breast cancer due to mutations in BRCA1, BRCA2, APC and mismatch repair genes genes. I will couple this with my laboratory background to translate advances understanding additional genes influencing cancer risk into new clinical tests for my patients. I will seek to apply these advances to all of my patients, regardless of racial, ethnic, or socio-economic background.

A second research direction addresses appropriate targeting of chemoprevention strategies. I am participating in a project to test the safety of using DFMO and sulindac as a chemopreventive strategy in children with FAP, which we hope to follow with a study of efficacy.

Visit the Laukaitis Laboratory site to learn more

Selected Publications: 

Publications most relevent to current research

1. Laukaitis, C.M. (2012) Genetics for the General Internist. American Journal of Medicine 125(1):7-13. PMID: 22079017.
2. Laukaitis, C.M., Erdman, S.H. and Gerner, E.W. (2012) Chemoprevention in patients with genetic risk of colorectal cancers. Colorectal Cancer 1(3):241-256.
3. Laukaitis, C.M. and Gerner, E.W. (2011) DFMO: Targeted Risk Reduction Therapy. Best Practice and Research: Clinical Gastroenterology. 25(4-5):495-506. PMID: 22122766.
4. Zhou, X., Wei, Y., Xie, F., Laukaitis, C.M., Karn, R.C., Kluetzman, K., Gu, J., Zhang, Q-Y., Roberts, D.W., and Ding, X. (2011) A Novel Defensive Mechanism against Acetaminophen Toxicity in the Mouse Lateral Nasal Gland: Role of CYP2A5-Mediated Regulation of Testosterone Homeostasis and Salivary Androgen-Binding Protein Expression. Molecular Toxicology. 79(4):710-23. PMID: 21252290
5. Karn, R.C. and Laukaitis, C.M. (2011) Positive selection shaped the convergent evolution of independently expanded kallikrein subfamilies expressed in mouse and rat saliva proteomes. PLoS One. 6(6):e20979. PMID: 21695125

Additional recent publications of importance to the field

6. Laukaitis, C. M., Critser, E. S. and Karn, R. C. (1997) Salivary androgen-binding protein (ABP) mediates sexual isolation in Mus Musculus. Evolution. 51(16): 2000-2005.
7. Knight, B., Laukaitis, C. M., Akhtar, N., Hotchin, N. A., Edlund, M. and Horwitz, A. R. (2000) Visualizing cell migration in situ. Current Biology. 10: 576-585. PMID: 10837222
8. Laukaitis, C. M., Donais, K., Webb, D. J., and Horwitz, A. F. (2001) Differential dynamics of alpha 5 integrin, paxillin, and alpha-actinin during formation and disassembly of adhesions in migrating cells. Journal of Cell Biology. 153(7):1427-1440. PMID: 11425873
9. Laukaitis, C.M., Dlouhy, S.R., and Karn, R.C. (2003) The mouse salivary androgen-binding protein (ABP) gene cluster on chromosome 7: Characterization and evolutionary relationships. Mammalian Genome. 14:679-691. PMID: 14694904
10. Laukaitis, C.M., Dlouhy, S.R., Emes, R.D., Ponting, C.P., and Karn, R.C. (2005) Diverse spatial, temporal, and sexual expression of recently duplicated androgen-binding protein genes in Mus musculus. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 5:40. PMID: 16018816
11. Laukaitis, C.M., Heger, A., Blakley, T.D., Munclinger, P., Ponting, C.P., and Karn, R.C. (2008) Rapid bursts of Abp gene duplication occurred independently in diverse mammals. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 8:46. PMID: 18269759
12. Karn, R.C. and Laukaitis, C.M. (2009) The mechanism of expansion and the volatility it created in three pheromone gene clusters in the mouse (Mus musculus) genome. Genome Biology and Evolution. 2009:494-503. PMID: 20333217
13. Karn, R.C., Young, J.M. and Laukaitis, C.M. (2010) A candidate subspecies discrimination system involving a vomeronasal receptor gene with different alleles fixed in M. m. domesticus and M. m. musculus. PLoS One. 5(9): e12638. PMID: 20844586
14. Vošlajerová Bímová, B., Macholán, M., Baird, S.E.B., Munclinger, P., Laukaitis, C.M., Karn, R.C., Luzynski, K., Tucker, P., Piálek, J. (2011) Reinforcement selection acting on the European house mouse hybrid zone. Molecular Ecology. 20(11):2403-24. PMID: 21521395
15. Karn, R.C., Mauss, C. and Laukaitis, C.M. (2012) Congenic strain analysis reveals genes that are rapidly evolving components of a prezygotic isolation mediating incipient reinforcement. PLoS One. 7(4):e35898.

Collaborative Research: 

Bio sketch: 
application/pdf iconLaukaitis_biosketch_0812.pdf
Professional Information
Board Certifications: 

American Board of Internal Medicine, 2006

American Board of Medical Genetics, 2009

Professional Affiliations: 

ACP-ASIM

ASHG

SSE

Academic Information
Fellowship: 
Medical Genetics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Residency: 
Internal Medicine, St. Vincent Hospital, Indianapolis, IN
Doctorate: 
University of Illinois
Medical School: 
University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign
Undergraduate School: 
Butler University, Indianapolis, IN