Dr. Wei-Qun Ding has over 25 years of research experience in molecular and cellular biology of cancer. His recent research focuses on extracellular vesicle (EV)-mediated signaling in the tumor microenvironment and the identification of non-invasive biomarkers for breast and pancreatic cancer. He has established a track-record of mentoring junior faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and medical students in cancer research.
Education:
- PhD - Molecular Mechanisms of Neuronal Adaption to Alcohol, Molecular Neuroscience, Laboratory Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden (1994-1998)
Fellowship:
- Molecular Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Mayo Clinic and Foundation, Rochester, MN (1998-2002)
Clinical/Research Interests:
- Extracellular vesicle-mediated signaling in the tumor microenvironment
- Circulating exosomal signatures as biomarkers for cancer
- Anticancer activity of metal binding compounds and docosahexaenoic acid
Funding:
CDMRP, Breast Cancer Research Program (W81XWH2210317)
"Exosome Associated MTA1 in Breast Cancer Progression"
Role: PI
Presbyterian Health Foundation
"Arginine methylation patterns in plasma exosomes as biomarkers for early detection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma"
Role: PI
Select Honors and Accomplishments:
- The Swedish Royal Physiografic Society Award (1997)
- The First Research Grant Award (Susan G. Komen) in the State of Oklahoma (2008)
- The Fred G. Silva Research Award (2022)
Select Publications:
- Hannafon BN, Carpenter KJ, Berry WL, Janknecht R, Dooley WC, Ding WQ. Exosome-mediated microRNA signaling from breast cancer cells is altered by the anti-angiogenesis agent docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Mol Cancer. 2015 Jul 16;14:133. doi: 10.1186/s12943-015-0400-7. PMID: 26178901; PMCID: PMC4504101.
- Hannafon BN, Trigoso YD, Calloway CL, Zhao YD, Lum DH, Welm AL, Zhao ZJ, Blick KE, Dooley WC, Ding WQ. Plasma exosome microRNAs are indicative of breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res. 2016 Sep 8;18(1):90. doi: 10.1186/s13058-016-0753-x. PMID: 27608715; PMCID: PMC5016889.
- Zhou J, Zhang S, Xue J, Avery J, Wu J, Lind SE, Ding WQ. Activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα) suppresses hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) signaling in cancer cells. J Biol Chem. 2012 Oct 12;287(42):35161-35169. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M112.367367. Epub 2012 Aug 29. PMID: 22932900; PMCID: PMC3471732.
- Ding WQ, Liu B, Vaught JL, Yamauchi H, Lind SE. Anticancer activity of the antibiotic clioquinol. Cancer Res. 2005 Apr 15;65(8):3389-95. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-04-3577. PMID: 15833873.
- Ding WQ, Kuntz S, Böhmig M, Wiedenmann B, Miller LJ. Dominant negative action of an abnormal secretin receptor arising from mRNA missplicing in a gastrinoma. Gastroenterology. 2002 Feb;122(2):500-11. doi: 10.1053/gast.2002.31039. PMID: 11832464.
Complete List of Published Work:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/wei-qun.ding.1/bibliography/public/