Qiang LIU (Quentin), Ph.D, Professor
     Principal Investigator


Contact information

Cancer Center, Sun Yat-Sen University
State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China
Laboratory for Target Therapy
Mail Address: 651 Dongfeng Road East, Rm#619
Guangzhou, Guangdong 510060, China
E-mail: liuq9@mail.sysu.edu.cn
Phone: (8620)87343177


Research Interest

    We are interested in discovering novel targeted therapy for cancer. Specifically, our group focuses on three aspects of molecular targeted therapy:
1) Role of mitotic kinase in cell cycle, migration and polarity of cancer cells;
2) Differentiation therapy in both solid and leukemic malignancy;
3) Tumor biomarker discovery and its guided specific targeted therapy in translational medicine.
    We emphasize on developing new technologies in addressing these key questions in cancer treatment, including synthetic three-dimensional tumor reconstruction, real-time live cell imaging, confocal fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) microscopy imaging for protein-protein interaction.

Education

May 2000    M.D. /Ph.D. Medical Scholar
May 2000    M.D., University of Illinois at Chicago, U.S.A.
May 1997    Ph.D. in Immunology/ Cell Biology (GPA=4.9/5.0)
                     University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, U.S.A.               
Jun 1989      B.S. in Physiology, Nanjing University, P. R. China


Position and Employment

2010-present   Director, Institute of Hematology, Sun Yat-Sen University
2008-present   Deputy Director, Office of Medical Research and Technology,
                         Sun Yat-Sen University
2008-present   Director, Laboratory for Target Therapy,
2006-present   Professor of Cancer Biology, State Key Laboratory of Oncology,
                       Cancer Center, Sun Yat-Sen University
2003-2006       Research Associate, Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School
2000-2003       Medical Residency Program, Mount Sinai Hospital (New York)


Honors and Awards

2011   Fellow, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering
2009   National “hundred-thousand-ten thousand” Talent Project Award, China
2009   China Medical Board Distinguished Professor Award, Rockefeller Foundation, U.S.A.
2008   Distinguished Young Scholar Fund, National Natural Science Foundation, China,
2004   National Research Service Award Fellow, National Institute of Health, USA


Professional memberships

2008  American Society of Hematology (ASH)
2004  American Society of Cell Biology (ASCB)
2004  American Association of Cancer Research (AACR)


Current Major Grants:

1. PI. National Outstanding Youth Grant: Cancer target therapy. 2009-2012, RMB 2,000,000
2. PI. China Medical Board (New York) Grant: CMB Distinguished Professorship grant. 2009-2014. US $60,000,
3. PI. Targeting EBV virus in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. “973” project from Ministry of Science and Technology of China, 2011-2015, RMB 1,200,000
4. PI. Inhibition of Aurora-A kinase in treating acute myeloid leukemia, National Natural Science Foundation of China, 2008-2011, RMB 400,000
5. PI. Functional role of Aurora-A kinase in breast cancer development in 3-dimensional culture system, National Natural Science Foundation of China, 2008-2010, RMB 280,000


Publications
Articles in Peer-Reviewed Journals

1. Zeng YX, Zhang XS, Liu Q. (2010) Translational medicine promising personalized therapy in oncology. Front Med China. 2010 Nov 23. [Epub ahead of print]
2. Wang LH, Xiang J, Yan M, Zhang Y, Zhao Y, Yue CF, Xu J, Zheng FM, Chen JN, Kang Z, Chen TS, Xing D, Liu Q. (2010), Mitotic kinase Aurora-A induces mammary cell migration and breast cancer metastasis by up-regulating cofilin activity. Cancer Res. 70(22):9118-9128.
3. Xu J, Wan XB, Huang XF, Chan A, Hong MH, Wang LH, Long ZJ, Liu Q, Yan M, Lo YMD, Zeng YX and Liu Q. (2010), Serologic Anti-Enzyme Rate of Epstein-Barr Virus DNase-Specific Neutralizing Antibody Segregates Tumor-Node-Metastasis Classification in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma. J. Clin. Oncol. 28(35):5202-5209.
4. Zhou FF, Yan M, Guo GF, Wang F, Qiu HJ, Zheng FM, Zhang Y, Liu Q, Zhu XF, Xia LP. (2010) Knockdown of eIF4E suppresses cell growth and migration, enhances chemosensitivity and correlates with increase in Bax/Bcl-2 ratio in triple-negative breast cancer cells. Med Oncol. [Epub ahead of print]
5. Cao JX, Cui YX, Long ZJ, Dai ZM, Lin JY, Liang Y, Zheng FM, Zeng YX, Liu Q. (2010), Pluripotency-associated genes in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma CNE-2 cells are reactivated by a unique epigenetic sub-microenvironment. BMC Cancer 10:68-78.
6. Wan XB, Fan XJ, Chen MY, Xiang J, Huang PY, Guo L, Wu XY, Xu J, Long ZJ, Zhao Y, Zhou WH, Mai HQ, Liu Q, Hong MH. (2010), Elevated Beclin 1 expression is correlated with HIF-1alpha in predicting poor prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Autophagy 6(3):395-404.
7. Liang Y, Zhong Z, Huang Y, Deng W, Cao J, Tsao G, Liu Q, Pei D, Kang T, Zeng YX. (2010), Stem-like cancer cells are inducible by increasing genomic instability in cancer cells. J. Biol. Chem. 285(7):4931-40.
8. Yao JE, Yan M, Guan Z, Pan CB, Xia LP, Li CX, Wang LH, Long ZJ, Zhao Y, Li, MW, Zheng FM, Xu J, Lin DJ, Liu Q. (2009), Aurora-A down-regulates IkappaBalpha via Akt activation and interacts with insulin-like growth factor-1 induced phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway for cancer cell survival. Mol. Cancer 8:95-102.
9. Wan XB, Fan XJ, Chen MY, Xu J, Long ZJ, Hua YJ, Ji H, Liu L, Hong MH, Zeng YX, Liu Q. (2009), Inhibition of Aurora-A results in increased cell death in 3-dimensional culture microenvironment, reduced migration and is associated with enhanced radiosensitivity in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Cancer Biol. Ther. 8(15):1500-6.
10. Lu Z, Hu X, Zhu C, Wang D, Zheng X, Liu Q. (2009), Overexpression of CNTF in Mesenchymal Stem Cells reduces demyelination and induces clinical recovery in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis mice. J. Neuroimmunol. 206(1-2):58-69.
11. Xu DZ, Geng QR, Long ZJ, Zhan YQ, Li W, Zhou ZW, Chen YB, Sun XW, Chen G, Liu Q. (2009), Positive lymph node ratio is an independent prognostic factor in gastric cancer after d2 resection regardless of the examined number of lymph nodes. Ann. Surg. Oncol. 16(2):319-26.
12. Li DD, Wang LL, Deng R, Tang J, Shen Y, Guo JF, Wang Y, Xia LP, Feng GK, Liu Q, Huang WL, Zeng YX, Zhu XF. (2009), The pivotal role of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase-mediated Beclin 1 expression during anticancer agents-induced autophagy in cancer cells. Oncogene 28, 886-98.
13. Liu JJ, Hu T, Wu XY, Wang CZ, Xu Y, Zhang Y, Xiao RZ, Lin DJ, Huang RW, Liu Q. (2009), Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma agonist rosiglitazone--induced apoptosis in leukemia k562 cells and its mechanisms of action. Int. J. Toxicol. 28, 123-31.
14. Huang XF, Luo SK, Xu J, Li J, Xu DR, Wang LH, Yan M, Wang XR, Wan XB, Zheng FM, Zeng YX and Liu Q. (2008), Aurora kinase inhibitory VX-680 increases Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and induces apoptosis in Aurora-A-high acute myeloid leukemia. Blood 111:2854-65.
15. Wan XB, Long ZJ, Yan M, Xu J, Xia LP, Liu L, Zhao Y, Huang XF, Wang XR, Zhu XF, Hong MH, Liu Q. (2008), Inhibition of Aurora-A suppresses epithelial-mesenchymal transition and invasion by downregulating MAPK in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells. Carcinogenesis 29(10):1930-7.
16. Long ZJ, Xu J, Yan Y, Zhang JG, Guan Z, Xu DZ, Wang XR, Yao JE, Zheng FM, Chu GL, Cao JX, Zeng YX, Liu Q. (2008), ZM 447439 Inhibition of Aurora Kinase Induces Hep2 Cancer Cell Apoptosis in Three-dimensional Culture. Cell Cycle 7(10):1473-9.
17. Wang LH, Yan M, Xu DZ, Cao JX, Zhu XF, Zeng YX and Liu Q. (2008), Requirement of Aurora-A kinase in astral microtubule polymerization and spindle microtubule flux. Cell Cycle 7(8): 1104-11.
18. Pan C, Yan M, Yao J, Xu J, Long Z, Huang H, Liu Q. (2008), Aurora kinase small molecule inhibitor destroys mitotic spindle, suppresses cell growth, and induces apoptosis in oral squamous cancer cells. Oral Oncol. 44(7):639-45.
19. Li Y, Shao JY, Liu RY, Zhou L, Chai LP, Li HL, Han HY, Huang BJ, Zeng MS, Zhu XF, Liu Q, Fu LW, Huang W. (2008), Evaluation of long-term toxicity of Ad/hIFN-, an Adenoviral vector encoding the human interferon-gamma gene, in nonhuman primates. Hum. Gene Ther. 19, 827-839.
20. Gu AD, Xie YB, Mo HY, Jia WH, Li MY, Li M, Chen LZ, Feng QS, Liu Q, Qian CN, Zeng YX. (2008), Antibodies against Epstein-Barr virus gp78 antigen: a novel marker for serologic diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma detected by xMAP technology. J. Gen. Virol. 89:1152-8
21. Zhang NH, Song LB, Wu XJ, Li RP, Zeng MS, Zhu XF, Wan DS, Liu Q, Zeng YX, Zhang XS. (2008), Proteasome inhibitor MG-132 modifies coxsackie and adenovirus receptor expression in colon cancer cell line lovo. Cell Cycle 7:925-33.
22. Zeng YX, Zhang XS, Liu Q. (2008), Molecular target therapy: a milestone on the road for curing cancer. Ai Zheng 27(8):785-7. Chinese.
23. Guan Z, Wang XR, Zhu XF, Huang XF, Xu J, Wang LH, Wan XB, Long ZJ, Liu JN, Feng GK, Huang W, Zeng YX, Chen FJ and Liu Q. (2007), Aurora-A, a negative prognostic marker, increases migration and decreases radiosensitivity in cancer cells. Cancer Res. 67:10436-10444.
24. Xiao X, Wu J, Zhu X, Zhao P, Zhou J, Liu Q, Zheng L, Zeng M, Liu R, Huang W. (2007). Induction of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells by ZD6474, an inhibitor of VEGFR tyrosine kinase with additional activity against EGFR tyrosine kinase. Int. J. Cancer 121:2095-2104.
25. Liu Q. (co-corresponding) and Ruderman JV. (2006), Aurora A, mitotic entry, and spindle bipolarity. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103: 5811-5816.
26. Ma J, Liu Q, Zeng YX. (2004), Inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase causes apoptosis in retinoic acid differentiated hl-60 leukemia cells. Cell Cycle 3:67-70.
27. Schacher DH, VanHoy RW, Liu Q, Arkins S, Dantzer R, Freund GG, Kelley KW. (2000), Developmental expression of insulin receptor substrate-2 during dimethylsulfoxide-induced differentiation of human HL-60 cells. J. Immunol., 164, 113-120.
28. Burgess W, Liu Q, Zhou J, Tang Q, Ozawa A, VanHoy R, Arkins S, Dantzer R, Kelley KW. (1999), The immune-endocrine loop during aging: role of growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor-I. Neuroimmunomodulation 6:56-68.
29. Liu Q, VanHoy RW, Zhou JH, Dantzer R, Freund GG, Kelley KW. (1999), Elevated cyclin E levels, inactive retinoblastoma protein, and suppression of the p27(KIP1) inhibitor characterize early development of promyeloid cells into macrophages. Mol. Cell Biol. 19:6229-6239.
30. Venters HD, Tang Q, Liu Q, VanHoy RW, Dantzer R, Kelley KW. (1999), A new mechanism of neurodegeneration: a proinflammatory cytokine inhibits receptor signaling by a survival peptide. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96:9879-9884.
31. Liu Q, Ning W, Dantzer R, Freund GG, Kelley KW. (1998), Activation of protein kinase C-zeta and phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase and promotion of macrophage differentiation by insulin-like growth factor-I. J. Immunol. 160:1393-1401.
32. Kelley KW, Meier WA, Minshall C, Schacher DH, Liu Q, VanHoy R, Burgess W, Dantzer R. (1998), Insulin growth factor-I inhibits apoptosis in hematopoietic progenitor cells. Implications in thymic aging. Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 840:518-524.
33. Liu Q, Schacher D, Hurth C, Freund GG, Dantzer R, Kelley KW (1997), Activation of phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase by insulin-like growth factor-I rescues promyeloid cells from apoptosis and permits their differentiation into granulocytes. J. Immunol. 159:829-837.
34. Li YM, Schacher DH, Liu Q, Arkins S, Rebeiz N, McCusker RH Jr, Dantzer R, Kelley KW (1997), Regulation of myeloid growth and differentiation by the insulin-like growth factor I receptor. Endocrinology 138:362-368.
35. Li YM, Arkins S, McCusker RH Jr, Donovan SM, Liu Q, Jayaraman S, Dantzer R, Kelley KW (1996), Macrophages synthesize and secrete a 25-kilodalton protein that binds insulin-like growth factor-I. J. Immunol. 156:64-72.
36. Kelley KW, Arkins S, Minshall C, Liu Q, Dantzer R (1996), Growth hormone, growth factors and hematopoiesis. Horm. Res. 45:38-45.
37. Liu Q, Arkins S, Biragyn A, Minshall C, Parnet P, Dantzer R, Kelley KW. (1994), Competitive reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction using a synthetic internal RNA standard to quantitate transcripts for leukocyte-derived hormones. Neuroimmunomodulation 1:33-41.
38. Arkins S, Liu Q, Kelley KW (1994), Theoretical and functional aspects of measuring insulin-like growth factor-I mRNA expression in myeloid cells. Immunomethods 5:8-20.
39. Sabharwal P, Glaser R, Lafuse W, Varma S, Liu Q, Arkins S, Kooijman R, Kutz L, Kelley KW, Malarkey WB. (1992), Prolactin synthesized and secreted by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells: an autocrine growth factor for lymphoproliferation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89: 7713-7716.


Chapters in Books

1. Huang, WL, Liu, Q (Associate Editor) (2009), Targeted Therapy for Cancer, People’s Medical Publishing House (China).
2. Zhan, QM, Liu, Q (Associate Editor) (2009), Design for Medical Research. Advanced Education Publishing House (China).
3. Kelley KW, Meier MA, Minshall C, Schacher DH, Liu Q, Hutchison K, VanHoy R, Burgess W, Dantzer R. (1998), IGF-I inhibits apoptosis in hematopoietic progenitor cells: Implications in thymic aging. In E.M. Sternberg (Ed) Proceedings of the 3rd International Congress of the International Society of Neuroimmunomodulation. New York Academy of Sciences. New York, NY. pp 518-524.
4. Minshall C, Liu Q, Arkins S, Kelley KW. (1996), Growth hormone and immunology. In M.H. Torosian (Ed) Growth Hormone in Critical Illness - Research and Clinical studies. R. G. Landes Company. Austin, Texas. pp.161-186.
5. Li YM and Liu Q. (1996), Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). In Y. M. Li and Y. Zhao (Ed) Practical Protocols in Molecular Biology. Science Press New York, Elmhurst, NY (USA) and Science Press, Beijing, (China). pp. 198.
6. Liu Q. and Li YM. (1996), Competitive RT-PCR. In Y. M. Li and Y. Zhao (Ed) Practical Protocols in Molecular Biology. Science Press, New York, Elmhurst, NY (USA) and Science Press, Beijing, (China). pp. 199.
7. Liu Q. and Li YM. (1996), One step RT-PCR. In Y. M. Li and Y. Zhao (Ed) Practical Protocols in Molecular Biology. Science Press New York, Elmhurst, NY (USA) and Science Press, Beijing, (China). pp. 200.

Patents

1. Specific anti-oxidant in protecting DNA damages, CN200910029934.7
2. Specific DNA detection kit for nasopharyngeal carcinoma EB virus, CN200910029818.5