PHARMACOLOGY FACULTY
Selected Publications
  • Verona, E.V., Yuping Tang, Thomas K. Millstead, Andrew P. Hinck, Joseph K. Agyin, and Lu-Zhe Sun. Expression, Purification and Characterization of BGERII: A Novel Pan-TGFß Inhibitor. Protein Engineering Design & Selection. 21:463-473, 2008.
  • Verona, Erik V., Abdel Elkahloun, Junhua Yang, Abhik Bandyopadhyay, I-Tien Yeh, and Lu-Zhe Sun. TGFß signaling in prostate stromal cells supports prostate carcinoma growth by upregulating stromal genes related to tissue remodeling. Cancer Res. 67:5737-5746, 2007.
  • Lei, X-F., J. Yang, R. Nichols, L-Z. Sun. Abrogation of autocrine TGFβ signaling induces apoptosis through the modulation of MAP kinase pathways in breast cancer cells. Exp. Cell Res. 313:1687-1695, 2007.
  • Bandyopadhyay, A., Long Wang, Shiau Hui Chin and Lu-Zhe Sun. Inhibition of skeletal metastasis by ectopic ERα expression in ERα negative human breast cancer cell lines. Neoplasia 9:113-118, 2007.
  • Bandyopadhyay, A., Agyin, J.K., Wang, L., Tang, Y., Lei, X., Story, B.M., Cornell, J.E., Pollock, B.H., Mundy, G.R., and Sun, L.-Z. Inhibition of pulmonary and skeletal metastasis by a TGFβ Type I receptor kinase inhibitor. Cancer Res. 66:6714-6721, 2006.
LuZhe Sun
 

LuZhe Sun

Professor of Cellular & Structural Biology and Pharmacology
Ph.D., Rutgers University and UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Office: 210-567-5746
Email: sunl@uthscsa.edu

 

Keywords

Cell signaling, cancer biology, experimental therapy

 

Research Summary

The primary research focus in my laboratory is on the molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis and tumor progression of breast and prostate cancer, which are the most prevalent neoplasm in the U.S. women and men respectively. We are particularly interested in how signaling pathways and growth factors and steroid hormones regulate cancer cell growth, invasion, and metastasis using molecular and cellular biology techniques and animal model systems. One of the molecules we are currently studying is called transforming growth factor beta (TGF beta). This growth factor has been shown to promote cancer cell survival, invasion and metastasis in late-stage carcinoma cells. We are developing novel TGF-beta inhibitors that may have potential to be developed as novel drugs for cancer therapy. We are also investigating the molecular mechanisms that mediate the metastasis-promoting activity of TGF-beta, particularly the role of TGF-beta signaling in cancer-initiating cells and tumor stromal cells in the formation of a reactive tumor microenvironment during invasion and metastasis.

 

Sun lab group

 

Other projects in the laboratory include the role of estrogen and androgen signaling in promoting metastasis of breast and prostate cancer cells, respectively. Estrogen signaling is known to promote mammary tumorigenesis. However, our studies show that it also inhibits metastasis of breast cancer cells to bone and lung. We are investigating the molecular mechanism that mediate the tumor promoting activity of estrogen with respect to its role in cell proliferation and cellular senescence. We are also investigating whether estrogen receptor alpha and beta may act differently in controlling breast cancer metastasis. Our approaches to study the regulation of gene expression include transcriptional and posttranscriptional analyses with techniques such as gene microarray, promoter activity measurements, chromosome immunoprecipitation, polymerase chain reaction, quantitative real-time RT-PCR, receptor cross-linking, immunoprecipitation and Western blotting analyses. To study gene functions, we use sense transfection, RNA interference, and viral transduction techniques to regulate gene expression and study the effects of altered gene expression on malignant phenotypes of cancer cells in tissue culture and in mice.

 

Professional Society Memberships

American Association for Cancer Research
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
American Association for the Advancement of Science