Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the United States, other than skin cancer. Dr. Cui's laboratory is pursuing two major goals to understand the molecular mechanisms governing breast cancer progression, and ultimately to translate the knowledge into novel effective therapeutic approaches targeting aggressive breast cancers.
One research aim is to explore the role of JNK and its interacting proteins in breast cancer metastasis. As the ability of a tumor to metastasize is the major determinant of cancer patient mortality, defining the molecular pathways critical for tumor metastasis is a priority in cancer research. Dr. Cui is investigating whether inhibition of JNK can block breast cancer invasion, while abnormal JNK activity can lead to a higher invasive potential in breast cancer cells. He is also examining the JNK-interacting proteins involved in breast cancer metastasis. This study may help establish JNK as a useful target for treatment of aggressive breast cancer.
The other research direction is to decipher the molecular mechanisms underlying breast cancer resistance to targeted therapies like tamoxifen and trastuzumab treatment. He focuses on crosstalk between growth factor and integrin signaling pathways. He is interested in how integrins and growth factor receptors interact with each other upon stimulation by various signals, and what downstream proteins are activated by this interaction to mediate the therapy resistance. This study may open up new prospect for developing combined treatment strategies to overcome cancer therapeutic resistance.
Education
- B.S., East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China
- Ph.D., the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
- Postdoctoral fellow, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
Research Interest
Cancer Progression and Metastasis, Cancer Therapeutic Resistance and Novel Therapeutic Strategies
Click here to view publications
|