Lee and Zhao Labs: Overview
-
The Lee and Zhao Lab is featured on the McGovern Medical School Instagram at UTHouston Health.
Lab Takeovers
-
The editors at Nature Communications have put together an Editors’ Highlights webpage of recent research called “Cancer”. Drs An Xu and Mo Liu's article entitled “Rewired m6A epitranscriptomic networks link mutant p53 to neoplastic transformation” is chosen as a featured article by Nature Communications Editor Dr. Stephanie Koo.
Dissect Cancer Pathogenesis by iPSC Approaches
After leukemia and brain tumor, osteosarcoma is one of the leading cause of cancer mortality among children. Genetic alterations (e.g., p53 mutation and RB1 deletion) are strongly associated with osteosarcoma development. Patients with Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS), a genetically inherited autosomal dominant cancer disorder caused by germline mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor gene, have increased incidence of osteosarcoma development, which provides a perfect model system to study osteosarcoma.
Modeling human genetic disease has recently become feasible with induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) methodologies developed by Dr. Shinya Yamanaka in 2006. Characterized by their ability to self-renew indefinitely and differentiate into all cell lineages of an organism like embryonic stem (ES) cells, iPSCs provide a powerful and unlimited source of cells to generate differentiated cells that can be used to elucidate disease pathogenesis, for drug discovery and development, toxicology screening, personalized healthcare and eventually cell transplantation-based therapies.
Our laboratory is dedicated to understanding cancer pathological mechanisms by applying patient-specific iPSCs and/or engineered ESCs (Gingold J et al. Trends Cancer 2016). We have established the first human Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS) disease model by using LFS patient-specific iPSCs to delineate the pathological mechanisms caused by mutant p53 in osteosarcoma (Lee et al, Cell 2015; Zhou et al. Trends Pharmacol Sci 2017; Kim et al. PNAS USA 2018; Xu et al. Front Genet 2021; Choe et al. Cancer Discov 2023; Xu et al. Nat Commun 2023). LFS iPSC-derived osteoblasts recapitulate osteosarcoma features including defective osteoblastic differentiation and tumorigenic ability, suggesting that our established LFS disease model is a “disease in a dish” platform for elucidating p53 mutation-mediated disease pathogenesis. Since these iPSCs were generated from non-transformed fibroblasts, any recapitulated features of osteosarcoma must be due to the single gene alteration. The patient-specific iPSC model, therefore, provides a powerful system to elucidate unique gene function in tumor etiology. We continue applying patient-specific iPSCs and TALEN/CRISPR genetically engineered hESCs to illuminate cancer pathological mechanisms.
Stem Cell Lab
Current Research projects
(1) Systems-level analyses and characterization of mutant p53 in LFS-associated cancers. We apply LFS iPSCs as well as TALENs and CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing tools to create p53 mutations in pluripotent stem cells (PSCs; e.g., iPSCs and ESCs). These engineered p53-mutation iPSCs resembling LFS will be differentiated into cancer original cells (e.g., osteoblasts for osteosarcoma, myogenic progenitors for rhabdomyosarcoma, astrocytes for astrocytoma, and hepatocytes for liver cancer) and their genome-wide alterations examined by transcriptome, miRNA, interactome, and ChIP-seq approaches. Integrating these data provide insights into the tumor suppressor role of p53 in the development of multiple cancers and elucidate the universal pathological signaling induced by distinct p53 mutations.
(2) Model familial cancer syndrome with predisposition to cancers by patient-specific iPSC approaches. To explore the common features across multiple genetic cancer driver mutations, we establish multiple cancer-prone disease models to explore the central pathological mechanisms triggering cancer development. For instance, we currently model genetic diseases with predisposition to cancers including hereditary retinoblastoma (RB), Rothmund-Thomson syndrome (RTS), and Diamond-Blackfan anemia.
(3) To facilitate the future applications of iPSCs/hESCs for cancer research, tissue regeneration, and other clinical applications, we apply lineage-specific fluoresce reporters and artificial intelligent (AI) technology to develop and refine iPSC/hESC-derived 2D and 3D lineage differentiation methodologies.
(4) To understand the fundamental of bone biology, we also apply systems analysis, next-generation sequencing technology, and mouse genetic models to understand osteoblast-specific gene regulation and how outside signaling impacts osteoblastic differentiation.
Additional Lab information
Dr. Dung-Fang Lee
McGovern Medical School, UTHealth Houston
https://med.uth.edu/ibp/2022/11/01/dung-fang-lee-phd/
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
https://gsbs.uth.edu/directory/profile?id=ea67dc12-917b-44dc-a289-aa9e79235bce
Research.com
https://research.com/u/dung-fang-lee
Dr. Ruiying Zhao
McGovern Medical School, UTHealth Houston
https://med.uth.edu/ibp/2022/11/01/ruiying-zhao-md-phd/
Modeling Cancer with Stem Cells
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88cl5Fpg6OI
JOVE Videos
Modeling Osteosarcoma Using Li-Fraumeni Syndrome Patient-derived Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells https://www.jove.com/t/57664/modeling-osteosarcoma-using-li-fraumeni-syndrome-patient-derived
The Lee and Zhao Labs locate in the McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Our research is made possible by funding from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, National Cancer Institute, Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, Department of Defense, Rolanette and Berdon Lawrence Bone Disease Program of Texas, and The Pablove Foundation.
