---- Gynecological Oncology
A. Introduction of the Team:
After many years of construction, the team has a rational academic echelon, with 90% of its members holding Ph.D., and most of the academic elites have studied or studied abroad. Through optimized combination and innovation, the team has been awarded the title of “innovation team of the Ministry of Education” in 2008. With the improvement of the laboratory hardware facilities, 18 million yuan has been invested in the construction of laboratory in the nearly past five years, of which 16 million yuan for the acquisition of laboratory equipment. Gynecologic Oncology Laboratory was approved as "Key Laboratory of Tumor Invasion and Metastasis in Hubei Province" in 2007 and passed the acceptance test by the Ministry of Education in 2013. It has won the "Key Laboratory of Tumor Invasion and Migration" issued by the Ministry of Education.
Academic leader: Prof. Dr. Ding Ma, newly-elected academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Chairmen of Department Obstetrics and Gynecology of Tongji Hospital, who has engaged in clinical practice and research for 30+ years and grown into a top specialist in diagnosis and treatment of gynecological tumors and gynecological diseases. He performed more than 10,000 operations with remarkable expertise in gynecological, minimally invasive and robotic surgery. Meanwhile, he has made outstanding contribution to preventing malignant neoplasms and containment of tumor metastasis: 1) unique achievements in improving treatment strategy of cervical cancer patients by combining systematic neoadjuvant chemotherapy and improved operative techniques to preserve female genital organs and functions. 2) first uncovered the susceptibility loci for cervical cancer and human papillomavirus (HPV) integration site. His team built an early alert model and new strategy of prevention and treatment of cervical cancer, in the aim to effectively improving the level of our national clinical care for cervical cancer. 3) first identified a short synthetic peptides targeting and eliminating the micrometastatic loci in the world. He insisted on transferring results from basic researches into the clinical applications. TMTP1, a labeled targeting peptide has been used in clinical diagnosis. “Adenovirus Thymidine Kinase (ADV-TK) Gene Therapy”, an innovative drug, has been completed successfully, then entering phase III clinical trial.
Team Members:
Prof. WANG Shixuan, PhD supervisor, deputy director of the Department of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the director of Gynecology Department at the Union Hospital; the deputy director of the Chinese National Center for Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Key Laboratory for Invasion and Metastasis of Tumor funded and administered by the Chinese Education Ministry and Hubei Provincial Government.
Prof. WANG Hui, Changjiang Scholars and Distinguished Professor of the Chinese Education Ministry, PhD supervisor, post-doctoral fellow of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Zhejiang University in cancer research. Prof. WANG has won 4 National Natural Science Fund Projects and one research project of the “973-Program”, with primary research involves screening of the pathogenesis and precancerous lesions of cervical cancer. In recent 5 years he has published 24 research papers in SCI-Journals like Nature Genetics, J Clin Invest and Cancer Res. In 2014 he won the 1st prize of Award for Scientific and Technological Progress in Hubei Province.
Prof. GAO Qinglei, Professor, PhD supervisor, American post-doctoral fellow. She is also the winner of 4 National Natural Science Funds, one of the academic experts from the Expert Database of the Chinese National Precision Medicine. Her doctoral thesis was nominated as the “Chinese National Best 100 Doctoral Theses”. She has published 100 papers, among which 50 papers are SCI-Journal articles, both at home and abroad.
Prof. CHEN Gang, the deputy director of the Clinic for Gynecological Oncology, 20+ years working experience. As PI of the Key Laboratory for Invasion and Metastasis of Tumor funded and administered by the Chinese Education Ministry and the government of Hubei Province, Prof. CHEN focuses on the research of carcinogenesis and metastasis, molecular mechanisms of drug-resistance and clinical Translation of ovarian carcinoma. In recent 5 years he published 20+ papers in SCI-Journals like JNCI，Oncotarget and so on.
Prof. WU Peng, deputy director of the Clinic for Gynecological Oncology. From July 2014 to October 2017 he worked at the Center for Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer of the University of Virginia Medical School as visiting scholar. Back at home his major research focuses on the persistent infection of HPV in the pathogenic mechanism of cervical cancer. In recent 5 years he published about 10 papers in SCI-Journals like Cell Death & differentiation and Cell death &disease and won 4 major awards at the national and the ministerial or provincial level. Besides, he’s also the reviewer or editor of Science Journals like Oncotarget, Scientific Report, Tumor biology, Gynecologic Oncology and so on.
B. Main research areas
Mechanism of tumor metastasis and targeted therapy, the pathogenesis of high-risk HPV-induced cervical cancer and its precancerous lesions screening, early intervention of cervical cancer and ovarian cancer’s molecular typing.
C. Background and Significance
According to "National Medium and Long-term Scientific and Technological Development Plan (2006-2020)", “population and health” has been determined to be the key field nationally. Gynecologic and obstetric diseases are deeply intertwined with the national economy, the people's livelihood and even the key issue of the quality of the population. In view of a lack of a standardized and sound diagnosis & treatment system and early warning & intervention mechanisms in the field of gynecologic and obstetric diseases in our country, meeting the ever-increasing and urgent clinical needs has become an important direction for the development of this field in the new century.
The comprehensive strength of the team ranks the top 3 among many similar institutions for many years and our team is one of the most influential academic team in China due to a series of landmark achievements below: ① in cervical cancer research, the secret of Han Chinese women cervical cancer’s gene codes has been disclosed for the first time as a result of the discovery of its susceptibility loci and HPV integration sites, and many articles about it were published in Nature Genetics by the first author or Corresponding author. Simultaneously, a new integration site of cervical cancer was identified and genetic editing tools were used to reverse persistent HPV infection and precancerous lesions successfully based on the previous findings. Relevant research results were published in Nature Genetics, JCI et al. International authoritative journals, the use of zinc finger ribozyme vaginal suppository has passed the hospital ethical approval, and we also successfully registered it for international clinical trials, and it has achieved good clinical efficacy in patients with cervical precancerous lesions. ②in the field of ovarian cancer, an ultrasound image recognition system was developed for ovarian cancer with artificial intelligence recognition and reaped fruitful results in the early diagnosis and immunotherapy of ovarian cancer. ③ in the area of tumor metastasis, the team synthesized the first specific targeted peptide which can recognize and eradicate the micro-metastasis, which won 7 national invention patents and with China's independent intellectual property rights, anticancer drug "recombinant adenovirus - thymidine kinase gene preparation" has proceeded into the phase III clinical trials. ④ resort to "invasion and metastasis of the Ministry of Education Key Laboratory" of Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, the team has become one of the most prominent supporting strengths in this discipline.
D. Major Scientific Findings
1. Biological characteristics of cervical cancer research and establishment & application of early prevention & treatment of cervical cancer 2010 (second prize of national science and technology progress prize).
2. The mechanisms of the progression of ovarian cancer and the research & application of its repression strategies 2011 (second prize of national science and technology progress prize).
3. The application of molecular target therapy of tumor metastasis 2012 (second prize of national science and technology progress prize).
4. New features of cervical cancer and the application of the new strategies of clinical diagnosis & treatment 2014 (first prize of Hubei Science and Technology Progress Award).
E. Achievement and Awards
In the recent five years, the team of gynecologic oncology led by Professor Ma has been responsible for 1 project (chief unit) of 973 National Projects, 2 projects of National 863 Projects, and ￥30+ million funded by NSFC, 2 projects of the National Outstanding Youth Funds and 2 projects of Overseas Youth Cooperation (Outstanding Youth Fund B), 15 projects of National NSFC and 39 provincial or ministerial projects. 739 papers and 18 monographs were published in domestic and foreign core journals. 5. long-term close academic collaboration with United States Texas Southwestern Medical Center, MD Anderson Cancer Center, New York Cornell University, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Philadelphia Children's Hospital Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Germany Essen University, University of Oxford and Switzerland Basel University etc.
Team Contact: Dr. SUN Wenjun, 200807483@qq.com
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