Professor

Tel: 86-27-68750185

E-mail:cheguo_cai@whu.edu.cn

Research Fields

1. Identification and functional study of critical stemness genes in mammary stem cells

2. Study on the crosstalk between mammary epithelium cells and stromal cells

3. Discovery of novel therapeutic targets and new therapeutic strategies for breast cancer

Education

2007 – 2010: Ph.D. Institute Pasteur of Shanghai, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China. Supervisor: Paul Zhou

2002 – 2005: M.S. School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

1998 – 2002: B.S. School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

Employment

2017.02 – Present: Principle Investigator/Professor, Medical Reseach Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, CHINA

2015 – 2016: Associate Professor, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences

2012 – 2014: Postdoctoral fellow, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences

2010 – 2011: Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Medicine, Tulane Health Sciences Center, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

Funding

2012/01-2015/12: China Postdoctoral Science Foundation.

2013/01-2015/12: National Natural Science Foundation of China for The Youth.

2017/01-2020/12: General Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China.

2019/01-2022/12: General Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China.

2019/10-2024/09: National key research and development program of Ministry of science and technology

Selected publications

1．Cai C, Geng A, Wang M, Yang L, Yu QC, Zeng YA. Amphiregulin mediates the hormonal regulation on Rspondin-1 expression in the mammary gland. Dev Biol. 2019 Oct 11. pii: S0012-1606(19)30232-5.

2．Wang D, Hu X, Liu C, Jia Y, Bai Y, Cai C, Wang J, Bai L, Yang R, Lin C, Liu YR, Li S, Qiao F, Yao L, Chen L, Ge G, Jiang H, Li D, Li L, Chen J, Shao ZM, Zeng YA. Protein C receptor is a therapeutic stem cell target in a distinct group of breast cancers. Cell Res. 2019 Oct; 29(10):832-845.

3．Qin Y, Qin ZD, Chen J, Cai C, Li L, Feng LY, Wang Z, Duns GJ, He NY, Chen ZS, Luo XF. From Antimicrobial to Anticancer Peptides: The Transformation of Peptides. Recent Pat Anticancer Drug Discov. 2019;14(1):70-84.

4．Zhang R, Ma H, Gao Y, Wu Y, Qiao Y, Geng A, Cai C, Han Y, Zeng YA, Liu X, Ge G.Th-POK regulates mammary gland lactation through mTOR-SREBP pathway. PLoS Genet. 2018 Feb 8;14(2): e1007211.

5．Wang L, Wang R, Ye Z, Wang Y, Li X, Chen W, Zhang M, Cai C*. PVT1 affects EMT and cell proliferation and migration via regulating p21 in triple-negative breast cancer cells cultured with mature adipogenic medium. Acta Biochim Biophys Sin. 2018 Dec 1;50(12):1211-1218.

6．Cai C⁺, Zeng L⁺, Li S, Wang W, Li Y, Chen J, Zhu X, and Zeng YA. Essential roles of Cyclin Y-like 1 and Cyclin Y in dividing Wnt responsive mammary stem/progenitor cells. PLoS Genetics. 2016 May 20; 12(5): e1006055. (⁺ Co-First Author)

7．Wang D⁺, Cai C⁺, Dong X, Yu QC, Zhang XO, Yang L, Zeng YA. Identification of Multipotent Mammary Stem Cells by Protein C Receptor Expression. Nature. 2015 Jan 1; 517(7532):81-4. (⁺Co-First Author)

8．Cai C, Yu QC, Jiang W, Liu W, Song W, Yu H, Zhang L, Yang Y, Zeng YA. R-spondin1 is a novel hormone mediator for mammary stem cell self-renewal. Genes Dev. 2014 Sep 26; 28: 2205–2218