Jianguo Tao, MD, PhD

Dr. Tao’s laboratory focuses on: 1) functional genomics and biomarkers of lymphoma; including microRNA expression profile in selected lymphoma subtypes (mantle cell lymphoma and viral-associated lymphomas) to determine possible involvement of microRNAs in the pathogenesis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and their possible role in diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic target discovery, 2) microenvironment regulation of molecular pathogenesis of lymphoma; his laboratory is studying the normal development of germinal center B cells.His team aims to determine microenvironment regulation of normal and abnormal transcriptional factors and miRNAs involved in B-cell differentiation, activation and lymphomagenesis, 3) Microenvironment regulation of drug resistance of lymphoma. The team’s recent studies have shown that adhesion of lymphoma cells to bone marrow stromal cells significantly increases cellular resistance to a variety of cytotoxic drugs and induces cell cycle arrest. They have extended this research to determine the role of the interaction between lymph node stromal cell and lymphoma cells as well as miRNAs in response to therapy and to further elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which stroma regulates lymphoma cell survival.

• Zhao X, Lwin T, Zhang X, Huang A, Wang J, Marquez VE, Chen-Kiang S, Dalton WS, Sotomayor E, Tao J. Disruption of the MYC-miRNA-EZH2 loop to suppress aggressive B-cell lymphoma survival and clonogenicity. Leukemia. 2013 Mar. Pubmedid: 23538750.
• Fiskus W, Rao R, Balusu R, Ganguly S, Tao J, Sotomayor E, Mudunuru U, Smith JE, Hembruff SL, Atadja P, Marquez VE, Bhalla K. Superior Efficacy of a Combined Epigenetic Therapy against Human Mantle Cell Lymphoma Cells. Clin Cancer Res. 2012 Nov;18(22):6227-6238. Pubmedid: 22932665.
• Zhang X, Zhao X, Fiskus W, Lin J, Lwin T, Rao R, Zhang Y, Chan JC, Fu K, Marquez VE, Chen-Kiang S, Moscinski LC, Seto E, Dalton WS, Wright KL, Sotomayor E, Bhalla K, Tao J. Coordinated silencing of MYC-mediated miR-29 by HDAC3 and EZH2 as a therapeutic target of histone modification in aggressive B-Cell lymphomas. Cancer Cell. 2012 Oct;22(4):506-523. Pubmedid: 23079660.
• Cheng F, Wang H, Horna P, Wang Z, Shah B, Sahakian E, Woan KV, Villagra A, Pinilla-Ibarz J, Sebti S, Smith M, Tao J, Sotomayor EM. Stat3 Inhibition Augments the Immunogenicity of B-cell Lymphoma Cells, Leading to Effective Antitumor Immunity. Cancer Res. 2012 Sep;72(17):4440-4448. Pubmedid: 22728650.
• Zhang X, Chen X, Lin J, Lwin T, Wright G, Moscinski LC, Dalton WS, Seto E, Wright K, Sotomayor E, Tao J. Myc represses miR-15a/miR-16-1 expression through recruitment of HDAC3 in mantle cell and other non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphomas. Oncogene. 2012 Jun;31(24):3002-3008. Pubmedid: 22002311.
• Rao R, Nalluri S, Fiskus W, Savoie A, Buckley KM, Ha K, Balusu R, Joshi A, Coothankandaswamy V, Tao J, Sotomayor E, Atadja P, Bhalla KN. Role of CAAT/enhancer binding protein homologous protein in panobinostat-mediated potentiation of bortezomib-induced lethal endoplasmic reticulum stress in mantle cell lymphoma cells. Clin Cancer Res. 2011 Mar;16(19):4742-4754. Pubmedid: 20647473. Pmcid: PMC2948590.
• Lin J, Lwin T, Zhao JJ, Tam W, Choi YS, Moscinski LC, Dalton WS, Sotomayor EM, Wright KL, Tao J. Follicular dendritic cell-induced microRNA-mediated upregulation of PRDM1 and downregulation of BCL-6 in non-Hodgkin's B-cell lymphomas. Leukemia. 2011 Jan;25(1):145-152. Pubmedid: 20966935. Pmcid: PMC3083119.
• Lwin T, Lin J, Choi YS, Zhang X, Moscinski LC, Wright KL, Sotomayor EM, Dalton WS, Tao J. Follicular dendritic cell-dependent drug resistance of non-Hodgkin lymphoma involves cell adhesion-mediated Bim down-regulation through induction of microRNA-181a. Blood. 2011 Jan;116(24):5228-5236. Pubmedid: 20841506. Pmcid: PMC3012540.
• Desai S, Maurin M, Smith MA, Bolick SC, Dessureault S, Tao J, Sotomayor E, Wright KL. PRDM1 is required for mantle cell lymphoma response to bortezomib. Mol Cancer Res. 2010 Jun;8(6):907-918. Pubmedid: 20530581. Pmcid: PMC2891394.
• Zhao JJ, Lin J, Lwin T, Yang H, Guo J, Kong W, Dessureault S, Moscinski LC, Rezania D, Dalton WS, Sotomayor E, Tao J, Cheng JQ. microRNA expression profile and identification of miR-29 as a prognostic marker and pathogenetic factor by targeting CDK6 in mantle cell lymphoma. Blood. 2010 Apr;115(13):2630-2639. Pubmedid: 20086245. Pmcid: PMC2852365.
• Hartley MA, Tao J, Baz R. Merkel cell carcinoma in the peripheral blood of a patient with concomitant chronic lymphocytic leukemia and multiple myeloma. J Clin Oncol. 2010 Mar;28(7):e113-e114. Pubmedid: 20008639.
• Rao R, Lee P, Fiskus W, Yang Y, Joshi R, Wang Y, Buckley K, Balusu R, Chen J, Koul S, Joshi A, Upadhyay S, Tao J, Sotomayor E, Bhalla KN. Co-treatment with heat shock protein 90 inhibitor 17-dimethylaminoethylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (DMAG) and vorinostat: a highly active combination against human mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) cells. Cancer Biol Ther. 2009 Jul;8(13):1273-1280. Pubmedid: 19440035. Pmcid: PMC2766923.
• Lwin T, Crespo LA, Wu A, Dessureault S, Shu HB, Moscinski LC, Sotomayor E, Dalton WS, Tao J. Lymphoma cell adhesion-induced expression of B cell-activating factor of the TNF family in bone marrow stromal cells protects non-Hodgkin's B lymphoma cells from apoptosis. Leukemia. 2009 Jan;23(1):170-177. Pubmedid: 18843286.
• Lwin T, Hazlehurst LA, Dessureault S, Lai R, Bai W, Sotomayor E, Moscinski LC, Dalton WS, Tao J. Cell adhesion induces p27Kip1-associated cell-cycle arrest through down-regulation of the SCFSkp2 ubiquitin ligase pathway in mantle-cell and other non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphomas. Blood. 2007 Sep;110(5):1631-1638. Pubmedid: 17502456. Pmcid: PMC1975846.
• Lwin T, Hazlehurst LA, Li Z, Dessureault S, Sotomayor E, Moscinski LC, Dalton WS, Tao J. Bone marrow stromal cells prevent apoptosis of lymphoma cells by upregulation of anti-apoptotic proteins associated with activation of NF-kappaB (RelB/p52) in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cells. Leukemia. 2007 Jul;21(7):1521-1531. Pubmedid: 17476277.
• Alekshun T, Tao J, Sokol L. Aggressive T-cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia: A case report and review of the literature. Am J Hematol. 2007 Jun;82(6):481-485. Pubmedid: 17205534.
• Bali P, George P, Cohen P, Tao J, Guo F, Sigua C, Vishvanath A, Scuto A, Annavarapu S, Fiskus W, Moscinski L, Atadja P, Bhalla K. Superior activity of the combination of histone deacetylase inhibitor LAQ824 and the FLT-3 kinase inhibitor PKC412 against human acute myelogenous leukemia cells with mutant FLT-3. Clin Cancer Res. 2004 Aug;10(15):4991-4997. Pubmedid: 15297399.
• George P, Bali P, Cohen P, Tao J, Guo F, Sigua C, Vishvanath A, Fiskus W, Scuto A, Annavarapu S, Moscinski L, Bhalla K. Cotreatment with 17-allylamino-demethoxygeldanamycin and FLT-3 kinase inhibitor PKC412 is highly effective against human acute myelogenous leukemia cells with mutant FLT-3. Cancer Res. 2004 May;64(10):3645-3652. Pubmedid: 15150124.
• Guo F, Sigua C, Tao J, Bali P, George P, Li Y, Wittmann S, Moscinski L, Atadja P, Bhalla K. Cotreatment with histone deacetylase inhibitor LAQ824 enhances Apo-2L/tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis inducing ligand-induced death inducing signaling complex activity and apoptosis of human acute leukemia cells. Cancer Res. 2004 Apr;64(7):2580-2589. Pubmedid: 15059915.
• Nimmanapalli R, Fuino L, Bali P, Gasparetto M, Glozak M, Tao J, Moscinski L, Smith C, Wu J, Atadja P, Bhalla K, Jove R. Histone deacetylase inhibitor LAQ824 both lowers expression and promotes proteasomal degradation of Bcr-Abl and induces apoptosis of imatinib mesylate-sensitive or -refractory chronic myelogenous leukemia-blast crisis cells. Cancer Res. 2003 Aug;63(16):5126-5135. Pubmedid: 12941844.