Our research focuses on the signaling pathways regulating the properties of glioma stem cells (GSC) and neural stem cells (NSC). Our goal is to develop novel therapeutic strategies targeting GSCs to improve glioma treatment. We are currently working on three aspects:

Molecular targeting of glioma stem cells:Malignant glioma is the most lethal type of brain tumor. Tumor recurrence is universal in gliomas due to therapeutic resistance. We demonstrated that GSCs promote radioresistance and tumor angiogenesis, suggesting that targeting GSCs may improve the treatment. We have identified several potential targets specific for GSCs. We are validating these targets to develop novel therapeutic approaches targeting GSCs.

Ubiquitination and deubiquitination control of stem cell factors: We have identified a critical deubiquitinase that stabilizes several critical stem cell factors to promote the maintenance of NSCs and GSCs. We are defining the ubiquitination and deubiquitination pathways involved in the post-translational control of stem cell transcription factor network.

Molecular signaling associated with the GSC-mediated cancer invasion: The hallmark of malignant gliomas is their highly infiltrative property. We found that GSCs are more invasive than non-stem glioma cells. We are studying the signaling cascade associated with the enhanced invasive capacity of GSCs. Our aim is to target this specific cascade to suppress the GSC-mediated tumor invasion.