Daochun Sun, PhD

Assistant Professor

Locations

Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy

Contact Information

Education

Research Associate, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center
PhD, School of Medicine, Wayne State University BS, Yantai University

Biography

Dr. Sun obtained his PhD degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics by studying mechanisms of Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1)-associated Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors (MPNST) at School of Medicine, Wayne State University. He further received postdoctoral training from the Developmental Biology Department at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, and Cancer Biology and Genetics program in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. His works emphasize the cell-of-origins of the tumor, and he identified a stem-like cell population playing essential roles in tumorigenesis, relapse, and metastasis of NF1-associated plexiform neurofibromas and MPNST. These discoveries may provide novel strategies to prevent tumor transformation, progression, chemoresistance, and metastasis.

Research Interests

Tumor heterogeneity is a challenge from benchside to bedside. Developmental biology and Darwinism provide a natural history point of view on this challenge. Many examples have shown that cancer can be a stem cell disease. Tumorigenesis, drug resistance, relapse, and metastasis manifest the joined forces of development, genome evolution, and environmental selection. NF1-associated tumors such as plexiform neurofibromas (PN), malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST), and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) are representative models reflecting the stem cell-related functional tumor heterogeneity.

My lab will take advantage of sophisticated mouse models and patient-derived xenograft models to explore the strategies targeting tumor progression, relapse, and metastasis.

Focus 1: Plexiform Neurofibromas

PN are congenital benign tumors in young people with NF1. The PN patients have a significantly higher risk for malignant transformation. My preliminary data on human PN using single cell sequencing indicates that stem-like tumor cells play a critical role in disease initiation and progression. Efficiently target those stem-like cells will serve as a novel treatment the young patients.

Focus 2: MPNST Relapse and Metastasis

Relapse and metastasis lead to the major mortality of NF1 patients with no effective treatments. My preliminary data demonstrate that the stem-like tumor cells that are relatively quiescent have a strong association with the nerve-enriched microenvironment and contribute to the local relapse after surgery or chemotherapy. With the transgenic mouse models, I have seen the increased potentials of MPNST cancer stem cells to form new metastatic lesions through the forced vascular dissemination. Revealing the mechanisms involved in the relapse and metastasis will provide great insights to benefit the NF1 patients.

Focus 3: Biological Big Data Mining in Cancer Research

The ever-evolving technologies offer massive biological data in great broadness and granularity with various formats, including genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, single cell technology, and high throughput screening. Understanding and interpreting biological big data are new challenges and bring excellent chances for discovery. The lab focusses on big data-based subtyping and drug target discovery in NF1-related disorders using R programming. Big data analysis offers new insights into disease mechanisms and treatments and paves the road for future precision medicine.

(Brown RM, Farouk Sait S, Dunn G, Sullivan A, Bruckert B, Sun D.) Brain Sci. 2022 May 31;12(6) PMID: 35741605 PMCID: PMC9221468 06/25/2022
(Xie XP, Laks DR, Sun D, Ganbold M, Wang Z, Pedraza AM, Bale T, Tabar V, Brennan C, Zhou X, Parada LF.) Dev Cell. 2022 Jan 10;57(1):32-46.e8 PMID: 35016005 PMCID: PMC8820651 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85123256377 01/12/2022
(Sun D, Xie XP, Zhang X, Wang Z, Sait SF, Iyer SV, Chen YJ, Brown R, Laks DR, Chipman ME, Shern JF, Parada LF.) Cell Stem Cell. 2021 Aug 05;28(8):1397-1410.e4 PMID: 34010628 PMCID: PMC8349880 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85107299241 05/20/2021
(Xie XP, Laks DR, Sun D, Poran A, Laughney AM, Wang Z, Sam J, Belenguer G, Fariñas I, Elemento O, Zhou X, Parada LF.) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Dec 08;117(49):31448-31458 PMID: 33229571 PMCID: PMC7733854 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85097581685 11/25/2020
(Wang Z, Sun D, Chen YJ, Xie X, Shi Y, Tabar V, Brennan CW, Bale TA, Jayewickreme CD, Laks DR, Alcantara Llaguno S, Parada LF.) Cancer Cell. 2020 Sep 14;38(3):366-379.e8 PMID: 32649888 PMCID: PMC7494533 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85088376925 07/11/2020
(Alcantara Llaguno S, Sun D, Pedraza AM, Vera E, Wang Z, Burns DK, Parada LF.) Nat Neurosci. 2019 Apr;22(4):545-555 PMID: 30778149 PMCID: PMC6594191 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85061730449 02/20/2019
(Shi Y, Lim SK, Liang Q, Iyer SV, Wang HY, Wang Z, Xie X, Sun D, Chen YJ, Tabar V, Gutin P, Williams N, De Brabander JK, Parada LF.) Nature. 2019 Mar;567(7748):341-346 PMID: 30842654 PMCID: PMC6655586 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85063281637 03/08/2019
(Alcantara Llaguno SR, Wang Z, Sun D, Chen J, Xu J, Kim E, Hatanpaa KJ, Raisanen JM, Burns DK, Johnson JE, Parada LF.) Cancer Cell. 2015 Oct 12;28(4):429-440 PMID: 26461091 PMCID: PMC4607935 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-84944041780 10/16/2015
(Sun D.) Current Bioinformatics. 1 March 2015;10(1):1 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-84928797117 03/01/2015
(Sun D, Haddad R, Kraniak JM, Horne SD, Tainsky MA.) Mol Cancer Res. 2013 Jun;11(6):616-27 PMID: 23423222 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-84879300153 02/21/2013
(Sun D, Tainsky MA, Haddad R.) Transl Oncogenomics. 2012;5:1-7 PMID: 22346343 PMCID: PMC3273949 02/22/2012
(Kraniak JM, Sun D, Mattingly RR, Reiners JJ Jr, Tainsky MA.) Mol Cell Biochem. 2010 Nov;344(1-2):267-76 PMID: 20680410 PMCID: PMC3809002 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-78449304547 08/04/2010

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