Biography

Clinical Responsibilities:

Dr. Zagzag is a Professor of Pathology and Neurosurgery at NYU School of Medicine. He is also Chief of the Neuropathology Division at NYU Langone Medical Center, the Director of the Human Brain Tumor Bank at NYU School of Medicine, and the Director of the Microvascular and Molecular Neuro-Oncology Laboratory. As Chief of the Neuropathology Division at NYU Langone Medical Center, Dr. Zagzag maintains a high level of diagnostic excellence on neuropathology cases within the NYU healthcare system. As a tenured Professor at NYU School of Medicine, he teaches medical students, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, residents and fellows in the Department of Pathology and other departments. In 2006 and 2008 he was named Teacher of the Year for NYU School of Medicine, and in 2010 was granted New York University's Distinguished Teaching Award. As a committed researcher in the field of Neuropathology, Dr. Zagzag's research focuses on glioma angiogenesis and invasion. His expertise and knowledge as an academic pathologist as well as his experience with glioma angiogenesis and invasion provides him the skills required for translational and clinical research.

Board Certification:

• 1993 — Neuropathology (Pathol)
  
• 1993 — Pathology - Anatomic

Education:

• 1981-1982 — Rothschild Foundation (Surgery), Internship
  
• 1984 — Lariboisiere St Louis MS, Medical Education
  
• 1988-1990 — NYU Medical Center (Surgical Pathology), Residency Training
  
• 1990-1992 — NYU Medical Center (Neuropathology), Clinical Fellowships

Research Interests: Mechanisms of Cerebral Vasculogenesis and Angiogenesis

Research Summary:

Blood vessels are constructed by two processes: vasculogenesis, whereby a primitive vascular network is established from multipotential mesenchymal progenitors, and angiogenesis, in which preexisting vessels (both in embryo and adult) send out capillary sprouts to produce new vessels. Angiogenesis and vasculogenesis as previously defined, are crucial process in both neural embryogenesis and neoplasia. Several angiogenic and vasculogenic factors and extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins have been implicated in the development and maturation of the central nervous system (CNS) and in the biology of brain tumors. The interaction between ECM components and these factors plays an important role in every step of the angiogenic and vasculogenic cascades. Our interest is in elucidating the expression patterns, trigger mechanisms, pathophysiological and molecular mechanisms that are related to the expression of both vasculogenic and angiogenic factors and ECM proteins.

Recently, we have focused our investigations on an ECM molecule, tenascin (TN). TN is a large complex protein of the ECM which is expressed in developing brain, cartilage and mesenchyme and is re-expressed in tumors, wound healing and inflammation. It is believed to be important for several cellular processes including cell adhesion, migration, and proliferation. In contrast to the low levels of TN found in normal adult brain, enhanced expression occurs in CNS embryogenesis and human astrocytomas. In situ hybridization of astrocytomas detects strong staining for TN mRNA in vascular cells, especially in hyperplastic vessels, including those at the invasive edge of the tumors, but not in normal brain vessels.

Tie-1 and Tie-2, two receptor tyrosine kinases, and their ligands angiopoetins have recently been described and are critical for vasculogenesis. We are currently investigating how these might be implicated in brain neoplasms.

Publications:

• BRAF Alterations in Primary Glial and Glioneuronal Neoplasms of the Central Nervous System With Identification of 2 Novel KIAA1549:BRAF Fusion Variants Lin, Alex; Rodriguez, Fausto J.; Karajannis, Matthias A.; Williams, Susan C.; Legault, Genevieve; Zagzag, David; Burger, Peter C.; Allen, Jeffrey C.; Eberhart, Charles G.; Bar, Eli E. 2012 JAN ;71(1):66-72, Journal of neuropathology & experimental neurology — id: 150248, year: 2012, vol: 71, page: 66, stat: Journal Article,
  
• Glutamic Acid decarboxylase autoantibody syndrome presenting as schizophrenia Najjar, Souhel; Pearlman, Daniel; Zagzag, David; Golfinos, John; Devinsky, Orrin
  2012 Mar;18(2):88-91, Neurologist — id: 158282, year: 2012, vol: 18, page: 88, stat: Journal Article,
  
• Change in Pattern of Relapse After Antiangiogenic Therapy in High-Grade Glioma Narayana A; Kunnakkat SD; Medabalmi P; Golfinos J; Parker E; Knopp E; Zagzag D; Eagan P; Gruber D; Gruber ML 2012 Jan;82(1):77-82, International journal of radiation oncology biology physics — id: 138155, year: 2012, vol: 82, page: 77, stat: Journal Article,
  
• A clinical trial of bevacizumab, temozolomide, and radiation for newly diagnosed glioblastoma Narayana, Ashwatha; Gruber, Deborah; Kunnakkat, Saroj; Golfinos, John G; Parker, Erik; Raza, Shahzad; Zagzag, David; Eagan, Patricia; Gruber, Michael L 2012 Feb;116(2):341-345, Journal of neurosurgery — id: 157656, year: 2012, vol: 116, page: 341, stat: Journal Article,
  
• Clonal selection drives genetic divergence of metastatic medulloblastoma Wu, Xiaochong; Northcott, Paul A; Dubuc, Adrian; Dupuy, Adam J; Shih, David J H; Witt, Hendrik; Croul, Sidney; Bouffet, Eric; Fults, Daniel W; Eberhart, Charles G; Garzia, Livia; Van Meter, Timothy; Zagzag, David; Jabado, Nada; Schwartzentruber, Jeremy; Majewski, Jacek; Scheetz, Todd E; Pfister, Stefan M; Korshunov, Andrey; Li, Xiao-Nan; Scherer, Stephen W; Cho, Yoon-Jae; Akagi, Keiko; MacDonald, Tobey J; Koster, Jan; McCabe, Martin G; Sarver, Aaron L; Collins, V Peter; Weiss, William A; Largaespada, David A; Collier, Lara S; Taylor, Michael D 2012 Feb;482(7386):529-533, Nature
  — id: 159323, year: 2012, vol: 482, page: 529, stat: Journal Article,
  
• Metastatic cerebral malignant fibrous histiocytoma masquerading as neurocysticercosis Graber, Jerome J; Nayar, Ambika; Zagzag, David 2011 Nov;105(2):437-439, Journal of neuro-oncology — id: 139728, year: 2011, vol: 105, page: 437, stat: Journal Article,
• TGFbeta inhibition radiosensitizes murine glioblastoma cells and decreases neurosphere-forming capacity Hardee M.E.; Marciscano A.E.; Zagzag D.; Narayana A.; Barcellos-Hoff M. 2011 ;81(2 SUPPL 1):S714-S714, International journal of radiation oncology biology physics — id: 150892, year: 2011, vol: 81, page: S714, stat: Journal Article,
  
• Aurora A Is a Repressed Effector Target of the Chromatin Remodeling Protein INI1/hSNF5 Required for Rhabdoid Tumor Cell Survival Lee, Seungjae; Cimica, Velasco; Ramachandra, Nandini; Zagzag, David; Kalpana, Ganjam V 2011 May 1;71(9):3225-3235, Cancer research — id: 134276, year: 2011, vol: 71, page: 3225, stat: Journal Article,
  
• Extralimbic autoimmune encephalitis associated with glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies: An underdiagnosed entity? Najjar S; Pearlman D; Najjar A; Ghiasian V; Zagzag D; Devinsky O 2011 Jul;21(3):306-313, Epilepsy & behavior — id: 134074, year: 2011, vol: 21, page: 306, stat: Journal Article,
  
• Spontaneously resolving seronegative autoimmune limbic encephalitis Najjar, Souhel; Pearlman, Daniel; Zagzag, David; Devinsky, Orrin 2011 Jun;24(2):99-105, Cognitive & behavioral neurology — id: 134726, year: 2011, vol: 24, page: 99, stat: Journal Article,
  
• Invasion is not an independent prognostic factor in high-grade glioma Narayana, Ashwatha; Perretta, Donato; Kunnakkat, Saroj; Gruber, Deborah; Golfinos, John; Parker, Erik; Medabalmi, Praveen; Zagzag, David; Pat Eagan, R N; Gruber, Michael 2011 Jul;7(3):331-335, Journal of cancer research & therapeutics — id: 140539, year: 2011, vol: 7, page: 331, stat: Journal Article,
  
• Prospective neuraxis MRI surveillance reveals a high risk of leptomeningeal dissemination in diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma Sethi, Rajni; Allen, Jeffrey; Donahue, Bernadine; Karajannis, Matthias; Gardner, Sharon; Wisoff, Jeffrey; Kunnakkat, Saroj; Mathew, Jeena; Zagzag, David; Newman, Kia; Narayana, Ashwatha 2011 Mar;102(1):121-127, Journal of neuro-oncology — id: 138150, year: 2011, vol: 102, page: 121, stat: Journal Article,
  
• Therapeutically targeting cyclin D1 in primary tumors arising from loss of Ini1 Smith, Melissa E; Cimica, Velasco; Chinni, Srinivasa; Jana, Suman; Koba, Wade; Yang, Zhixia; Fine, Eugene; Zagzag, David; Montagna, Cristina; Kalpana, Ganjam V 2011 Jan 4;108(1):319-324, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America — id: 134180, year: 2011, vol: 108, page: 319, stat: Journal Article,
  
• Sonic hedgehog agonist fails to induce neural stem cell precursors in a porcine model of experimental intracranial hemorrhage Tong, Jing; Latzman, Jonathan M; Rauch, Judah; Zagzag, David S; Huang, Jason H; Samadani, Uzma 2011 ;111:151-154, Acta neurochirurgica. Supplementum — id: 141657, year: 2011, vol: 111, page: 151, stat: Journal Article,
  
• R132H-mutation of isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 is not sufficient for HIF-1alpha upregulation in adult glioma Williams, Susan C; Karajannis, Matthias A; Chiriboga, Luis; Golfinos, John G; von Deimling, Andreas; Zagzag, David 2011 Feb;121(2):279-281, Acta neuropathologica — id: 138149, year: 2011, vol: 121, page: 279, stat: Journal Article,
  

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