Research Program: Tumor Biology and Progression
Assistant Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology

Huang253@umn.edu
612-624-3306 — office
612-625-9476 — lab

Dr. Huang holds a faculty position in the Masonic Cancer Center and is an assistant professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology. He received his Ph.D. from Nanjing Normal University, followed by postdoctoral training at the Institute of Genetics at Fudan University and at the Mayo Clinic in the Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Urology, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Dr. Huang held a junior faculty position at the Mayo Clinic before he joined the University of Minnesota in 2006. He was the recipient of theYoung Investigator Award from the Society for Basic Urologic Research (SBUR) in 2006. He has served on the study section for DOD grants.

Research Interests

Increasing evidence suggests that forkhead transcription factor FOXO1 and transcription co-activator CBP function as tumor suppressors by modulating expression of genes that regulate cell proliferation, apoptosis, oxidative stress or DNA damage repair. Ongoing research in the Huang laboratory is aimed to understand how the potent functions of FOXO1 and CBP are tightly regulated by various post-translational mechanisms, such as phosphorylation, acetylation, and ubiquitination. Moreover, various approaches of biochemistry, molecular biology and genetics are being used in order to systematically assess the impact of dysregulation of these molecules on cell transformation and tumor formation in many organs, particularly in the prostate.

Selected Publications

Liu P, Li S, Gan L, Kao TP, Huang H*. A transcription-independent function of FOXO1 in inhibition of androgen-independent activation of the androgen receptor in prostate cancer cells. Cancer Research, in press. (*corresponding author)

Liu P, Kao TP, Huang H^*. CDK1 promotes cell proliferation and survival via phosphorylation and inhibition of FOXO1 transcription factor. Oncogene. 2008 ;27:4733-4744. (^*corresponding author)

Huang H^*, Tindall DJ. Dynamic FoxO transcription factors. J Cell Sci. 2007;120:2479-2487. (^*corresponding author)

Huang H, Regan KM, Lou Z, Chen J, Tindall DJ. CDK2-Dependent Phosphorylation of FOXO1 as an Apoptotic Response to DNA Damage. Science 2006;314:294-297.

Huang H, Tindall DJ. FOXO factors: a matter of life and death. Future Oncology 2006;2:83-89. (Review)

Huang H, Regan KM, Wang F, Wang D, Smith DI, van Deursen J, Tindall DJ. Skp2 inhibits FOXO1 in tumor suppression through ubiquitin-mediated degradation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2005;102:1649-1654.

Huang H, Muddiman DC, Tindall DJ. Androgens negatively regulate forkhead transcription factor FKHR (FOXO1) through a proteolytic mechanism in prostate cancer cells. J Biol Chem. 2004;279:13866-13877.

Huang H, Zegarra-Morro OL, Benson D, Tindall DJ. Androgens repress Bcl-2 expression via activation of the retinoblastoma (RB) protein in prostate cancer cells. Oncogene 2004;23: 2161-2176.

Debes, JD, Schmidt LJ, Huang H, Tindall DJ. p300 mediates interleukin-6-dependent transactivation of the androgen receptor. Cancer Res. 2002;62: 5632-5636.

Zegarra-Moro OL, Schmidt LJ, Huang H, Tindall DJ. Disruption of androgen receptor function inhibits proliferation of androgen-refractory prostate cancer cells. Cancer Res. 2002;62: 1008-1013.

Huang H, Cheville JC, Pan Y, Roche PC, Schmidt LJ, Tindall DJ. PTEN induces chemosensitivity in PTEN-mutated prostate cancer cells by suppression of Bcl-2 expression. J Biol Chem. 2001;276:38830-38836.