Dr. Shao-Cong Sun

Regular Member

The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
Department of Immunology

Research Interests:

• Signal transduction
• Protein ubiquitination and deubiquitination
• NF-kB activation
• Lymphocyte development and activation
• Autoimmunity and inflammation
• Antiviral and antibacterial innate immunity
• Cancer biology

The research in our laboratory concerns signal transduction regulating immune functions, with a focus on the NF-kB pathway. NF-kB is a family of transcription factors that regulates both innate and adaptive immune responses. Deregulated activation of NF-kB or its regulatory kinases is associated with chronic inflammation, autoimmunity, and cancers. Our long-range goals are to dissect the signaling pathway mediating NF-kB activation and to elucidate the role of NF-kB in regulating normal immune response and immunological disorders. Our current studies include (1) ubiquitination and deubiquitination in the regulation of NF-kB and immune functions, (2) signaling pathways regulating immunological tolerance, autoimmunity, and chronic inflammation, (3) NF-kB and related signaling pathways involved in anti-viral and anti-bacterial innate immunity, and (4) deregulated activation of NF-kB in cancer development.

A tutorial in my laboratory will provide experience in signal transduction, innate and adaptive immune function, and cancer biology. Students will gain experimental experience in various molecular and immunological techniques, including molecular cloning, gene expression analyses, protein/protein interaction, cell culture, preparation and flow cytometric analysis of immune cells.

Selected Publications:

Xiao, G., Harhaj, E. W., and Sun, S.-C. (2001) NF-kB inducing kinase regulates the processing of NF-kB2 p100. Mol. Cell. 7, 401-409.

Waterfield, M., Zhang, M., Norman, L. N., and Sun, S.-C. (2003) NF-kB1/p105 regulates lipopolysaccharide-stimulated MAP kinase signaling by governing the stability of the Tpl2 kinase. Mol. Cell. 11, 685-94.

Reiley, W, Zhang, MY, Jin, W, Losiewicz, M, Donahue, K, Norbury, C, and Sun, S.-C. (2006) Regulation of T cell development by the deubiquitinating enzyme CYLD. Nature Immunology. 7, 411-417.

Reiley WR, Jin W, Lee J, Wright A, Wu, X, Tewalt EF, Leonard TO, Norbury CC, Fitzpatrick L, Zhang M, and Sun S-C. (2007) Deubiquitinating enzyme CYLD negatively regulates the ubiquitin-dependent kinase Tak1 and prevents abnormal T-cell responses. J. Exp. Med. 204, 1475-1485.

Chang M, Jin W, and Sun S-C (2009) Peli1 mediates TRIF-dependent TLR signaling and inflammatory response. Nat. Immunol. 10, 1089-1095.

Jin W, Zhou X, Yu J, Cheng X, and Sun S-C. (2009) Regulation of Th17 cell differentiation and EAE induction by the MAP3K NIK. Blood. 113: 6603-6610.

Lee AJ, Zhou X, Chang M, Hunzeker J, Bonneau RH, Zhou D, and Sun S-C (2010) Regulation of natural killer T-cell development by deubiquitinase CYLD. EMBO J. 29: 1600-1612.

Additional Publications

Program Affiliations:

Program in Cancer Biology

Program in Immunology