Wen-Shu Wu , Ph.D.

Stem and Progenitor Cell Biology Program
Center for Molecular Medicine
Maine Medical Center Research Institute
Scarborough, ME 04074
(207) 885 8139 (office)
(207) 885-8179 (fax)
wuw@mmc.org

Biosketch

Dr. Wen-Shu Wu is a principal investigator in the Stem and Progenitor Cell Biology Program of Center for Molecular Medicine at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute.  He received his Ph.D. degree in cancer biology from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX in 2001.  He pursued his postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Thomas Look at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School and while he was an instructor at Harvard Medical School.  He joined Maine Medical Center Research Institute as an investigator in 2006.

Research Interests

The major research interests of my laboratory are stem cell and cancer biology. These include: 1) Regulation of proliferation, differentiation, and lineage commitment of normal hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) under homeostatic conditions and under conditions of stress; 2) Novel strategies to ameliorate the side effects of cancer therapy on hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in vivo. 3) Signaling network for lineage-specific differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) cells and iPS cells; 4) Novel technologies for generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells); 5) Role of SNAIL families in regulation of mammary gland development, self-renewal of mammary gland stem cells and breast cancer stem cells, and cancer metastasis.

Selected Publications

Shao L, Wu WS*. Gene-delivery systems for iPS cell generation. Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy. 2010, 10 (2):231-242.

Lijian Shao, Wei Feng, Yan Sun, Hao Bai, Jun Liu, Caroline Currie, Jaejung Kim, Rafael Gama,  Zack Wang, Zhijian Qian, Lucy Liaw, and Wen-Shu Wu*. Generation of iPS Cells Using Defined Factors linked Via the Self-Cleaving 2A sequences in a Single Open Reading Frame. Cell Research, Vol. 19, NO. 3, 296-306, 2009

Bai H, Gao Y, Arzigian M, Wojchowski D, Wu WS, Wang Zack. BMP4 regulates vascular progenitor development in human embryonic stem cells through a Smad-dependent pathway. Journal of Cellular Biochemistry. Accepted. 9 October 2009

Yan Sun, Lijian Shao, Hao Bai, Zack Wang, and Wen-Shu Wu*. Slug deficiency enhances self-renewal of hematopoietic stem cells during hematopoietic regeneration. BLOOD. (prepublished online December 23, 2009; DOI 10.1182/blood-2009-07-232934)

Liu T.X., Becker M.W., Wu W.S., Deng M., Jelinek J., Hsu K., Bloomfield C.D., Stone R.M., DeAngelo D.J., Issa J.P., Erba H.P., Clarke M.F., Look A.T., del(5q) and epigenetic suppression of α-catenin (CTNNA1) expression in myeloid leukemia.  Nature Medicine  1:78-83, 2006.

Wu W.S., Heinrichs S., Xu D., Garrison S.P., Zambetti G.P., Adams J.M., Look A.T. Slug Antagonizes p53-Mediated Apoptosis of Hematopoietic Progenitors by Repressing Puma.  Cell 123:641-653, 2005.

The Cover:  "Slug Represses Puma to Antagonize Apoptosis" Cell, Nov.18, 2005.

Previews:  "Slugging It out: Fine Tuning the p53-PUMA Death Connection" Cell, 123, 545-548, 2005.   

Research Highlights:  "Slug beats Puma"  Nature, Vol. 438, 398-399, 2005.

Research Highlights:"Taming Puma"  Nature Reviews Cancer, Vol. 6, 1, 2006.

News and Reports:  "Slug ging It Out Until the End" Hematologist, Vol. 3, 7, 2006.

News and Commentary:   "Clues from worms: a Slug at Puma promotes the survival of blood progenitors" Cell Death and Differentiation 1–3, 2006.

Inukai T., Inaba T., Dang J., Kuribara R., Ozawa K., Miyajima A., Wu W.S., Look A.T., Arinobu Y., Iwasaki H., Akashi K., Kagami K., Goi K., Sugita K., Nakazawa S. TEF, an antiapoptotic bZIP transcription factor related to the oncogenic E2A-HLF chimera, inhibits cell growth by down-regulating expression of the common beta chain of cytokine receptors.  Blood 105:4437-4444, 2005.

Wu W.S., Xu Z.X., Hittelman W.N., Salomoni P., Pandolfi P.P., Chang K.S.  Promyelocytic Leukemia Protein Sensitizes Tumor Necrosis Factor a-Induced Apoptosis by Inhibiting the NF-kB Survival Pathway.  J. Biol. Chem.  278:12294-12304, 2003.

McClain K.L., Laud P., Wu W.S., Pollack M.S.  Langerhans cell histiocytosis patients have HLA Cw7 and DR4 types associated with specific clinical presentations and no increased frequency in polymorphisms of the tumor necrosis factor alpha promoter. Medical Pediatric Oncology  41:502-507, 2003.

Wu W.S., Xu Z.X., Ran R.G., Meng F., Chang K.S.  Promyelocytic Leukemia Protein PML Inhibits Nur77-mediated Transactivation Through Specific Function Interaction.  Oncogene  21:3925-3933, 2002.

Wu W.S., Xu Z.X., Chang K.S. The Promyelocytic Leukemia Protein Represses A20 mediated Transcription.  J. Biol. Chem.  27:31734-31739, 2002.

Inoue A., Seidel M.G., Wu W.S., Kamizono S., Ferrando A.A., Bronson R.T., Iwasaki H., Akashi K., Morimoto A., Hitzler J.K., Pestina T.I., Jackson C.W., Tanaka R., Chong M.J., McKinnon P.J., Inukai T., Grosveld G.C., Look T.A. S lug, a highly Conserved Zinc Finger Transcriptional Repressor, Protects Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells from Radiation-induced Apoptosis in vivo.  Cancer Cell 2:279-288, 2002.

Comment on: “SLUGging away at cell death” Cancer Cell, Vol. 2, 249-251, 2002

Wu W.S., Vallian S., Seto E., Yang W.M., Edmondson D., Roth S., Chang K.S.  The Growth Suppressor PML Represses Transcription by Functionally and Physically Interacting with Histone Deacetyases.  Molecular and Cellular Biology  21:2259-2268, 2001.

Wu W.S., McClain K.L.  DNA Polymorphisms and Mutations of the Tumor Necrosis Factor-a Promoter in Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH).  J. Interferon and Cytokine Research  17:631-635, 1997.

Lab Photo

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