Kristin Wallace, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Department: Public Health Sciences
Programs: Cellular Injury, Inflammation, End Organ Disease

 

 

Research Interests:

As a population scientist, Dr. Wallace’s role is to generate data and translate to clinical research studies and populations at risk. Her research at MUSC has focused on three central themes: (1) understanding the drivers of racial differences in CRC risk and survival, (2) developing culturally appropriate CRC screening among the medically underserved, and, more recently, (3) evaluating the role of circulating and tumor immune factors in driving preinvasive and invasive diseases in several types of neoplasia. In her earlier research, she focused on the causes of racial disparities in colorectal cancer primarily through examining the pathological and molecular features of the tumors and their impact on cancer outcomes. Although many studies have found that African Americans (AA) have a higher risk and poorer survival than Whites, her studies have suggested that racial differences in risk and outcome are more pronounced in younger AA patients than in younger Whites. In several different study populations, she found that younger AA patients, compared to younger White patients, had more aggressive prevalent neoplasms at screening, recurrent neoplasms at surveillance examinations, and a higher risk of death. Part of the reason for a more aggressive biological phenotype in younger AA patients appears to be due to modifiable lifestyle and clinical factors, offering an opportunity to develop interventions..

Over the past eight years, Dr. Wallace’s work has attempted to understand the contribution of circulating and tumor immune features as drivers of outcomes. One of her first studies using immune measures was a manuscript examining the effect of the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio on survival in patients with head and neck cancer. She published four additional studies focusing on circulating measures and cancer outcomes, including two on melanoma and one on CRC, which focused on racial differences in circulating platelets (thrombocytosis) and poorer outcomes (2020). In addition to working on circulating measures, she has published several papers on immune infiltrates within tumors. For example, one study highlighted the differences in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes by race and their impact on survival. Her group found that most of the difference in survival by race could be explained by a 'cold' or immune-poor tumor microenvironment; interestingly, there were no differences by race in patients when sufficient lymphocytes were present. Moreover, Dr. Wallace published two studies focusing on T cell and innate markers within preinvasive colorectal lesions in 2021, highlighting differences in immune responses by race and tumor phenotype in early lesions. This work formed the basis of her multi-center NCI R01 grant on immune contexture in preinvasive disease and its impact on tumor growth and recurrence. Other aspects of her research have focused on ways to enhance CRC screening in medically underserved communities. In collaboration with colleagues, she has worked on several manuscripts focused on increasing colorectal cancer screening in underserved populations, especially for patients less than 65. In addition to her current research, she has recently submitted proposals on understanding whether higher circulating and tumor biomarkers of abnormal metabolism contribute to the differences in outcomes between African American and White persons. A key feature her group is planning to investigate is the potential role of metabolic markers as modulators of inflammation within the tumor microenvironment. A central feature of this proposal is to examine the spatial immune interactions in the tumor environment and their impact on outcomes.

Publications:

PubMed Collection