KuanHui Ethan Chen, PhD
Email: kuachen@ttu.edu
Cancer Research Interests: Breast cancer, cancer stem cells, tumor immunology, tumor endocrinology, obesity
Biography
Despite great strides being achieved recently in improving cancer patient prognosis and survival, hurdles still remain due to the presence of Tumor Stem Cells (TSCs). TSCs are rare immortal tumor cells exhibiting self-renewal properties as the normal stem cells and therefore having the ability to infinitely give rise to the bulk of a tumor as the "seed" of the cancer. TSCs are found in various types of human tumors. They are responsible for tumor metastasis and are equipped with various resistance mechanisms against most conventional tumor treatments. Thus, targeting and eliminating TSCs would hold great promises to tackle down the disease. We specifically study
—the molecular mechanism(s) how TSCs escape immune surveillance. This may include hormonal regulation, cytokine secretion, metabolic alteration and small RNA interference
—identification of novel therapeutic targets via omics data search
—sex differences in immune responses/development and its relevance to tumor immunity
See full biography on the Department of Biological Sciences website.