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Shujie Yang, PhD

Assistant Professor of Pathology

Introduction

Cell biology and signaling, cancer biology and targeted therapy, biochemistry, molecular biology, structural biology, hormonal therapy, epigenetic regulation

Current Positions

  • Assistant Professor of Pathology

Education

  • BA in Biochemistry, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
  • MS in Biochemistry, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
  • PhD in Biomedical Science, University of New Mexico
  • Postdoctoral Fellow in Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Iowa

Graduate Program Affiliations

Center, Program and Institute Affiliations

Research Interests

  • Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer in the US, causing over 10,000 deaths each year, yet the effectiveness of treatment has not improved in the last 30 years. My research goals are to apply the fast-growing knowledge of endometrial cancer carcinogenesis and progression at the molecular, cellular and biochemistry levels to optimize current therapies and design new strategies for treatment, with the ultimate goal of reducing the risk of developing cancer and prolonging patient survival. In one arm of my research, I investigate novel combination treatment strategies targeting the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, the most frequently altered signaling pathway in endometrial cancer and many other solid tumors. A second research arm focuses on restoring sensitivity to progesterone given that endometrial cancer is a hormonally-regulated tumor. The frequent loss of expression of the progesterone receptor (PR) thus negates the differentiating effects of progesterone. My objectives are 1) understand the mechanisms contributing to this progressive loss of PR expression and 2) identify novel strategies to restore functional PR expression and thereby re-sensitize endometrial tumors to progestin therapy.

Selected Publications

  • Li, Y., Huang, C., Kavlashvili, T., Fronk, A., Zhang, Y., Wei, Y., Dai, D., Devor, E. J., Meng, X., Thiel, K. W., Leslie, K. K. & Yang, S. (2020). Loss of progesterone receptor through epigenetic regulation is associated with poor prognosis in solid tumors. American journal of cancer research 10 (6) 1827-1843. PMID: 32642294. PMCID: PMC7339273.
  • Meng, X., Yang, S. & Camp VJA (2020). The Interplay Between the DNA Damage Response, RNA Processing and Extracellular Vesicles. Frontiers in oncology 9 1538. DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2019.01538. PMID: 32010626. PMCID: PMC6978769.
  • Bi, J., Areecheewakul, S., Li, Y., Yang, S., Zhang, Y., Ebeid, K., Li, L., Thiel, K. W., Zhang, J., Dai, D., Salem, A. K., Leslie, K. K. & Meng, X. (2019). MTDH/AEG-1 downregulation using pristimerin-loaded nanoparticles inhibits Fanconi anemia proteins and increases sensitivity to platinum-based chemotherapy. Gynecologic Oncology 155 (2) 349-358. DOI: 10.1016/j.ygyno.2019.08.014. PMID: 31477281.
  • Bi, J., Yang, S., Li, L., Dai, Q., Borcherding, N., Wagner, B. A., Buettner, G. R., Spitz, D. R., Leslie, K. K., Zhang, J. & Meng, X. (2019). Metadherin enhances vulnerability of cancer cells to ferroptosis. Cell Death and Disease 10 (10) 682. DOI: 10.1038/s41419-019-1897-2. PMID: 31527591. PMCID: PMC6746770.
  • Meng, X., Yang, S., Zhang, J. & Yu, H. (2019). Contribution of alternative splicing to breast cancer metastasis. Journal of cancer metastasis and treatment 5. DOI: 10.20517/2394-4722.2018.96. PMID: 31737791. PMCID: PMC6857724.
  • Li, Y., Gonzalez Bosquet, J., Yang, S., Thiel, K. W., Zhang, Y., Liu, H., Leslie, K. K. & Meng, X. (2017). Role of metadherin in estrogen-regulated gene expression. International journal of molecular medicine 40 (2) 303-310. DOI: 10.3892/ijmm.2017.3020. PMID: 28627585. PMCID: PMC5504974.
  • Kavlashvili, T., Jia, Y., Dai, D., Meng, X., Thiel, K. W., Leslie, K. K. & Yang, S. (2016). Inverse Relationship between Progesterone Receptor and Myc in Endometrial Cancer. PLoS One 11 (2) e0148912. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0148912. PMID: 26859414. PMCID: PMC4747472.
  • Reyes, H. D., Carlson, M. J., Devor, E. J., Zhang, Y., Thiel, K. W., Samuelson, M. I., McDonald, M., Yang, S., Stephan, J. M., Savage, E. C., Dai, D., Goodheart, M. J. & Leslie, K. K. (2016). Downregulation of FOXO1 mRNA levels predicts treatment failure in patients with endometrial pathology conservatively managed with progestin-containing intrauterine devices. Gynecol Oncol 140 (1) 152-60. DOI: 10.1016/j.ygyno.2015.10.023. PMID: 26524723.
  • McCabe Pryor, M., Steinkamp, M. P., Halasz, A. M., Chen, Y., Yang, S., Smith, M. S., Zahoransky-Kohalmi, G., Swift, M., Xu, X. P., Hanien, D., Volkmann, N., Lidke, D. S., Edwards, J. S. & Wilson, B. S. (2015). Orchestration of ErbB3 signaling through heterointeractions and homointeractions. Mol Biol Cell 26 (22) 4109-23. DOI: 10.1091/mbc.E14-06-1114. PMID: 26378253.
  • Zhang, Y., Goodfellow, R., Li, Y., Yang, S., Winters, C. J., Thiel, K. W., Leslie, K. K. & Yang, B. (2015). NEDD4 ubiquitin ligase is a putative oncogene in endometrial cancer that activates IGF-1R/PI3K/Akt signaling. Gynecol Oncol 139 (1) 127-33. DOI: 10.1016/j.ygyno.2015.07.098. PMID: 26193427.