Prof. GAO Shan from Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology gives a lecture at IHB. (Credit: IHB)

Prof. GAO Shan from Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology (SIBET) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences paid a visit to the Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on July 16, 2021. During his visit, he gave a lecture with the title of “Lysosomes and tumors”.   

In his lecture, Prof. Gao presented a series of recent advances in his study of lysosomes and tumors. He began with the significance of programmed death ligand-1 ( PD-L1 ) in tumor research and the important role of lysosomes in the process of cell apoptosis.    

Then Prof. Gao described the effects of LCDR and hnRNP K on the expression of lysosome-related genes. LCDR and hnRNP K work with LATPM5 to regulate the integrity of the lysosome membrane, and the absence of them leads to cell apoptosis. Further research shows that the increase of LATPM5 can rescue LCDR/hnRNP K-mediated cell death. Therefore, Gao's team suggested that LCDR enhanced lysosome stability and improved cell viability by potentiating hnRNP K's reading on LATPM5 mRNA.    

Towards the end of the lecture, Prof. Gao introduced the targeting LCDR for nanotechnology in PDXs model, and the optimization of PDXs.   

Prof. Gao received his PhD degree in oncology from Oxford University. He is now the deputy director of the academic committee of the SIBET. His research focuses on molecular basis of tumor, tumor immunotherapy, etc. He published more than 20 papers in the journals like Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, Science Advances, National Science Review, Cell Reports, and Cancer Research.