PhD-student
Lizhe Zhu
Research:
TGF-β is known to have pro- and antitumor effects depending on the cellular context. In early stages of breast cancer development, it can function as a tumor suppressor, reducing epithelial cell proliferation and promoting apoptosis. However, in later stages, it promotes tumor cell migration, epithelial to mesenchymal transition, invasion and metastasis. The latter suggests that TGF-β is a prime candidate for novel anti-cancer strategies. However, as TGF-β is also crucial for healthy tissue maintenance, makes it a challenging target for cancer therapy. This explains the severe toxicities that are observed when TGF-β signaling is entirely blocked by directly inhibiting ligand/receptor function, despite indeed showing clinical anti-cancer benefit. Our hypothesis is that by selectively interfering with the invasive behavior of mesenchymal cancer cells using compounds, we will halt cancer cell invasion and metastasis. Therefore, we aim to identify and test compounds, which we term “Invastatics” that specifically target the TGF-β-induced invasive/metatatic phenotype of mesenchymal TNBC and revert them to an epithelial non-migratory and chemotherapy sensitive state.
Curriculum Vitae:
I got my master’s and bachelor’s degree at Xi’an Jiaotong University. My former research was mainly performed in the Center for Translational Medicine at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, focusing on the EMT process of breast cancer invasion and metastasis. Now I’m performing research as a joint PhD in Cell and Chemical Biology department of LUMC under the supervision of Peter ten Dijke. Specifically, I will focus on the function of TGF-β signaling in breast cancer.
Publications
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A Novel Ferroptosis-Related Gene Signature for Overall Survival Prediction in Patients With Breast Cancer
Zhu LZ, Tian Q, Jiang SY, Gao H, Yu SB, Zhou YD, Yan Y, Ren Y, He JJ, Wang B
Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology 2021 Jun 17;9:670184.
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Increased SIX-1 expression promotes breast cancer metastasis by regulating lncATB-miR-200s-ZEB1 axis
Zhu LZ, Jiang SY, Yu SB, Liu XX, Pu SY, Xie PL, Chen HY, Liao XQ, Wang K, Wang B
Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine 2020 May;24(9):5290-5303.
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Pan-Cancer Analysis of the Mitophagy-Related Protein PINK1 as a Biomarker for the Immunological and Prognostic Role
Zhu LZ, Jiang SY, Yu SB, Yan Y, Wang K, He JJ, Ren Y, Wang B
Frontiers in Oncology 2020 Nov 10;10:569887.
Groups:
