CSB Faculty

LuZhe Sun, Ph.D.
Professor

Rutgers University and UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 1990

(210) 567-5746
SUNL@UTHSCSA.EDU

Dr. Sun serves as Leader of Cell & Molecular Biology (CMB) Track of the Integrated Multidisciplinary Graduate Program (IMGP). He participated in the discovery of the tumor suppressive activity of the transforming growth factor beta type II receptor in human colon carcinomas. His lab pioneered the use of a soluble TGFβ type III receptor and and a TGFβ receptor kinase inhibitor for the inhibition of cancer growth, angiogenesis, and metastasis in various xenograft models of late stage human cancers. He lectures for the new Graduate School core course - Fundamentals of Biomedical Sciences and for the CMB Track core course - Advanced Cell and Molecular Biology. Dr. Sun has regularly been invited to serve on grant review panels for NIH and Department of Defense.

My laboratory studies molecular mechanisms that regulate carcinogenesis and 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 (TGFβ). This growth factor has been shown to inhibit tumorigenesis and growth of some early-stage adenocarcinoma cells, yet stimulate cancer survival, stem cell phenotype, and metastasis in late-stage carcinoma cells. We are investigating molecular mechanisms that switch TGFβ from tumor-suppressing to tumor-promoting and the role of TGFβ signaling in tumor microenvironment in driving tumor progression. We are also developing therapeutic approaches involving TGF beta antagonists to block cancer metastasis.

Systemic administration of a TGF beta type I receptor kinase inhibitor (TbRI-I) reduced breast cancer cell-induced metastatic tumor incidence and tumor burden in femora of nude mice.

Other projects in the laboratory include the role of estrogen and androgen signaling in promoting tumorigenesis and progression in the mammary gland and prostate gland, respectively. More recently, we have started to investigate the effect of aging on the function, genomic integrity, and susceptibility to transformation of mammary stem cells. Our approaches to study regulation of gene expression include transcriptional and posttranscriptional analyses with techniques such as DNA microarray, promoter activity measurements, polymerase chain reaction, quantitative real-time RT-PCR, receptor cross-linking, immunoprecipitation and Western blotting analyses. To study gene functions, we use gene 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.

Research Techniques:
bacterial expression system
cell culture
cell proliferation assays
cell transfection with DNA and RNA
chromosome immunoprecipitation assay
immunohistochemistry
immunocytofluorescence staining
RNA interference
Immunoprecipitation and Western blotting
promoter reporter assay
receptor cross-linking
recombinant protein purification
RT-PCR and real time PCR
stem cell culture
viral transduction
xenograft animal models of tumorigenesis, angiogenesis, and metastasis using nude mice, and
experimental models of lung and bone metastasis using nude mice

PUBLICATIONS:
Verona EV, Tang Y, Millstead TK, Hinck AP, Agyin JK, Sun LZ. (2008) Expression, purification and characterization of BG(E)RII: a novel pan-TGFbeta inhibitor. Protein Eng Des Sel. 2008 Jul;21(7):463-73.

Verona EV, Elkahloun AG, Yang J, Bandyopadhyay A, Yeh IT, Sun LZ. (2007) Transforming growth factor-beta signaling in prostate stromal cells supports prostate carcinoma growth by up-regulating stromal genes related to tissue remodeling. Cancer Res. 2007 Jun 15;67(12):5737-46.

Bandyopadhyay A, Agyin JK, Wang L, Tang Y, Lei X, Story BM, Cornell JE, Pollock BH, Mundy GR, Sun LZ. (2006) Inhibition of pulmonary and skeletal metastasis by a transforming growth factor-beta type I receptor kinase inhibitor. Cancer Res. 2006 Jul 1;66(13):6714-21.

Bandyopadhyay A, Wang L, Lopez-Casillas F, Mendoza V, Yeh IT, Sun L. (2005) Systemic administration of a soluble betaglycan suppresses tumor growth, angiogenesis, and matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression in a human xenograft model of prostate cancer. Prostate. 2005 Apr 1;63(1):81-90.

Lei X, Zhu Y, Tomkinson A, Sun L. (2004) Measurement of DNA mismatch repair activity in live cells. Nucleic Acids Res. 2004 Jul 12;32(12):e100.