My work has used the liver to study cell death and cell survival. Our work in the last decade has been focused on autophagy, an evolutionarily conserved cellular process that degrade macromolecules through lysosomes for recycling nutrients, removing detrimental and damaged organelles. In cancer related area, we found that inhibiting autophagy in the liver promote liver tumor development, which is also promoted by a HMGB1-mediated pathway and a SASP-mediated inflammation pathways. In animal model of cancer therapy, we have shown that combined suppression of autophagy and proteasome give rise to the best effect in controlling tumor growth. In particular, we have identified that Atg4 inhibitors that have potent anti-tumor effects with other agents. Collaborative works showed that this is most relevant for the glioblastoma treatment. Although my current works are not supported by a NCI grants, they are supported by other NIH grants.
