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mechanisms involved in the gene transcription regulation.
My work generated two first author publications, one research paper and one
review in Chinese scientific journals. During my PhD study, I studied an
important gene regulation mechanism that controls the flower development.
After my PhD study, I came to the world famous institution, The University of
Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in 2003. My first project was the function of
nuclear localized EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) in breast cancer.
Although EGFR is a cell membrane binding protein, we found that it can be
translocated into nucleus, and we identified a NLS (nuclear localization signal)
in the EGFR molecule. We further proved that the mutation in NLS domain can
significantly reduce the breast cancer cell proliferation and metastasis in
vivo. With the experience on cell signaling and cancer biology, I joined Dr.
Hughes' lab and started working on pediatric osteosarcoma in 2005. During the
last two years, we have found out an important cell signaling pathway involved
in the osteosarcoma cell invasiveness and metastasis. We are able to demonstrate
that molecular and genetic inhibition of this signaling pathway can dramatically
suppress the pulmonary metastasis of osteosarcoma. More importantly, there are
small molecular inhibitors of this signaling pathway available which are being
evaluated in clinical trials of several adult cancers, such as T cell leukemia
and breast cancer. We hope that these clinical studies, together with our work
in the Hughes lab, will enable the rapid development of clinical trials for
children with bone cancer. Our findings also suggest that this signaling pathway
may serve as a prognostic marker to predict the possibility of the spread of
osteosarcoma to the lungs. This will help doctors detect and treat patients
early to prevent lung metastasis.
I greatly appreciate the support from the Jori Zemel Children's Bone Cancer
Foundation for my research. With this critical support we, scientists and
physicians, will fight this disease until every child will survive.
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