Leena Hilakivi Clarke

About

Dr. Leena Hilakivi Clarke is a Professor at the Hormel Institute with a background in Experimental Psychology and Physiology obtained from the University of Helsinki in 1987. She has held faculty positions at Georgetown University from 1991 to 2020, progressing from research Associate Professor to tenured full Professor. Her research focuses on studying the role of dietary factors in affecting breast cancer risk and mortality. She investigates how maternal diet and obesity during pregnancy can pre-program offspring’s risk of developing breast cancer, emphasizing persistent changes in the offspring’s epigenome, gut microbiota, and inflammatory pathways. Dr. Hilakivi Clarke also explores interventions during pregnancy or in adult offspring, such as bioactive food compounds, beneficial dietary fats, or anti-inflammatory herbs, to prevent breast cancer risk and recurrence. Additionally, her work examines the biological impacts of social isolation and loneliness on breast cancer outcomes, aiming to understand why socially isolated individuals have a higher risk of breast cancer mortality. She collaborates with experts in computational modeling and epidemiology to translate her preclinical findings into clinical applications.

Research topics

• Genetics
• Biology
• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Immunology
• Biochemistry
• Cancer research
• Endocrinology
• Bioinformatics
• Physiology

Selected publications

• Metabolic reprogramming and its clinical implication for liver cancer

  Hepatology · 2023 · 116 citations

  Cancer cells often encounter hypoxic and hypo-nutrient conditions, which force them to make adaptive changes to meet their high demands for energy and various biomaterials for biomass synthesis. As a result, enhanced catabolism (breakdown of macromolecules for energy production) and anabolism (macromolecule synthesis from bio-precursors) are induced in cancer. This phenomenon is called "metabolic reprogramming," a cancer hallmark contributing to cancer development, metastasis, and drug resistanc…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Pyruvate kinase M2 activation reprograms mitochondria in CD8 T cells, enhancing effector functions and efficacy of anti-PD1 therapy

  Cell Metabolism · 2025-04-08 · 29 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Social Isolation and Breast Cancer

  Endocrinology · 2023-08-16 · 15 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Although the role of life stressors in breast cancer remains unclear, social isolation is consistently associated with increased breast cancer risk and mortality. Social isolation can be defined as loneliness or an absence of perceived social connections. In female mice and rats, social isolation is mimicked by housing animals 1 per cage. Social isolation causes many biological changes, of which an increase in inflammatory markers and disruptions in mitochondrial and cellular metabolism are comm…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Aromatics from fossil fuels and breast cancer

  iScience · 2025-03-10 · 7 citations

  reviewOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  through pregnant mothers to environmental pollutants or maternal obesity or both. These early life exposures are shown to increase daughter's later susceptibility to breast cancer by causing in the daughter (1) an increase in the number of structures in the breast in which breast cancer initiation takes place, (2) a suppression, perhaps epigenetically, in the ability of cells to repair DNA damage caused by PAHs by inhibiting expression of tumor suppressor genes, or (3) a persistent gut dysbiosis…

  PublisherDOI

• Abstract PO3-18-08: Rational therapeutic combination of Bromodomain and Extra-Terminal domain (BET) inhibitor and Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor (FGFR) inhibitor for treatment of invasive lobular carcinoma

  Cancer Research · 2024-05-02

  article

  Abstract Background: Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) is the second most pervasive subtype after invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), accounting for approximately 10-15% of all breast cancers. It is characterized by loss of E-cadherin expression and non-adherent tumor cells that invade the stroma in a “single-file” pattern. Women with ILC are typically diagnosed at an older age and later stage with ER-positive disease. ILC is more likely to exhibit late recurrence and metastasize to the gastrointest…

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Robert Clarke

  Hormel (United States)

  272 shared

• Anni Wärri

  University of Turku

  76 shared

• Lü Jin

  Peking University Shenzhen Hospital

  61 shared

• Katherine L. Cook

  Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist

  61 shared

• Ayesha N. Shajahan‐Haq

  Georgetown University Medical Center

  55 shared

• Jianhua Xuan

  53 shared

• Fábia de Oliveira Andrade

  Hormel (United States)

  51 shared

• Xiyuan Zhang

  49 shared

Awards & honors

• 2017 Society for Endocrinology’s Journal Award

Similar researchers at University of Minnesota

• Joanne Slavinh-89
• David Smithh-65
• Daniel D Gallaherh-40