Cancer is a heterogeneous disease and leading cause of death in the world. Knowing the cancer mechanisms and finding new therapies remains a major challenge to researchers. In our studies, we aimed at finding out aberrant gene expression in gastric cancer and applying these genes as biomarkers for cancer detection. In addition, we screened for anti-cancer compounds from traditional Chinese medical herbs targeting to DNA replication proteins.

To figure out the molecular signature of gastric cancer, we first performed whole transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq), followed by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). RNA-Seq is a sensitive, specific and high-throughput method to quantify the levels of gene expression. To derive an efficient system of cancer diagnostics, our lab has...[ Read more ]

Cancer is a heterogeneous disease and leading cause of death in the world. Knowing the cancer mechanisms and finding new therapies remains a major challenge to researchers. In our studies, we aimed at finding out aberrant gene expression in gastric cancer and applying these genes as biomarkers for cancer detection. In addition, we screened for anti-cancer compounds from traditional Chinese medical herbs targeting to DNA replication proteins.

To figure out the molecular signature of gastric cancer, we first performed whole transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq), followed by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). RNA-Seq is a sensitive, specific and high-throughput method to quantify the levels of gene expression. To derive an efficient system of cancer diagnostics, our lab has examined the expression variance between cancerous and non-cancerous gastric and lymph node tissues by RT-qPCR. We have examined 58 pairs of gastric cancer and the adjacent normal tissues and over 100 gastric lymph nodes to verify that INHBA, SPP1, CDH17 and several members of Claudin family were overexpressed in gastric cancer and metastatic lymph nodes. Additionally, association between the expression level of these genes and clinicopathological characteristics of the patients were analyzed.

To identify novel anti-cancer compounds from traditional Chinese medical herbs, we adopted a screening system using the yeast-two-hybrid system to screen for compounds that can disrupt the interaction between proteins involved in DNA replication. Those compounds were further validated by cell proliferation test and cell cycle analysis in human cancer cell lines.