Chengguo Xing
 | Chengguo Xing, Ph.D. Office: Telephone Number: FAX Number: E-mail Address: |
Education:
B.S., Dalian University of Technology, 1996
Ph.D., Arizona State University, 2001
Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 2003
Research Interests:
The primary research activities in my laboratory focus on studies related to Bcl-2 proteins, a family of proteins that regulate apoptosis (a programmed cell death process). Three major areas are under investigation.
Developing small molecules targeting specific Bcl-2 proteins as potential anticancer agents and biological tools.
Small molecules have been found to interact with some Bcl-2 proteins and result in tumor cell death in vitro. New candidate(s) with high binding affinity/selectivity to specific Bcl-2 member need to be discovered before such small molecules can be further developed as potential therapeutic agents or employed as chemical tools in elucidating their mode of action and the biological functions of the targeted Bcl-2 member. My laboratory employs rational combinatory library synthesis, antibody high-throughput screening, affinity chromatography assays, and DNA microarray assays to develop small-molecule Bcl-2 modulators with high binding affinity and selectivity. Efforts also are being devoted to develop dimeric and multimeric Bcl-2 modulators, which are expected to possess novel therapeutic and biological values.
Elucidating the chemical and biological processes in apoptotic regulation by Bcl-2 proteins.
Bcl-2 proteins are the key regulators in apoptosis and dysfunction of Bcl-2 proteins has been observed in many apoptosis-defect diseases such as cancer, autoimmune disorders, and neuron degenerative diseases. Our research in this area focuses on clarifying the apoptotic regulatory function and mechanism of several important domains in Bcl-2 proteins, in specific, the loop domain and the C-terminal BH3-domain competing domain.
Elucidating apoptotic processes in different tumors induced by different stimuli.
Different tumor cells undergo apoptosis through different processes when treated with the same anticancer agents and different anticancer agents induce apoptosis through different processes in the same tumor. Understanding these different processes can help rationalize tumor sensitivity to anticancer agents and guide the therapeutic application of anticancer agents. Our effort in this area is to explore the possible correlations of Bcl-2 proteins, apoptotic processes, and apoptotic stimuli by using DNA microarray.
Publications:
Xing, C.; LaPorte, J. R.; Barbay, J. K.; Myers, A. G. Identification of GAPDH as a Protein Target of the Saframycin Class of Natural Antiproliferative Agents. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A, 2004, 101, 5862-5866.
Skibo, E. B.; Xing, C.; Dorr, R. T. Aziridinyl Quinone Anticancer Agents Based on Indoles and Cyclopent[b]Indoles: Structure-Activity Relationships for Cytotoxicity and Antitumor Activity. J. Med. Chem., 2001, 44, 3545-3562.
Skibo, E. B.; Xing, C.; Croy, T. Recognition and Cleavage at the DNA Major Groove. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, 2001, 9, 2445-2459.
Xing, C. and Skibo, E. B. Sigmatropic Reactions of the Aziridinyl Semiquinone Species. Why Aziridinyl Benzoquinones are Metabolically More Stable than Aziridinyl Indoloquinone. Biochemistry, 2000, 39, 10770-10780.
Xing, C.; Wu, P.; Skibo, E. B.; Dorr, R. T. Design of Cancer -specific Antitumor Agents Based on Aziridinylcyclopent[b]indoloquinones. J. Med. Chem., 2000, 43, 457-466.
Skibo, E. B. and Xing, C. Chemistry and DNA Alkylation Reactions of Aziridinyl Quinones: Development of an Efficient Alkylation Agent of the Phosphate Backbone. Biochemistry, 1998, 37, 15199-15213.
Yang, P.; Xing, C.; He, G. and Su, Z. Study protein fouling of microfiltration membrane. Shuichuli Jishu, 1998, 24, 324-328.