Dr. Wang's research interests focus on the molecular genetics of human disease including cancer and autoimmunity disease. He identified that the genetic alterations in human CD24 gene is one of the most important risk factors for development and progression of the multiple sclerosis (MS) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). His current research projects focus on identifying potential MS and SLE associated genes in X-chromosome. In addition, his recent research showed that the somatic mutation in a novel tumor suppressor gene FOXP3 has an important impact on developing breast cancer. He is planning to investigate the molecular mechanisms of development and progression of breast cancer including genetic alterations of tumor suppressor gene FOXP3 involved in multiple signaling pathways.

Selected publications

1. Liu R, Wang L, Chen G, Katoh H, Chen C, Liu Y, Zheng P. FOXP3 up-regulates p21 expression by site-specific inhibition of histone deacetylase 2/histone deacetylase 4 association to the locus. Cancer Res. 2009 Mar 15;69(6):2252-9.
2. Liu R, Wang L, Chen C, Liu Y, Zhou P, Wang Y, Wang X, Turnbull J, Minassian BA, Liu Y, Zheng P. Laforin negatively regulates cell cycle progression through glycogen synthase kinase 3beta-dependent mechanisms. Mol Cell Biol. 2008 Dec;28(23):7236-44.
3. Zuo T, Liu R, Zhang H, Chang X, Liu Y, Wang L, Zheng P, Liu Y. FOXP3 is a novel transcriptional repressor for the breast cancer oncogene SKP2. J Clin Invest. 2007 Dec;117(12):3765-73.
4. Zuo T, Wang L, Morrison C, Chang X, Zhang H, Li W, Liu Y, Wang Y, Liu X, Chan MW, Liu JQ, Love R, Liu CG, Godfrey V, Shen R, Huang TH, Yang T, Park BK, Wang CY, Zheng P, Liu Y. FOXP3 is an X-linked breast cancer suppressor gene and an important repressor of the HER-2/ErbB2 oncogene. Cell. 2007 Jun 29;129(7):1275-86.
5. Wang L, Lin S, Rammohan KW, Liu Z, Liu JQ, Liu RH, Guinther N, Lima J, Zhou Q, Wang T, Zheng X, Birmingham DJ, Rovin BH, Hebert LA, Wu Y, Lynn DJ, Cooke G, Yu CY, Zheng P, Liu Y. A dinucleotide deletion in CD24 confers protection against autoimmune diseases. PLoS Genet. 2007 Apr 6;3(4):e49.