Date: Sept. 19, 2023 

Source: JNU College of Pharmacy

Author: CHEN Minfeng

Translator: HE Qijin

A research team led by Profs. Ye Wencai and Zhang Dongmei of JNU's College of Pharmacy has published two research papers: "ENO2-derived phosphoenolpyruvate functions as an endogenous inhibitor of HDAC1 and confers resistance to antiangiogenic therapy" in Nature Metabolism on Sept. 4 and TCAF2 in pericytes promotes colorectal cancer liver metastasis via inhibiting cold-sensing TRPM8 channel in Advanced Science on Aug. 27. These papers respectively report novel mechanisms of metabolic reprogramming mediating tumor resistance to vascular-targeted drugs and molecular mechanisms of pericyte ion channel regulation in tumor hematogenous metastasis.

（Screenshots of the paper）

In recent years, the team led has delved into new mechanisms regulating tumor drug resistance and metastasis. It has also identified potential novel targets for anti-tumor drugs such as TCF21 and ASCT2 (Gut, 2023; Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2022; Drug Resistance Updates, 2023a, 2022b; Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, 2021) and has produced a series of lead compounds for anti-tumor drug resistance and metastasis from natural sources (Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2017; Molecular Cancer, 2022; Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, 2020; Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, 2023). The team has been granted eight international patents and six Chinese patents. Currently, one candidate new drug is undergoing preclinical studies.

The team's research has received strong support from various projects, including the National Natural Science Foundation, the Local Innovative and Research Teams Project of the Guangdong Pearl River Talents Program, and the Key-Area Research and Development Program of Guangdong Province.

Links to papers: 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-023-00883-y https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202302717.