Tobias Janowitz
Associate Professor
Cancer Center Program Co-Leader
M.D., Ph.D., University of Cambridge, UK, 2007
janowitz@cshl.edu | 516-367-8422
Cancer is a systemic disease. Using both laboratory and clinical research, my group investigates the connections between metabolism, endocrinology, and immunology to discover how the body’s response to a tumor can be used to improve treatment for patients with cancer.
How do tumors interact with the biology of the host system? What can we learn from studying the physiology and biochemistry of the host system in the context of cancer? These are principle questions that drive the research in my laboratory. For example, we investigate the convergence of systemic metabolic stress, endocrinology, and suppressed anti-cancer immunity to discover mechanism-based strategies for combination therapy for patients with cancer. We have shown that interleukin-6 induced metabolic stress is sufficient to downregulate hepatic ketogenesis. This causes significant systemic stress during periods of caloric deficiency that are often part of the cancer care pathway. The resulting elevation of glucocorticoids suppresses anti-tumor immunity in model systems of pancreatic cancer. Using clinical samples and data, we have shown correlative findings of weight loss, reduced ketogenesis, and elevated glucocorticoids in patients with pancreatic cancer. Our work, therefore, confirms that cancer cannot be understood and probably not be treated, by investigating tumors in isolation. We use findings like these to develop strategies for interventional studies with the aim to improve outcome for patients with cancer.
Cancer Research UK Clinician Scientist Award
Wellcome Trust Translational Medicine and Therapeutics Academic Clinical Lectureship
Boehringer Ingelheim Fond PhD Fellowship
German National Merit Scholarship
It’s not you—it’s cancer
April 10, 2025
CSHL Associate Professor Tobias Janowitz and colleagues discover the brain-body connection underlying apathy in the late stages of cancer.
Rohini Guin elected president of APSA
March 10, 2025
Guin, an M.D.-Ph.D. candidate in the Janowitz lab, will serve a three-year term on the student-led organization’s Executive Committee.
Janowitz elected to ASCI
January 27, 2025
As a physician-scientist at CSHL, Tobias Janowitz has led early-phase clinical trials to develop therapeutic strategies for patients with cancer.
At the Lab Season 1 Research Rewind: Genetics
October 22, 2024
It’s the code for all life on Earth. This week At the Lab, we’re hacking it with the help of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s geneticists.
At the Lab Episode 23: Cured with CRISPR
September 10, 2024
Victoria Gray, the first person ever cured of sickle cell, appeared on a DNA Learning Center panel featuring a clinical scientist from CSHL.
Cocktails & Chromosomes: The whole-body health spectrum
August 22, 2024
How can a tiny tumor, often no larger than a penny, have such a big impact? CSHL’s Tobias Janowitz unpacks a complicated but highly relatable issue.
President’s essay: The continuous cycle of discovery
May 30, 2024
CSHL President & CEO Bruce Stillman discusses our institution’s societal impacts and global connections as forces for further scientific progress.
Better cancer trials could be around the corner
March 21, 2024
CSHL researchers have developed a new data-driven approach that cancer centers may use to expand patient recruitment efforts.
How diet may impact cancer and possible treatments
February 1, 2024
Researchers at the CSHL Cancer Center study the links between disease and nutrition in hopes of uncovering new treatment and prevention strategies.
Bite into this diet and disease quiz
July 5, 2023
Test your knowledge of how diet and nutrition affect health and disease with this short quiz.
- Cancer, host metabolism, and immunotherapy
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- You made a difference – December 2012
Selected Publications
Cancer: The Tumor-Driven Disease of the Host
3 Jul 2018 | Cell Metabolism | 28(1):5-6
Janowitz, T;
A type III complement factor D deficiency: Structural insights for inhibition of the alternative pathway
Jul 2018 | Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology | 142(1):311-314.e6
Sng, C; O'Byrne, S; Prigozhin, D; Bauer, M; Harvey, J; Ruhle, M; Challis, B; Lear, S; Roberts, L; Workman, S; Janowitz, T; Magiera, L; Doffinger, R; Buckland, M; Jodrell, D; Semple, R; Wilson, T; Modis, Y; Thaventhiran, J;
Rapid disease progression in a patient with mismatch repair-deficient and cortisol secreting adrenocortical carcinoma treated with pembrolizumab
21 Jun 2018 | Seminars in Oncology
Casey, R; Giger, O; Seetho, I; Marker, A; Pitfield, D; Boyle, L; Gurnell, M; Shaw, A; Tischowitz, M; Maher, E; Chatterjee, V; Janowitz, T; Mells, G; Corrie, P; Challis, B;
A comparative analysis of immune privilege in pregnancy and cancer in the context of checkpoint blockade immunotherapy
26 Mar 2018 | Seminars in Oncology
Flint, T; Jones, J; Ferrer, M; Colucci, F; Janowitz, T;
Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Underutilize Immune Response Monitoring
Jan 2018 | Oncologist | 23(1):116-117
Connell, C; Raby, S; Beh, I; Flint, T; Williams, E; Fearon, D; Jodrell, D; Janowitz, T;
All Publications
A neuroimmune circuit mediates cancer cachexia-associated apathy
11 Apr 2025 | Science | 388(6743):eadm8857
Zhu, Xiaoyue; Starosta, Sarah; Ferrer, Miriam; Hou, Junxiao; Chevy, Quentin; Lucantonio, Federica; Muñoz-Castañeda, Rodrigo; Zhang, Fengrui; Zang, Kaikai; Zhao, Xiang; Fiocchi, Francesca; Bergstrom, Mason; Siebels, Aubrey; Upin, Thomas; Wulf, Michael; Evans, Sarah; Kravitz, Alexxai; Osten, Pavel; Janowitz, Tobias; Pignatelli, Marco; Kepecs, Adam;
Reply to: Overcoming Barriers to Cancer-Associated Cachexia Diagnosis and Management
13 Mar 2025 | JCO Oncology Practice | :OP2500108
Goncalves, Marcus; Janowitz, Tobias;
Autophagy Suppresses CCL2 to Preserve Appetite and Prevent Lethal Cachexia
24 Feb 2025 | bioRxiv
Ibrahim, Maria; Gomez-Jenkins, Maria; Scheinfeld, Adina; Zhao, Zhengqiao; Lopes, Eduardo; Sawant, Akshada; Hu, Zhixian; Dharani, Aditya; Sun, Michael; Siddiqui, Sarah; Mirek, Emily; Abram-Saliba, Johan; Lattime, Edmund; Su, Xiaoyang; Janowitz, Tobias; Goncalves, Marcus; Dunn, Steven; Pritykin, Yuri; Anthony, Tracy; Rabinowitz, Joshua; White, Eileen;
Early identification of weight loss trajectories in advanced cancer and associations with survival
18 Feb 2025 | Journal of the National Cancer Institute | :djaf030
Fuller, Sophia; Alexeeff, Stacey; Caan, Bette; Dasilva Goncalves, Marcus; Dunne, Richard; Janowitz, Tobias; Jamal-Hanjani, Mariam; Sundaresan, Tilak; Cespedes Feliciano, Elizabeth;
Metabolic interplays between the tumour and the host shape the tumour macroenvironment
20 Jan 2025 | Nature Reviews Cancer
Altea-Manzano, Patricia; Decker-Farrell, Amanda; Janowitz, Tobias; Erez, Ayelet;