Hong Wu

Email: hongwu(at)pku(dot)edu(dot)cn
Tel: +86-10-62768720

Research Area:

PTEN is the second most frequently deleted human tumor suppressor gene. PTEN mutation also was found to be the cause of three autosomal dominant tumor predisposition syndromes. A major focus of Dr. Hong Wu's research is to study the molecular mechanism of PTEN controlled tumorigenesis. For this, she has undertaken a combination of molecular genetics, cell biology and biochemical approaches. By analyzing cells and animals lacking the PTEN tumor suppressor, Wu and her colleagues have demonstrated that PTEN negatively regulates stem cell self-renewal, proliferation and survival. Thus, their study provides a strong link between stem cell biology and cancer biology and suggests that tumors may originate through the transformation of stem cells. They also established various animal models for human cancers, including prostate cancer and acute lymphoblastic leukemia models. These murine cancer models offer unique tools for both exploring the molecular mechanism underlying human cancers and for the development of new therapies.

Selected Publications:
1. Ruscetti, M., Dadashian, E.L., Guo, W., Quach, B., Mulholland D.J., Park J.W., Tran, L.M., Kobayashi, N., Bianchi-Frias, D., Nelson, P.S., Xing, Y. and Wu, H.. (2015) HDAC Inhibition Impedes Epithelial-Mesenchymal Plasticity and Suppresses Metastatic, Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer. Oncogene 2015 Dec 7. 4
2. Ruscetti, M., Quach, B., Dadashian, E.L., Mulholland, D.J. and Wu, H. (2015) Tracking and functional characterization of EMT and mesenchymal-like tumor cells in prostate cancer metastasis. Cancer Res. 2015 Jul;75 (13): 2749-59.
3. Schubbert S, Cardenas A, Chen H, Garcia C, Guo W, Bradner JE, Wu H. (2014) Targeting the MYC and PI3K pathways eliminates leukemia-initiating cells in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Cancer Res. 74：7048-59.
4. Mulholland, D., Kobayashi, N., Ruscetti, M., Zhi, A., Tran, L.M., Huang, J., Gleave, M and Wu, H (2012) Pten loss and RAS/MAPK activation coorperate to promote EMT and prostate cancer metastasis initiated from stem/progenitor cells. Cancer Res. 72 (7):1878-89.
5. Mulholland, D., Tran, M.L., Cai, H., Morim, A., Wang, S., Plaisier, S., Huang, J., Garraway, I., Graeber, T. and Wu, H. (2011) Cell autonomous role of PTEN in regulating castration-resistant prostate cancer growth. Cancer Cell 19, 792-804.
6. Guo, W., Lasky, J, Chang, C., Mosessian, S., Lewis, X., Xiao, Y., Yeh, J., Chen, J., Iruela-Arispe, L., Varella-Garcia, M. and Wu, H. (2008) Multi-genetic events collaboratively to Pten-null leukaemia stem-cell formation. Nature 453: 529-533.
7. Wang, S., Gao, J., Lei, Q-Y., Rozengurt, N., Pritchard, C., Jiao, J., Thomas, G., Li, G., Roy-Burman, P., Nelson, P., Liu, X., and Wu, H. (2003) Prostate-specific deletion of the murine Pten tumor suppressor gene leads to metastatic prostate cancer. Cancer Cell 4:209-221.
8. Groszer, M., Erickson, R., Scripture-Adams, D., Lesche, R., Trumpp, A., Zack, J., Kornblum, H., Liu, X., and Wu, H. (2001) Negative Regulation of Neural Stem/Progenitor Cell Proliferation by the Pten Tumor Suppressor Gene In Vivo. Science 294: 2186-2189.
9. Sun, H., Lesche, R., Li, DM., Liliental, J., Zhang, H., Gao, J., Garvarina, N., Mueller, B., Liu, X. and Wu, H. (1999) PTEN Modulates Cell Cycle Prograssion and Cell Survival by Regulating PIP3 and AKT/PKB Signaling Pathway. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96: 6199-6204.