![]() Dr. Liu Office Tel. 7136777505 Lab Tel. 7136777535 Email: mliu@ibt.tamhsc.edu | G-Protein SignalingMolecular PharmacologyProstate CancerBreast CancerSignaling Networks & | ![]() |
Mingyao Liu
Biography
Mingyao Liu received his B.S. and M.S. from Hunan Normal University in Hunan, China, and earned his Ph.D. in cell biology in 1992 from the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. Prior to his appointment to Assistant Professor in the IBT in 1999, He was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Maryland, and then held a research fellow position in the Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, California. He was appointed tenured Associate Professor in 2003 and Professor in 2007 in the Center for Stem Cell and Cancer Biology in the Institute of Biosciences and Technology with a joint appointment in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, College of Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center. He is also member of the Intercollegiate Faculty of Genetics, Texas A&M University, and a member of the Graduate Faculty of Biomedical Sciences (Program in Cell and Regulatory Biology and Cancer Biology) at the University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center. He is also a Consulting Director of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, East China Normal University in Shanghai, and Adjunct Professor at Hunan Normal University, Shanghai Jiaotong University Ruijing Hospital, and Wenzhou Medical College.
Research
Our laboratory studies how cells receive and process information from their chemical and physical environments under normal and disease conditions. In particular, our research interests focus on understanding the biochemical properties and cellular functions of GTP-binding proteins (small and heterotrimeric), their receptors and signaling pathways in cell growth, proliferation, and differentiation. Our current projects include: 1) G-protein coupled receptors and signaling pathways in cell growth and differentiation; 2) Biochemical properties and cellular functions of GTP-binding proteins, their regulators and effectors in normal and human disease conditions; 3) Molecular mechanisms of human stem cell differentiation. A multi-faceted approach (biochemistry, cell and molecular biology, genetics, and mouse models) is taken in our studies, with the ultimate goal of understanding the regulation of cell growth, differentiation, and proliferation.
Five Most Significant Publications Prior to 2005
Liu, M., Chen, T.-Y., Ahamed, B., Li, J. and Yau, K.-Y. (1994) Calcium-calmodulin modulation of the olfactory cyclic nucleotide-gated cation channel. Science 266: 1348-1354.
Liu, M. and Simon, M.I.(1996) Regulation by cAMP-dependent protein kinase of a G-protein mediated phospholipase C. Nature 38:, 82-87 (1996).
Xia, C., Ma, W., Stafford, L.J., Marcus, S., Xiong, W-C., and Liu, M. (2001). Regulation of the p21-activated kinase (PAK) by a novel human Gb-like WD-repeat protein, hPIP1. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 98: 6174-6179.
Stafford, L.J., Xia, C., Ma, W., Cai, Y., and Liu, M. (2002) Identification and characterization of mouse metastasis-suppressor KiSS1 and its G-protein coupled receptor. Cancer Res.62: 5399-5404.
Xia, C., Stafford, L.J., Ma, W., Cai, Y., Gong, L., Liu, C., Martin, J.F., and Liu, M. (2003) GGAPs, a new family of bifunctional GTP-binding and GTPase-activating proteins. Mol. Cell. Biol. 23: 2476-2488.
Publications 2005
Cai, Y., Stafford, L.J., Bryan B.A., Mitchell, D. and Liu, M. (2005) G-protein activated phospholipase C, new partners for cell polarity protein Par3 and Par6. Oncogene 24: 4293-300.
Bryan, B., Cai, Y., Wrighton, K., Wu, G., Feng, X.H., and Liu, M. (2005) Ubiquitination of RhoA by Smurf1 Promotes Neurite Outgrowth. FEBS Letters 579: 1015-9.
Provost, J.J., Olmschenk S.M., Metcalf A.L., Korpi N., Thronson H., Liu M., Wallert M.A. (2005) Phospholipase C-beta1 mediates alpha1-adrenergic receptor-stimulated activation of the sodium-hydrogen exchanger in Chinese hamster lung fibroblasts (CCL39). Biochem. Cell. Biol. 83: 123-132.
Bryan, B.A., Li, D., Wu, X., and Liu, M. (2005) The Rho family of small GTPases: crucial regulators of skeletal myogenesis. Cell Mol. Life Sci. 62:1547-55.
Bryan, B.A. and Liu, M. (2005) GEFT, an exchange factor for Rho GTPases. AfCS-Nature Molecule Pages, doi:10.1038/mp.a003469.01
Weng, G., Ma, W., Mitchell, D., and Liu, M. (2005) Transcriptional regulation of human prostate-specific G-protein coupled receptor (PSGR) by two distinct promoters and growth factors. J. Cell. Biochem. 96:1034-1048.
Bryan, B.A., Mitchell, M.C., Zhao, L., Ma, W., Stafford, L.J., Teng, B.B., and Liu, M. (2005) Modulation of muscle regeneration, myogenesis and adipogenesis by the Rho family guanine nucleotide exchange factor GEFT. Mol. Cell. Biol. 25:11089-11101.
Publications 2006
Weng J, Wang J, Hu X, Wang F, Ittmann M, Liu M. (2006) PSGR2, a novel G-protein coupled receptor, is overexpressed in human prostate cancer. Int. J. Cancer 118: 1471-1480 [Epub 2005 Oct 4].
Mitchell, D. C., Abdelrahim, M., Weng, J., Stafford, L.J., Safe, S., Bar-Eli, M., and Liu, M. (2006) Regulation of KiSS-1 metastasis suppressor gene expression in breast cancer. J. Biol. Chem. 281(1):51-8 [Epub 2005 Oct 27].
Cai, Y., Wu, P., Ozen, M., Yu, Y., Wang, J., Ittmann, M., and Liu, M. (2006) Gene expression profiling and analysis of signaling pathways of human neural stem cell priming and differentiation. Neuroscience 138(1):133-48 [Epub 2006 Jan 18].
Ma, W., Xia, X., Stafford, L.J., Yu, C., Wang, F., LeSage, G., and Liu, M. (2006) Expression of GCIP in transgenic mice decreases susceptibility to chemical hepatocarcinogenesis. Oncogene 25(30):4207-16 [Epub 2006 Feb 27].
Bryan, B.A., Cai, Y., and Liu, M. (2006) Rho family guanine nucleotide exchange factor GEFT enhances retinoic acid- and cAMP-induced neurite outgrowth. J. Neuroscience Res. 83 (7):1151-9.
Wang, J., Weng, J., Cai, Y., Penland, R., Liu, M., and Ittmann, M. (2006) The prostate specific G-protein coupled receptors PSGR and PSGR2 are prostate cancer biomarkers that are complementary to α-methylacyl-CoA racemase. The Prostate 66 (8):847-57.
Mitchell, D.C., Stafford, L.J., Li, D., Bar-Eli, M., and Liu, M. (2006) Transcriptional Regulation of KiSS-1 Gene Expression in Metastatic Melanoma by Specificity Protein-1 and its Coactivator DRIP-130. Oncogene 2006 Sep 11; [Epub ahead of print]
Ma, W., Stafford, L.J., Li, D., Luo, J., Li, X., Ning, G., and Liu, M. (2006) GCIP/CCNDBP1, a helix-loop-helix protein, suppresses tumorigenesis. J Cell Biochem. 2006 Nov 27; [Epub ahead of print]
Publications 2007
Hsu, Y-C., Chern, J.J., Cai, Y., Liu, M., and Choi, K.W. (2007) Drosophila Homolog of TCTP Regulates Cell Growth and Proliferation through regulation of dRheb GTPase. Nature 445 (7129), 785-788.
Li, D., Mitchell, D.C., Luo, J., Yi, Z., Cho, S.-G., Li, X., Ning, G., Wu, X., and Liu, M. 2007. Estrogen regulates KiSS1 gene expression through estrogen receptor a and SP protein complexes. Endocrinology 2007 Jul 26; [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 17656465
Mitchell, D.C., Bryan, B.A., Liu, J.P., Liu, W.B., Zhou, X., Qu, J., Hurwitz, R., Liu, M., and Li, D.W. 2007. Differential Expression of Rho family of GTPases during mouse eye development. Molecular Vision 13:1144-53.
Kunnumakkara, A.B., Nair, A.S., Ahn, K.S., Pandey, M.K., Yi, Z.F., Liu, M., and Aggarwal, B.B. 2007. Gossypin, a pentahydroxy glucosyl flavone, inhibits the transforming growth factor beta-activated kinase-1 mediated NF-kB activation pathway, leading to potentiation of apoptosis, suppression of invasion, and abrogation of osteoclastogenesis. Blood 109 (12):5112-21. Epub 2007 Mar 1
Shi, H.Y., Stafford, L.J., Liu, Z., Liu, M., and Zhang, M. (2007) Maspin controls mammary tumor cell migration through inhibiting Rac1 and Cdc42, but not RhoA GTPase. Cell Motility and Cytoskeleton 64 (5):338-46. [Epub 2007 Feb 14]. PMID: 17301947
Wrighton, K.H., Liang, M., Bryan, B.A., Luo, K., Liu, M., Feng, X.H., and Lin, X. (2007) TGF-beta-independent regulation of myogenesis by SnoN sumoylation. J. Biol. Chem. 282(9):6517-24. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 17202138
Ma, W., Stafford, J.L., Li, D., Luo, J., Li, X., Ning, G., and Liu, M. 2007. GCIP/CCNDBP1, a helix-loop-helix leucine-zip protein, suppresses tumorigenesis. Journal of Cell. Biochem 100 (6):1376-86.
Mitchell, D.C., Stafford, L.J., Li, D., Bar-Eli, M., and Liu, M. 2007. Transcriptional Regulation of KiSS-1 Gene Expression in Metastatic Melanoma by Specificity Protein-1 and its Coactivator DRIP-130. Oncogene 26 (12):1739-47.



