Mission Statement

The mission of our research is developing novel strategies for the treatment of cancers. With integrated expertise in biology, medicine, chemistry, engineering and entrepreneurship, our research team is devoted to (1) Generating monoclonal antibody drugs; (2) Developing novel chimeric antigen receptor T-cell immunotherapy; (3) Identifying new applications of existing drugs; (4) Exploiting combinatorial drug treatment.

Publications

1.  Liu, Z., Liu, J., Zhang, T., Shi, M., Chen, X., Chen, Y., & Yu, J. Destabilization of ROR1 enhances activity of Ibrutinib against chronic lymphocytic leukemia in vivo. Pharmacol Res. 2020; 151:104512.

2.  Yu J, Chen L, Cui B, Wu C, Choi MY, Chen Y, et al. Cirmtuzumab inhibits Wnt5a-induced Rac1 activation in chronic lymphocytic leukemia treated with ibrutinib. Leukemia. 2017;31(6):1333-9.

3.  Yu J, Chen L, Chen Y, Hasan MK, Ghia EM, Zhang L, et al. Wnt5a induces ROR1 to associate with 14-3-3zeta for enhanced chemotaxis and proliferation of chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells. Leukemia. 2017.

4.  Yu J, Chen L, Cui B, Widhopf GF, 2nd, Shen Z, Wu R, et al. Wnt5a induces ROR1/ROR2 heterooligomerization to enhance leukemia chemotaxis and proliferation. J Clin Invest. 2016;126(2):585-98.

5.  Lu D, Choi MY, Yu J (Co-first author), Castro JE, Kipps TJ, Carson DA. Salinomycin inhibits Wnt signaling and selectively induces apoptosis in chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011;108(32):13253-7.

6.  Yu J, Zhang L, Chen A, Xiang G, Wang Y, Wu J, et al. Identification of the gene transcription and apoptosis mediated by TGF-beta-Smad2/3-Smad4 signaling. J Cell Physiol. 2008;215(2):422-33.

7.  Chen Y, Chen L, Yu J, Ghia EM, Choi MY, Zhang L, Zhang S, Sanchez-Lopez E, Widhopf GF, 2nd, Messer K, Rassenti LZ, Jamieson C, Kipps TJ. Cirmtuzumab blocks Wnt5a/ROR1 stimulation of NF-kappaB to repress autocrine STAT3 activation in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Blood. 2019;134(13):1084-1094.

8.  Hasan MK, Yu J, Widhopf GF, 2nd, Rassenti LZ, Chen L, Shen Z, et al. Wnt5a induces ROR1 to recruit DOCK2 to activate Rac1/2 in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Blood. 2018.

9.  Choi MY, Widhopf GF, 2nd, Ghia EM, Kidwell RL, Hasan MK, Yu J, et al. Phase I Trial: Cirmtuzumab Inhibits ROR1 Signaling and Stemness Signatures in Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. Cell Stem Cell. 2018;22(6):951-9 e3.

10.  Hasan MK, Yu J, Chen L, Cui B, Widhopf Ii GF, Rassenti L, et al. Wnt5a induces ROR1 to complex with HS1 to enhance migration of chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells. Leukemia. 2017.

11.  Cui B, Ghia EM, Chen L, Rassenti LZ, DeBoever C, Widhopf GF, 2nd, Yu J, et al. High-level ROR1 associates with accelerated disease progression in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Blood. 2016;128(25):2931-40.

12.  Chu D, Zhao Q, Yu J, Zhang F, Zhang H, Wang Z. Nanoparticle Targeting of Neutrophils for Improved Cancer Immunotherapy. Adv Healthc Mater. 2016;5(9):1088-93.

13.  Cui B, Chen L, Zhang S, Mraz M, Fecteau JF, Yu J, et al. MicroRNA-155 influences B-cell receptor signaling and associates with aggressive disease in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Blood. 2014;124(4):546-54.

14.  Chen A, Yu J, Zhang L, Sun Y, Zhang Y, Guo H, et al. Microarray and biochemical analysis of bufalin-induced apoptosis of HL-60 Cells. Biotechnol Lett. 2009;31(4):487-94.

15.  Chen A, Luo M, Yuan G, Yu J, Deng T, Zhang L, et al. Complementary analysis of microRNA and mRNA expression during phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (TPA)-induced differentiation of HL-60 cells. Biotechnol Lett. 2008;30(12):2045-52.

16.  Li DY, Ji XS, Yu J, Chen MJ, Yuan ZY. PCR Based Cloning and Sequence Analysis of the Pichia pastoris Cystathionine beta-Synthase Gene. Sheng Wu Hua Xue Yu Sheng Wu Wu Li Xue Bao (Shanghai). 2001;33(6):600-6.