Biological and Biomedical Science
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Hongbo Luo

Department of Pathology
Children's Hospital
Karp Family Research Building, 10th Floor, Room 214
1 Blackfan Circle
Boston, MA 02115
Tel: (617) 919-2303
Fax: (617) 730-0885
Email: hongbo.luo@childrens.harvard.edu
Web Page: The Luo Lab Page

8 postdoctoral fellows, 1 student

Signal transduction in innate immunity and leukemia.

One of the major players in innate immune system is neutrophil which is the most abundant cell type among circulating white blood cells and constitutes the first line of host defense against invading bacteria and other pathogens. The long-term goal of our research is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that control the number of neutrophils at the site of inflammation. Our research focuses on 1) signal pathways mediating neutrophil directional movement (chemotaxis), 2) molecular mechanism of neutrophil spontaneous cell death, and 3) cell signaling in macrophage-mediated neutrophil clearance. Currently, we are particularly interested in signaling pathways triggered by inositol phospholipid PtdIns(3,4,5)P3. We utilize a wide variety of approaches ranging from basic molecular and cell biology methods to high throughput chemical genetic screening and animal inflammation models to dissect these pathways.

Our lab is also interested in the cellular pathways contributing to the anti-cancer activity of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) in the promyelocytic leukemia (PML). Retinoic acid signaling is mediated by nuclear retinoic acid receptor (RAR), while the downstream pathways are poorly understood. We are conducting a genome wide RNAi screen in a PML cell line to identify downstream factors that are required for retinoic acid receptor signaling.

For other available projects, please check our website.

 

References:

  • Hattori, H., X. Zhang, Y. Jia, K. K. Subramanian, H. Jo, F. Loison, P. E. Newburger, and H. R. Luo (2007). RNAi screen identifies UBE2D3 as a mediator of all-trans retinoic acid-induced cell growth arrest in human acute promyelocytic NB4 cells. Blood 110: 640-650.
  • Subramanian, K. K., Jia, Y., Jo, H., Loison, F., You, J., Benjamin T. Simms E.J, Mizgerd J.P, and Luo, H. R. (2007). Tumor suppressor PTEN is a physiological suppressor of neutrophil function. Blood 2007 109: 4028-4037.
  • Jia, Y., K. K. Subrahmanyam, C. Erneux, V. Pouillon, H. Hattori, H. Jo, J. You, D. Zhu, S. Schurmans, and H. R. Luo (2007). Inositol 1,3,4,5-tetrakisphosphate negatively regulates PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 signaling in neutrophils. Immunity 27: 453-467.
  • Hakryul Jo, Yonghui Jia, Kulandayan K. Subramanian, Hidenori Hattori, and Hongbo R. Luo (2008) Cancer cell-derived Clusterin and IGF-1 constitute a regulatory system for the PI3K-Akt pathway (MCB, in press).