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• Primary Faculty
• Secondary Faculty

Xiao-Fan Wang, Ph.D.

Research Interests

The current research in the Wang laboratory mainly focuses on the elucidation of molecular nature and signaling mechanisms associated with tumor microenvironment that promotes tumor progression and metastasis. Particularly, we are interested in the roles of specific microRNAs as mediators of TGF-β or hypoxia to affect the biological nature of tumor microenvironment, via the interactions with the immune system and the recruitment of various types of stromal cells, to enhance tumor metastasis. We are also studying the mechanisms underlying the phenomenon of cellular senescence. Ultimately, we hope that our studies in these areas to lead to the development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of various types of human cancer.

Representative Publications

Jian, H., Shen, X., Liu, I., Semenov, M., He, X., Wang, X.-F. (2006) TGF-β induces β-catenin nuclear translocation in a Smad3-dependent manner in human mesenchymal stem cells. Genes & Dev., 20, 666-674.

Guo, X., Ramirez, A.,Waddell, D., Li, Z., X. Liu, Wang, X.-F. (2008) Axin and GSK3ß control Smad3 protein stability and modulate TGF-β signaling. Genes & Dev., 22, 106-120.

Ma, C., Rong, Y., Radiloff, D., Datto, M., Centeno, B., Bao, S., Chen, A., Lin, F., Jiang, S., Yeatman, T., Wang, X.-F. (2008) Extracellular matrix protein βig-h3/TGFBI promotes metastasis of colon cancer by enhancing cell extravasation. Genes & Dev., 22, 308-321.

Liu, I., Schilling, S., Knouse, K., Choy, L., Derynk, R., Wang, X.-F. (2009) TGF-β- stimulated Smad1/5 phosphorylation requires the ALK5 L45 loop and mediates the pro- migratory TGF-β switch. EMBO J., 28, 88-98.

Jardim, M., Wang, Q., Furumai, R., Goodman, B., Wang, X.-F. (2009) Reduced ATR or Chk1 expression leads to chromosome instability and chemo-sensitization of mismatch repair deficient colorectal cancer cells. Mol Biol Cell, 20, 3801-3809.

Feng, J., Wakeman, T., Yong, S., Wu, X., Kornbluth, S., Wang, X.-F. (2009) PP2A-dependent dephosphorylation of replication protein A (RPA) is required for the repair of DNA breaks induced by replication stress. Mol. Cell Biol., 29, 5696-5709.

Radiloff, D., Wakeman, T., Feng, J., Schilling, S., Seto, E., Wang, X.-F. (2011) Trefoil factor-1 acts as a suppressor of senescence induced by oncogene-activation during the cellular transformation process. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 108, 6591-6596.

Wakeman, T., Wang, Q., Feng, J., Wang, X.-F. (2012) Bat3 facilitates histone H3 lysine 79 dimethylation by DOT1L and is required for DNA repair and cell survival following exposure to ionizing radiation. EMBO J, 31, 2169-2181.

Yang, P., Li, Q.-J., Feng, Y.-X., Zhang, Y., Markowitz, G., Ning, S., Deng, Y., Zhao, J., Jiang, S., Yuan, Y., Wang, H., Cheng, S.-Q., Xie, D., Wang, X.-F. (2012) TGF-β-miR-34a-CCL22 signaling-induced Treg cell recruitment promotes venous metastasis of HBV-positive hepatocellular carcinoma. Cancer Cell, 22, 291-303.

Zhang, Y., Yang, P., Sun, T., Li, D., Xu, X., Rui, Y., Li, C., Chong, M., Ibrahim, T., Mercatali, L., Amadori, D., Lu, X., Xie, D., Li, Q.-J., Wang, X.-F. (2013) Mir-126 and Mir-126* repress recruitment of mesenchymal stem cells and inflammatory monocytes to inhibit breast cancer metastasis. Nature Cell Biology, 15, 284-294.