Research Interests

Roles for homeobox genes, such as DLX4 and HOXB7 in cell proliferation, differentiation, and tumorigenesis; Potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in breast cancer; and Biomarkers for Type II diabetes.

Research Program

My research is focused on understanding the mechanisms of how aberrant homeobox gene function contributes to oncogenesis. We have been pursuing these questions by unifying biochemical and developmental approaches, as well as by generating animal models. Ongoing projects are involved in two central themes: (i) roles for DLX4/BP1 and HOXB7 gene in proliferation, differentiation, and cell cycle control; and (ii) roles for DLX4 and HOXB7 in breast carcinogenesis and metastasis. We try to address the molecular mechanisms by which DLX4/BP1and HOXB7 gene control the balance between cellular proliferation and differentiation during development. This remains a key question to understand the function of homeobox gene since many such genes have been implicated as regulators of these processes yet the mechanisms are not fully understood. Our microarray and ChIP-on-CHIP data have identified a list of genes that are involved in a number of oncogenic pathways, which are crucial in tumor initiation and metastasis. Potential pathways involving DLX4/BP1 or HOXB7 and their downstream targets are identified for further functional analysis, which could be potential targets for the prevention and therapy of breast cancer.

In collaboration with Dr. Fred Brody of Surgery, we focus on the molecular mechanisms of the resolution of Type II diabetes following bariatric surgery as well as the underlining genomic differences between the obese diabetic and obese non-diabetic patients, in order to identify biomarkers that would shed light on Type II diabetes prevention and drug intervention.

Selected Publications

• Li DQ, Pakala SB, Reddy SD, Ohshiro K, Peng SH, Lian Y, Fu SW, Kumar R. Revelation of p53-independent function of MTA1 in DNA damage response via modulation of p21WAF1-PCNA pathway. J Biol Chem. 2010.
• Song Y, Dang C, Fu Y, Lian Y, Hottel J, Li X, McCaffrey T, Fu SW. Genome-wide analysis of BP1 transcriptional targets in breast cancer cell line Hs578T. Int J Biol Sci 5:1-12, 2009.
• Poola I, Abraham J, Marshalleck JJ, Yue Q, Fu SW, Viswanath L, Sharma N, Hill R, Dewitty RL, Bonney G. Molecular constitution of breast but not other reproductive tissues is rich in growth promoting molecules: a possible link to highest incidence of tumor growths. FEBS Lett. 583(18):3069-75, 2009.
• Stevenson HS, Fu SW, Pinzone JJ, Rheey J, Simmens SJ, Berg PE. BP1 transcriptionally activates bcl-2 and inhibits TNFalpha-induced cell death in MCF7 breast cancer cells. Breast Cancer Res. 9:R60, 2007.
• Kehn K, Berro R, Alhaj A, Bottazzi ME, Yeh WI, Klase Z, Van Duyne R, Fu S, and Kashanchi F. Functional consequences of cyclin D1/BRCA1 interaction in breast cancer cells. Oncogene 26:5060-5069, 2007.
• Fu SW. Identification of cancer biomarkers using DNA microarrays. Pharmaceutical Discovery 5:4, 2005.