Liguo Zhang

Journal Article Oncogene · March 2017 Evasion of apoptosis allows many cancers to resist chemotherapy. Apoptosis is mediated by the serial activation of caspase family proteins. These proteases are often activated upon the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria, which is promoted by the ... Full text Cite

Mitotic phosphatase activity is required for MCC maintenance during the spindle checkpoint.

Journal Article Cell cycle (Georgetown, Tex.) · January 2016 The spindle checkpoint prevents activation of the anaphase-promoting complex (APC/C) until all chromosomes are correctly attached to the mitotic spindle. Early in mitosis, the mitotic checkpoint complex (MCC) inactivates the APC/C by binding the APC/C acti ... Full text Cite

Fatty acid synthase inhibition engages a novel caspase-2 regulatory mechanism to induce ovarian cancer cell death.

Journal Article Oncogene · June 2015 Blockade of fatty acid synthase (FASN), a key enzyme involved in de novo lipogenesis, results in robust death of ovarian cancer cells. However, known FASN inhibitors have proven to be poor therapeutic agents due to their ability to induce cachexia. Therefo ... Full text Cite

Metabolic control of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII)-mediated caspase-2 suppression by the B55β/protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A).

Journal Article J Biol Chem · December 26, 2014 High levels of metabolic activity confer resistance to apoptosis. Caspase-2, an apoptotic initiator, can be suppressed by high levels of nutrient flux through the pentose phosphate pathway. This metabolic control is exerted via inhibitory phosphorylation o ... Full text Link to item Cite

Suppression of DNA-damage checkpoint signaling by Rsk-mediated phosphorylation of Mre11.

Journal Article Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · December 2013 Ataxia telangiectasia mutant (ATM) is an S/T-Q-directed kinase that is critical for the cellular response to double-stranded breaks (DSBs) in DNA. Following DNA damage, ATM is activated and recruited by the MRN protein complex [meiotic recombination 11 (Mr ... Full text Open Access Cite

Ubiquitylation of p53 by the APC/C inhibitor Trim39.

Journal Article Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · December 2012 Tripartite motif 39 (Trim39) is a RING domain-containing E3 ubiquitin ligase able to inhibit the anaphase-promoting complex (APC/C) directly. Through analysis of Trim39 function in p53-positive and p53-negative cells, we have found, surprisingly, that p53- ... Full text Open Access Cite

The Trim39 ubiquitin ligase inhibits APC/CCdh1-mediated degradation of the Bax activator MOAP-1.

Journal Article The Journal of cell biology · April 2012 Proapoptotic Bcl-2 family members, such as Bax, promote release of cytochrome c from mitochondria, leading to caspase activation and cell death. It was previously reported that modulator of apoptosis protein 1 (MOAP-1), an enhancer of Bax activation induce ... Full text Open Access Cite

Delta-like 1-Lysine613 regulates notch signaling.

Journal Article Biochimica et biophysica acta · December 2011 Delta ligands are important for regulating Notch signaling through transcellular stimulation of Notch receptors. The cytoplasmic tails of Delta ligands have multiple potential regulatory sites including several lysine residues that are putative targets for ... Full text Cite

Mind bomb 1 regulation of cFLIP interactions.

Journal Article American journal of physiology. Cell physiology · November 2009 Mind bomb 1 (Mib1) is a multidomain E3 ligase that directs ubiquitination of the Notch ligands Delta and Jagged to promote their endocytosis. Here we examine Notch-independent functions of Mib1 and find that its activities are linked to the initiation of t ... Full text Cite

Real-time quantitative RT-PCR assay of prostate-specific antigen and prostate-specific membrane antigen in peripheral blood for detection of prostate cancer micrometastasis.

Journal Article Urologic oncology · November 2008 ObjectiveReverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was widely used to detect disseminated tumor cells. However, high percentages of false-positive cases have been reported. Herein, we developed a method to detect prostate cancer (PC ... Full text Cite

Regulation of death-associated protein kinase. Stabilization by HSP90 heterocomplexes.

Journal Article The Journal of biological chemistry · April 2007 Death-associated protein kinase (DAPK) has been found associated with HSP90, and inhibition of HSP90 with 17-alkylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin reduced expression of DAPK. These results were extended to determine whether the degradation of DAPK in the abs ... Full text Cite

Chitosan-Based Scaffolds for Hepatocyte Culture

Conference Key Engineering Materials · June 2005 Chitosan is considered to be a very promising biopolymer for various biomedical and pharmaceutical uses because of its nontoxic and biocompatible nature [1]. In this paper, we introduced and discussed chitosan-based biomaterials used for hepatocyte ... Full text Cite

Type IV collagenase (matrix metalloproteinase-2 and -9) in prostate cancer.

Journal Article Prostate cancer and prostatic diseases · January 2004 BackgroundThe type IV collagenases/gelatinases matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and -9 (MMP-9) play an important role in cancer invasion and metastasis. In the present study, we measured the expression of mRNAs and enzymatic activities of MMP-9 ... Full text Cite

Culture of primary rat hepatocytes within porous chitosan scaffolds.

Journal Article Journal of biomedical materials research. Part A · December 2003 Chitosan is considered to be a very promising biopolymer for various biomedical and pharmaceutical uses because of its nontoxic and biocompatible natures (Chandy T, Shama P. Biomater Artif Cells Artif Org 1990;18:1-24). In this study, we prepared porous ch ... Full text Cite

Studies on the preparation of chitosan microcarriers cross-linked by oxidized lactose and culture of primary hepatocytes.

Journal Article Artificial cells, blood substitutes, and immobilization biotechnology · August 2003 Chitosan microcarriers were prepared using oxidized lactose as a cross-linking agent which was oxidized by sodium periodate. The effect of amount of oxidized lactose on the preparation of chitosan microcarriers was studied and optimized. Rat hepatocytes cu ... Full text Cite

Culture of hepatocytes on fructose-modified chitosan scaffolds.

Journal Article Biomaterials · June 2003 Fructose was conjugated onto the inner surface of highly porous chitosan scaffold prepared by lyophilization. The modified scaffold with average pore size 50-200 microm was used to cultivate rat hepatocytes harvested by portal vein collagenase perfusion. T ... Full text Cite