Jinsong Liu, M.D., Ph.D., M.A.
Department of Pathology, Division of Pathology-Lab Medicine Div
About Dr. Liu
I have been an active member of MD Anderson’s world-renowned gynecologic diagnostic pathology team and contributed to multidisciplinary care of patients with gynecologic cancer since 1999. As an investigator, I have extensive experience in ovarian cancer research as demonstrated by >250 publications. My laboratory generated the first genetically defined model from transformed human ovarian epithelial cells, and we were among the first to define the key autocrine and paracrine mechanisms between epithelial cells and senescent stromal cells for ovarian cancer progression. More recently, my laboratory has made the surprising finding that polyploid giant cancer cells (PGCCs), generally believed to be non-dividing senescent cancer cells, can dedifferentiate into blastomere-like cancer stem cells, the earliest stage of embryonic development. The reprogramming is achieved via a novel cellular mechanism we term the giant cell cycle. PGCCs represent the most archaic cancer stem cells reported to date. I was principal investigator (PI) of a NIH-funded R01 grant and am co-investigator of several other NIH grants related to ovarian cancer. I am also co-PI of the tissue pathology core for MD Anderson’s SPORE in ovarian cancer and PI of multi-investigator grants from the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas. I also direct the core resource for patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) for ovarian cancer and have established a cohort of more than 40 ovarian cancer PDX models and are in the process to develop organoids from each model and primary cancer. The overall goal of this proposal is to understand the molecular mechanisms regulating the growth and division of PGCCs and identify combinations of novel therapeutic agents to block PGCC growth and division in synergy with paclitaxel in ovarian PDX models. I have successfully administrated a productive research group for the past 18 years, and have collaborated with many investigators. In summary, I have a strong background in pathology and a productive research program in ovarian cancer. Together with our co-investigators, our team has all of the expertise needed to successfully carry out the proposed work.
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Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Professor with Tenure, Department of Pathology/Laboratory Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 1990 | Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA, PHD, Biochemistry |
| 1987 | Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA, MA, Biology |
| 1983 | Shanghai Medical University, Shanghai, CHN, MD, Medicine |
Postgraduate Training
| 1998-1999 | Fellow in Surgical Pathology, New York University Medical Center, New York, NY |
| 1994-1999 | Resident in Pathology, New York University Medical Center, New York, NY |
| 1991-1993 | Post-doctoral Fellow, Howard Hughes Medical Inst, Bio.Chemistry & Internal Med The University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, MI |
Experience & Service
Other Appointments/Responsibilities
Director, Ovarian Cancer Tissue Pathology, Houston, TX, 2019 - Present
Member, Junior Faculty Mentorship Committee, Houston, 2014 - Present
Member, Veterinary Pathology Chair Search Committee, Houston, 2013 - Present
Honors & Awards
| 2004 | American's Top Physician, "Guide to America's Top Physician", Consumer's Research Council of America |
| 2001 | Incentive Salary Awards, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center |
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Liu J. Giant cells: Linking McClintock's heredity to early embryogenesis and tumor origin throughout millennia of evolution on Earth. Semin Cancer Biol 81:176-192, 2022. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34116161.
- Liu J, Niu N, Li X, Zhang X, Sood AK. The life cycle of polyploid giant cancer cells and dormancy in cancer: Opportunities for novel therapeutic interventions. Semin Cancer Biol 81:132-144, 2022. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34670140.
- Liu J, Erenpreisa J, Sikora E. Polyploid giant cancer cells: An emerging new field of cancer biology. Semin Cancer Biol 81:1-4, 2022. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34695579.
- Stur E, Corvigno S, Xu M, Chen K, Tan Y, Lee S, Liu J, Ricco E, Kraushaar D, Castro P, Zhang J, Sood AK. Spatially resolved transcriptomics of high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma. iScience 25(3):103923, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35252817.
- Wen Y, Chelariu-Raicu A, Umamaheswaran S, Nick AM, Stur E, Hanjra P, Jiang D, Jennings NB, Chen X, Corvigno S, Glassman D, Lopez-Berestein G, Liu J, Hung MC, Sood AK. Endothelial p130cas confers resistance to anti-angiogenesis therapy. Cell Rep 38(4):110301, 2022. PMID: 35081345.
- Westin SN, Labrie M, Litton JK, Blucher A, Fang Y, Vellano CP, Marszalek JR, Feng N, Ma X, Creason A, Fellman B, Yuan Y, Lee S, Kim TB, Liu J, Chelariu-Raicu A, Chen TH, Kabil N, Soliman PT, Frumovitz M, Schmeler KM, Jazaeri A, Lu KH, Murthy R, Meyer LA, Sun CC, Sood AK, Coleman RL, Mills GB. Phase Ib Dose Expansion and Translational Analyses of Olaparib in Combination with Capivasertib in Recurrent Endometrial, Triple-Negative Breast, and Ovarian Cancer. Clin Cancer Res 27(23):6354-6365, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34518313.
- Yang J, Antin P, Berx G, Blanpain C, Brabletz T, Bronner M, Campbell K, Cano A, Casanova J, Christofori G, Dedhar S, Derynck R, Ford HL, Fuxe J, García de Herreros A, Goodall GJ, Hadjantonakis AK, Huang RYJ, Kalcheim C, Kalluri R, Kang Y, Khew-Goodall Y, Levine H, Liu J, Longmore GD, Mani SA, Massagué J, Mayor R, McClay D, Mostov KE, Newgreen DF, Nieto MA, Puisieux A, Runyan R, Savagner P, Stanger B, Stemmler MP, Takahashi Y, Takeichi M, Theveneau E, Thiery JP, Thompson EW, Weinberg RA, Williams ED, Xing J, Zhou BP, Sheng G, EMT International Association (TEMTIA). Author Correction: Guidelines and definitions for research on epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 22(12):834, 2021. PMID: 34654908.
- Corvigno S, Burks JK, Hu W, Zhong Y, Jennings NB, Fleming ND, Westin SN, Fellman B, Liu J, Sood AK. Immune microenvironment composition in high-grade serous ovarian cancersbased on BRCA mutational status. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol, 2021. PMID: 34476576.
- Niu N, Yao J, Bast RC, Sood AK, Liu J. IL-6 promotes drug resistance through formation of polyploid giant cancer cells and stromal fibroblast reprogramming. Oncogenesis 10(9):65, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34588424.
- Niu N, Shen W, Zhong Y, Bast RC, Jazaeri A, Sood AK, Liu J. Expression of B7-H4 and IDO1 is associated with drug resistance and poor prognosis in high-grade serous ovarian carcinomas. Hum Pathol 113:20-27, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33887301.
- Katayama H, Kobayashi M, Irajizad E, Sevillarno A, Patel N, Mao X, Rusling L, Vykoukal J, Cai Y, Hsiao F, Yu CY, Long J, Liu J, Esteva F, Fahrmann J, Hanash S. Protein citrullination as a source of cancer neoantigens. J Immunother Cancer 9(6), 2021. PMID: 34112737.
- Lei G, Zhang Y, Hong T, Zhang X, Liu X, Mao C, Yan Y, Koppula P, Cheng W, Sood AK, Liu J, Gan B. Ferroptosis as a mechanism to mediate p53 function in tumor radiosensitivity. Oncogene 40(20):3533-3547, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33927351.
- Ai D, Yao J, Yang F, Huo L, Chen H, Lu W, Soto LMS, Jiang M, Raso MG, Wang S, Bell D, Liu J, Wang H, Tan D, Torres-Cabala C, Gan Q, Wu Y, Albarracin C, Hung MC, Meric-Bernstam F, Wistuba II, Prieto VG, Sahin AA, Ding Q. TRPS1: a highly sensitive and specific marker for breast carcinoma, especially for triple-negative breast cancer. Mod Pathol 34(4):710-719, 2021. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33011748.
- Ma S, McGuire MH, Mangala LS, Lee S, Stur E, Hu W, Bayraktar E, Villar-Prados A, Ivan C, Wu SY, Yokoi A, Dasari SK, Jennings NB, Liu J, Lopez-Berestein G, Ram P, Sood AK. Gain-of-function p53 protein transferred via small extracellular vesicles promotes conversion of fibroblasts to a cancer-associated phenotype. Cell Rep 34(6):108726, 2021. PMID: 33567287.
- Zhong Y, Liu J, Li X, Westin SN, Malpica A, Lawson BC, Lee S, Fellman BM, Coleman RL, Sood AK, Fleming ND. A Modified 2 Tier Chemotherapy Response Score (CRS) and Other Histopathologic Features for Predicting Outcomes of Patients with Advanced Extrauterine High-Grade Serous Carcinoma after Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy. Cancers (Basel) 13(4), 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33572451.
- Zhang S, Lu Z, Mao W, Ahmed AA, Yang H, Zhou J, Jennings N, Rodriguez-Aguayo C, Lopez-Berestein G, Miranda R, Qiao W, Baladandayuthapani V, Li Z, Sood AK, Liu J, Le XF, Bast RC. CDK5 Regulates Paclitaxel Sensitivity in Ovarian Cancer Cells by Modulating AKT Activation, p21Cip1- and p27Kip1-Mediated G1 Cell Cycle Arrest and Apoptosis. PLoS One 10(7):e0131833, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26146988.
- Haria D, Trinh BQ, Ko SY, Barengo N, Liu J, Naora H. The Homeoprotein DLX4 Stimulates NF-κB Activation and CD44-Mediated Tumor-Mesothelial Cell Interactions in Ovarian Cancer. Am J Pathol. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26067154.
- Caruso JA, Karakas C, Zhang J, Yi M, Albarracin C, Sahin A, Bondy M, Liu J, Hunt KK, Keyomarsi K. Erratum to: Elafin is downregulated during breast and ovarian tumorigenesis but its residual expression predicts recurrence. Breast Cancer Res 17(1):87, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26108797.
- Sun Y, Hu L, Zheng H, Bagnoli M, Guo Y, Rupaimoole R, Rodriguez-Aguayo C, Lopez-Berestein G, Ji P, Chen K, Sood AK, Mezzanzanica D, Liu J, Sun B, Zhang W. MiR-506 inhibits multiple targets in the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition network and is associated with good prognosis in epithelial ovarian cancer. J Pathol 235(1):25-36, 2015. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 25230372.
- Dong R, Liu X, Zhang Q, Jiang Z, Li Y, Wei Y, Li Y, Yang Q, Liu J, Wei JJ, Shao C, Liu Z, Kong B. miR-145 inhibits tumor growth and metastasis by targeting metadherin in high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma. Oncotarget 5(21):10816-29, 2014. PMID: 25333261.
- Hu W, Liu T, Ivan C, Sun Y, Huang J, Mangala LS, Miyake T, Dalton HJ, Pradeep S, Rupaimoole R, Previs RA, Han HD, Bottsford-Miller J, Zand B, Kang Y, Pecot CV, Nick AM, Wu SY, Lee JS, Sehgal V, Ram P, Liu J, Tucker SL, Lopez-Berestein G, Baggerly KA, Coleman RL, Sood AK. Notch3 pathway alterations in ovarian cancer. Cancer Res 74(12):3282-93, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24743243.
- Wen Y, Zand B, Ozpolat B, Szczepanski MJ, Lu C, Yuca E, Carroll AR, Alpay N, Bartholomeusz C, Tekedereli I, Kang Y, Rupaimoole R, Pecot CV, Dalton HJ, Hernandez A, Lokshin A, Lutgendorf SK, Liu J, Hittelman WN, Chen WY, Lopez-Berestein G, Szajnik M, Ueno NT, Coleman RL, Sood AK. Antagonism of tumoral prolactin receptor promotes autophagy-related cell death. Cell Rep 7(2):488-500, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24703838.
- Zhang S, Mercado-Uribe I, Liu J. Tumor stroma and differentiated cancer cells can be originated directly from polyploid giant cancer cells induced by paclitaxel. Int J Cancer 134(3):508-18, 2014. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 23754740.
- Zhang S, Mercado-Uribe I, Xing Z, Sun B, Kuang J, Liu J. Generation of cancer stem-like cells through the formation of polyploid giant cancer cells. Oncogene 33(1):116-28, 2014. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 23524583.
- Wu SY, Yang X, Gharpure KM, Hatakeyama H, Egli M, McGuire MH, Nagaraja AS, Miyake TM, Rupaimoole R, Pecot CV, Taylor M, Pradeep S, Sierant M, Rodriguez-Aguayo C, Choi HJ, Previs RA, Armaiz-Pena GN, Huang L, Martinez C, Hassell T, Ivan C, Sehgal V, Singhania R, Han HD, Su C, Kim JH, Dalton HJ, Kovvali C, Keyomarsi K, McMillan NA, Overwijk WW, Liu J, Lee JS, Baggerly KA, Lopez-Berestein G, Ram PT, Nawrot B, Sood AK. 2'-OMe-phosphorodithioate-modified siRNAs show increased loading into the RISC complex and enhanced anti-tumour activity. Nat Commun 5:3459, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24619206.
- Leung CS, Yeung TL, Yip KP, Pradeep S, Balasubramanian L, Liu J, Wong KK, Mangala LS, Armaiz-Pena GN, Lopez-Berestein G, Sood AK, Birrer MJ, Mok SC. Calcium-dependent FAK/CREB/TNNC1 signalling mediates the effect of stromal MFAP5 on ovarian cancer metastatic potential. Nat Commun 5:5092, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 25277212.
- Huang J, Zhang J, Li H, Lu Z, Shan W, Mercado-Uribe I, Liu J. VCAM1 expression correlated with tumorigenesis and poor prognosis in high grade serous ovarian cancer. Am J Transl Res 5(3):336-46, 2013. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 23634244.
- Zhang S, Mercado-Uribe I, Hanash S, Liu J. iTRAQ-based proteomic analysis of polyploid giant cancer cells and budding progeny cells reveals several distinct pathways for ovarian cancer development. PLoS One 8(11):e80120, 2013. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 24348907.
Grant & Contract Support
| Title: | Project 1, Early detection of human ovarian cancer. Specialized Program in Research Excellence (SPORE) in Ovarian Cancer |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Tissue Pathology Core. Specialized Program in Research Excellence (SPORE) in Ovarian Cancer |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Ras signaling, senescent fibroblasts, and ovarian cancer progression |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | |
| Funding Source: | Subcontract to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Program Project |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Role of BRCA1 and telemerase activation in the progession of breast cancer and clinical application |
| Funding Source: | Department of Defense (DOD) |
| Role: | Sponser and Mentor |
| Title: | Novel CTD inhibitors with synthetic lethality to oncogenic Ras for cancer therapy |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Tissue Pathology Core, Specialized Program in Research Excellence (SPORE) in Ovarian Cancer (PC-C2), Tissue Pathology Core |
| Funding Source: | The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Center for Systems Analysis of the Cancer Regulome |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Tissue Pathology Core, Personalized Enhancement of Primary Ovarian Cancer Chemotherapy |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Multifuctional roles of homeobox gene D LX4 in ovarian cancer |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Role of Hox Gene in Ovarian Neoplasia |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NIC |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | AHRI (DIRAS3) In Autophagy and Dormancy of Ovarian Cancer |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NIC |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Mechanisms and targeting strategies for SWI/SNF mutations in cancer |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer with Tumor Associated Proteins and Autoantibodies |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Establishment and Clinical of Ovarian patient-Derived Xenografts |
| Funding Source: | The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Moonshot |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Evaluate the effects of Durvalumab and Pembrolizumab in combination with chemotherapy |
| Funding Source: | UTMDACC Moonshot (CCCT) (IMT) |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Immune profile changes in Ovarian Cancer Associated with Estrogen Dominance |
| Funding Source: | UTMDACC IRG |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Systems approach for PARP-based novel combination therapy in ovarian cancer |
| Funding Source: | Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance |
| Role: | Collaborator |
| Title: | Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer with Tumor Associated Proteins and Autoantibodies |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) |
| Role: | Collaborator |
| Title: | Mass Spectrometry Imaging to Uncover Predictive Metabolic Markers of Ovarian Cancer Surgical Outcome and Treatment Response |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | MD Anderson Cancer Center EDRN-CVC for Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Collaborator |
| Title: | The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center SPORE in Ovarian Cancer |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |