New JAX cancer researcher studies heat shock response
JAX® NOTES Issue 513, Spring 2009
The most recent addition to The Jackson Laboratory's scientific staff, cancer researcher Chengkai Dai, M.D., Ph.D, is armed with a mission — to better understand the heat shock or stress response — a highly conserved adaptive mechanism that normally protects healthy cells from environmental stresses but sometimes changes allegiance to protect cancer cells. Dr. Dai hopes that clarifying the heat shock response's beneficial and detrimental effects will lead to improved cancer therapies.
 |
|
Dr. Dai hopes his resaerch will lead to more effective cancer therapies. |
The heat shock response and cancer
Understanding how the heat shock response functions during the dynamic, multi-stage process of tumor formation may revolutionize our knowledge of cancer evolution and ultimately translate into ground-breaking cancer prevention and therapies. Dr. Dai's laboratory is concentrating on the study of stress response, and investigating its role in the malignancy associated with neurofibromatosis type I (NF1), the most common human cancer-predisposition syndrome afflicting one in 3,500 people worldwide. NF1 patients frequently develop multiple types of malignancy, including neurofibromas, brain tumors and myeloid leukemia. Dr. Dai's research clearly indicates that inhibiting the stress response markedly suppresses the tumorigenic process associated with NF1 and impairs the growth and survival of human NF1 tumor cells (Dai et al. 2007). These studies provide strong evidence that targeting the stress response is an innovative and promising strategy to treat tumors in NF1 patients.
Based on his experience, Dr. Dai concludes that the main obstacle to treating established cancers is their extraordinary complexity and incredible ability to evolve. He hopes his research on the stress response will help overcome that obstacle and ultimately lead to innovative ways of fighting cancer.
The heat shock response and aging
Another area of Dr. Dai's study is the relationship between the heat shock response and aging. Although the response has a fascinating role in prolonging the lifespan of lower organisms, its influence on mammalian longevity is elusive. Particularly in humans, aging is associated with two major diseases — cancer and neurodegeneration — and the response is involved in both. While the heat shock response protects neurons from death and antagonizes neurodegeneration, the very same mechanism promotes cancer. Dr. Dai is devoted to understanding how this ancient mechanism's effects on cancer and neurodegeneration are balanced and how they impact longevity in mammals. These studies may ultimately lead to new ways of fighting aging and increasing longevity.
Dr. Dai earned his M.D. and M.S. degrees from Tianjin Medical University and received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas—Houston Health Science Center. Dr. Dai recently finished a postdoctoral appointment at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, an independent institution affiliated with MIT.
He has co-authored 17 research and review articles (seven as first author) in peer-reviewed journals, including Cell and Genes & Development. In 2006, he received The Children's Tumor Foundation Young Investigator Award.
Reference
(Author in bold is a Jackson Laboratory scientist.)
Dai C, Whitesell L, Rogers AB, Lindquist S. 2007. Heat shock factor 1 is a powerful multifaceted modifier of carcinogenesis. Cell 130:986-8.
