Xizhi Guo, PhD, Dr. Keith Landesman Memorial Fellow Brigham & Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School Area of Research: Lung Cancer Cells in our body normally proliferate and function to support our daily needs, but as they accumulate mutations as a result of damage or aging, they can enter a state called senescence in which all the cellular functions can be shut down to prevent cancer development. Among three main regulators of senescence, GATA4 is unique in governing cellular protein production, which can further change the local tissue environment. While Dr. Guo has found that GATA4 can restrain tumor growth by modulating immune responses, the underlying mechanism and molecules involved remain unknown. Therefore, he proposes to study the role of GATA4 in mediating immune responses during the development of lung cancer. Specifically, Guo will define the immune responses and how cancer cells change during lung tumor development, and explore the molecules that are critical for GATA4 activation as well as those directly affected by GATA4. The findings from this study will contribute to a comprehensive understanding of immune responses during lung tumor development, how they are modulated by senescence, and help to identify the regulators and targets of GATA4. Overall, these insights could help improve immunotherapy for lung cancer and potentially other types of cancer, too. Projects and Grants Investigating the Role of GATA4 in Immune Modulation During Lung Tumorigenesis Brigham and Women’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School | Lung Cancer | 2020 | Stephen J. Elledge, PhD
