What We Do

Our laboratory focuses on understanding the genetic and epigenetic pathways to prostate cancer. A number of key transcription factors, including the Androgen Receptor, the Polycomb group protein EZH2, and the TMPRSS2:ERG gene fusions,  have been related to epigenetic changes and implicated in prostate cancer. However, their downstream pathways remain largely unknown. Using 'omics' approaches we have identified a number of target genes and molecular pathways of these transcription factors. Our study will elucidate the specific pathways of these transcription factors and how they may crosstalk with each other to form an intertwined network. Findings from our study will then be applied to understand the hormone-refractory prostate tumors and help the design of novel therapeutic targets.

News

08/19/2020: New paper published in Nature Communications: Histone methyltransferase DOT1L coordinates AR and MYC stability in prostate cancer.

08/14/2020: New paper published in Science Advances: Epithelial cell-specific loss of function of Miz1 causes a spontaneous COPD-like phenotype and up-regulates Ace2 expression in mice.

12/01/2019: Dr. Zhuoyuan Lin joined the lab as a visiting scholar. Welcome, Zhuoyuan!

08/28/2019: New paper published in Oncogene: BMI1 is directly regulated by androgen receptor to promote castration-resistance in prostate cancer.

08/01/2019: New postdocs Dr. Ezinne Mong and Dr. Fang Wang joined us. Welcome!

07/19/2019: New paper published in Cell Research: Altered chromatin recruitment by FOXA1 mutations promotes androgen independence and prostate cancer progression.

07/01/2019: New paper published in Journal of Clinical Investigation: N-Myc-mediated epigenetic reprogramming drives lineage plasticity in advanced prostate cancer.

05/01/2019: Lourdes Brea joined the lab as a DGP gradaute student. Welcome, Luly!

04/25/2019: New paper published in American Journal of Clinical and Experimental Urology: Immune modulatory functions of EZH2 in the tumor microenvironment: implications in cancer immunotherapy.

04/05/2019: New paper published in Cancer Research: Activation of MAPK signaling by CXCR7 leads to enzalutamide resistance in prostate cancer.

03/29/2019: New paper published in Asian J Androl: Transcriptional repression by androgen receptor: roles in castration-resistant prostate cancer.

03/14/2019: Feinberg School of Medicine Research Newsletter: Uncovering Genetic and Epigenetic Pathways to Prostate Cancer.

01/23/2019: Feinberg School of Medicine news: Study Suggests New Strategy to Treat Advanced Prostate Cancer.

12/14/2018: Feinberg School of Medicine news: New Understanding of Enzyme’s Role in Prostate Cancer.

12/04/2018: Feinberg School of Medicine news: New Therapeutic Target Identified in Prostate Cancer.

12/03/2018: New paper published in Cell Reports: Polycomb- and Methylation-Independent Roles of EZH2 as a Transcription Activator.

12/03/2018: New postdoc Dr. Guihua Zeng joined us from University of New Mexico. Welcome, Guihua!

12/01/2018: New paper published in Journal of Clinical Investigation: Targeting FOXA1-mediated repression of TGF-β signaling suppresses castration-resistant prostate cancer progression.

11/27/2018: New paper published in Nature Communications: TRIM28 protects TRIM24 from SPOP-mediated degradation and promotes prostate cancer progression.

10/23/2018: Jindan is named Assistant Director for Education and Training at the Lurie Cancer Center.

04/17/2018: New paper with collaborators published in EMBO Reports: PRDM4 mediates YAP-induced cell invasion by activating leukocyte-specific integrin β2 expression.

02/26/2018: New postdoc Dr. Tan Song joined us from Capital Normal University, Beijing. Welcome, Song!

02/05/2018: New paper published in Nature Communications: BMI1 regulates androgen receptor in prostate cancer independently of the polycomb repressive complex 1.

01/15/2018: Dr. Xiaohai Wang joined us from Shanghai General Hospital as a Visiting Scholar. Welcome, Xiaohai!

10/16/2017: Bioinformatics postdoc Dr. Gang Zhen joined us from Peking University, China. Welcome, Gang!

09/11/2017: New postdoc Dr. Xiaoyan Zhu joined us from Marquette University, Wisconsin. Welcome, Xiaoyan!

08/25/2017: Dr. Angela Yang has graduated and joined Jackson laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow. Congratulations, Angela!

08/17/2017: New paper published in Cancer Research: PADI2-mediated citrullination promotes prostate cancer progression.

06/01/2017: Rakshitha Jagadish from UIC joined the lab for her Master thesis project.

04/01/2017: Galina Gritsina joined the lab as a DGP gradaute student. Welcome, Galina!

03/20/2017: New paper published in Oncogene: FOXA1 inhibits prostate cancer neuroendocrine differentiation.

03/07/2017: New paper published in Cell Reports:  CD95/Fas Increases Stemness in Cancer Cells by Inducing a STAT1-Dependent Type I Interferon Response.

02/01/2017: Nathan Damaschke joined the lab as a postdoctoral fellow. Welcome, Nate!

11/04/2016: New paper published in Cancer Research: Polycomb-mediated disruption of an androgen receptor feedback loop drives castration-resistant prostate cancer.

09/01/2016: New postdoc Dr. Yongik Lee started in the lab. Welcome, Yongik!

08/31/2016: Dr. Jung Kim has graduated and moved back to Maryland to join NCI as a CRTA fellow at DCEG. Congratulations, Jung.

08/26/2016: DGP graduate student Kevin Park joined the lab. Welcome, Kevin!

07/26/2016: Will is awarded Katten Muchin Rosenman award. Congratulations!

07/12/2016: Will is selected to receive the Heme/Onc division Rizvi travel award. Congratulations!

06/07/2016: New paper published in Mol Endocrinol: KAT8 regulates androgen signaling in prostate cancer cells.

06/01/2016: New paper published in Nucleic Acids Research: FOXA1 potentiates lineage-specific enhancer activation through modulating TET1 expression and function.

05/04/2016: New paper published in BMC Genomics: The common stress responsive transcription factor ATF3 binds genomic sites enriched with p300 and H3K27ac for transcriptional regulation.

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Recent Publications

Fong KW, Zhao JC, Lu X, Kim J, Piunti A, Shilatifard A, Yu J. PALI1 promotes tumor growth through competitive recruitment of PRC2 to G9A-target chromatin for dual epigenetic silencing.  Mol Cell. 2022 Dec 01. PMID: 36476474 highlighted in news

Wang X, Brea L, Lu X, Gritsina G, Park SH, Xie W, Zhao JC, Yu J. FOXA1 inhibits hypoxia programs through transcriptional repression of HIF1A. Oncogene. 2022. Aug 5. doi: 10.1038/s41388-022-02423-6. Online ahead of print. PMID: 35931888 highlighted in news

Lu X, Fong KW, Gritsina G, Wang F, Baca SC, Brea LT, Berchuck JE, Spisak S, Ross J, Morrissey C, Corey E, Chandel NS, Catalona WJ, Yang X, Freedman ML, Zhao JC, Yu J. HOXB13 suppresses de novo lipogenesis through HDAC3-mediated epigenetic reprogramming in prostate cancer. Nat Genet. 2022 April 25. PMID: 35468964 highlighted in news

Park SH, Fong KW, Mong E, Martin MC, Schiltz GE, Yu J. Going beyond Polycomb: EZH2 functions in prostate cancer.  Oncogene. 2021 August 04. PMID: 34349243

Park SH, Fong KW, Kim J, Wang F, Lu X, Lee Y, Brea LT, Wadosky K, Guo C, Abdulkadir SA, Crispino JD, Fang D, Ntziachristos P, Liu X, Li X, Wan Y, Goodrich DW, Zhao JC, Yu J. Posttranslational regulation of FOXA1 by Polycomb and BUB3/USP7 deubiquitin complex in prostate cancer.  Science Advances.  2021 April 07. PMID: 33827814

Xu B, Song B, Lu X, Kim J, Hu M, Zhao JC, Yu J. Altered chromatin recruitment by FOXA1 mutations promotes androgen independence and prostate cancer progression.  Cell Research. 2019 July 19. PMID: 31324884

Berger A, Brady NJ, Bareja R, Robinson BD, Conteduca V, Augello MA, Puca L, Ahmed A, Dardenne E, Lu X, Hwang I, Bagadion AM, Sboner A, Elemento O, Paik J, Yu J, Barbieri CE, Dephoure N, Beltran H, Rickman DS. N-Myc-mediated epigenetic reprogramming drives lineage plasticity in advanced prostate cancer.  J Clin Invest. 2019 July 01. PMID: 31260412

Wang X, Brea LT, Yu J.  Immune modulatory functions of EZH2 in the tumor microenvironment: implications in cancer immunotherapy.  Am J Clin Exp Urol. 2019 April 25. PMID: 31139703

Li S, Fong KW, Gritsina G, Zhang A, Zhao JC, Kim J, Sharp A, Yuan W, Aversa C, Yang XJ, Nelson PS, Feng FY, Chinnaiyan AM, de Bono JS, Morrissey C, Rettig MB, Yu J. Activation of MAPK signaling by CXCR7 leads to enzalutamide resistance in prostate cancer.  Cancer Res. 2019 April 05. PMID: 30952632

Gritsina G, Gao WQ, Yu J.  Transcriptional repression by androgen receptor: roles in castration-resistant prostate cancer.  Asian J Androl. 2019 March 29. PMID: 30950412

Kim J, Lee Y, Lu X, Song B, Fong KW, Cao Q, Licht JD, Zhao JC, Yu J.  Polycomb- and Methylation-Independent Roles of EZH2 as a Transcription Activator.  Cell Reports. 2018 Dec 04. PMID: 30517868

Song B, Park SH, Zhao JC, Fong KW, Li S, Lee Y, Yang YA, Sridhar S, Lu X, Abdulkadir SA, Vessella RL, Morrissey C, Kuzel TM, Catalona WJ, Yang XJ, Yu J.  Targeting FOXA1-mediated repression of TGF-β signaling suppresses castration-resistant prostate cancer progression.  J Clin Invest. 2018 Dec 04. PMID: 30511964

Fong KW, Zhao JC, Song B, Zheng B, Yu J.  TRIM28 protects TRIM24 from SPOP-mediated degradation and promotes prostate cancer progression.  Nat Commun. 2018 Nov 27. PMID: 30479348

Andrea E. Murmann, Yu J, Puneet Opa, Marcus E. Peter. Trinucleotide Repeat Expansion Diseases, RNAi, and Cancer.  Trends in Cancer. 2018 August

Melo-Cardenas J, Xu Y, Wei J, Tan C, Kong S, Gao B, Montauti E, Kirsammer G, Licht JD, Yu J, Ji P, Crispino JD, Fang D. USP22 deficiency leads to myeloid leukemia upon oncogenic Kras activation through a PU.1-dependent mechanism.  Blood. 2018 July 26. PMID: 29844011

Geng H, Bu HF, Liu F, Wu L, Pfeifer K, Chou PM, Wang X, Sun J, Lu L, Pandey A, Bartolomei MS, De Plaen IG, Wang P, Yu J, Qian J, Tan XD. In Inflamed Intestinal Tissues and Epithelial Cells, Interleukin 22 Signaling Increases Expression of H19 Long Noncoding RNA, Which Promotes Mucosal Regeneration.  Gastroenterology. 2018 July 01. PMID: 29621481

Zhu S, Zhao D, Yan L, Jiang W, Kim JS, Gu B, Liu Q, Wang R, Xia B, Zhao JC, Song G, Mi W, Wang RF, Shi X, Lam HM, Dong X, Yu J, Chen K, Cao Q. BMI1 regulates androgen receptor in prostate cancer independently of the polycomb repressive complex 1.  Nat Commun. 2018 Feb 5. PMID: 29402932

Wang L, Song G, Zhang X, Feng T, Pan J, Chen W, Yang M, Bai X, Pang Y, Yu J, Han J, Han B.  PADI2-mediated citrullination promotes prostate cancer progression.  Cancer Research. 2017 August 17. PMID: 28819028

Kim J, Jin H, Zhao JC, Yang YA, Li Y, Yang X, Dong X, Yu J. FOXA1 inhibits prostate cancer neuroendocrine differentiation.  Oncogene. 2017 March 20. PMID: 28319070

Qadir AS, Ceppi P, Brockway S, Law C, Mu L, Khodarev NN, Kim J, Zhao JC, Putzbach W, Murmann AE, Chen Z, Chen W, Liu X, Salomon AR, Liu H, Weichselbaum RR, Yu J, Peter ME.  CD95/Fas Increases Stemness in Cancer Cells by Inducing a STAT1-Dependent Type I Interferon Response.  Cell Rep. 2017 March 07. PMID: 28273453

Fong KW, Zhao JC, Kim J, Li S, Yang YA, Song B, Rittie L, Hu M, Yang X, Perbal B, Yu J. Polycomb-mediated disruption of an androgen receptor feedback loop drives castration-resistant prostate cancer.  Cancer Res. 2016 Nov 4. PMID: 27815387

Kim JY, Yu J, Abdulkadir SA, Chakravarti D. KAT8 regulates androgen signaling in prostate cancer cells.  Mol Endocrinol. 2016 June 07. PMID: 27257062

Yang YA, Zhao JC, Fong KW, Kim J, Li S, Song C, Song B, Zheng B, He C, Yu J. FOXA1 potentiates lineage-specific enhancer activation through modulating TET1 expression and function.  Nucleic Acids Res. 2016 June 01. PMID: 27268279

Zhao JC, Li XY, Guo MX, Yu J, Yan C. The common stress responsive transcription factor ATF3 binds genomic sites enriched with p300 and H3K27ac for transcriptional regulation.  BMC Genomics. 2016 May 04. PMID: 27146783

Zhao JC, Fong KW, Jin HJ, Yang YA, Kim J, Yu J. FOXA1 acts upstream of GATA2 and AR in hormonal regulation of gene expression.  Oncogene. 2016 Jan 11. PMID: 26751772

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