Lily Wu

About

Lily Wu is a professor in the Pharmacology Department at the University of California, Los Angeles. She holds a BS from UC Berkeley (1982), an MD and PhD from UCLA MSTP (1989), and completed Pediatrics Residency and Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at UCLA in 1996. She was a HHMI Postdoctoral Fellow in 1997. As a clinician scientist, her research focuses on translating bench research findings to clinical applications, particularly in the treatment of advanced, metastatic prostate cancer through gene therapy. Her team has worked on molecular engineering of adenoviral vectors to improve in vivo gene delivery. In recent years, her research has shifted toward understanding cancer progression and metastasis, with an emphasis on the tumor microenvironment's role in cancer development. She has established collaborations, developed models, and applied advanced molecular imaging to study metastasis pathways in vivo. Her work has identified therapeutic benefits in targeting tumor-infiltrating myeloid cells and macrophages across different cancer types. Her laboratory has also explored metastatic mechanisms in renal cell carcinoma using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, discovering the critical role of VHL and its downstream pathways in metastasis. Her ongoing research aims to leverage these insights to develop new therapeutic targets to inhibit metastatic renal cell carcinoma. She is actively involved in teaching and mentoring, having directly mentored over 60 trainees, including undergraduates,…

Research topics

• Cell biology
• Cancer research
• Pathology
• Internal medicine
• Biology
• Medicine

Selected publications

• Skin temperature-triggered, debonding-on-demand sticker for a self-powered mechanosensitive communication system

  Matter · 2021-03-30 · 134 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• HCC EV ECG score: An extracellular vesicle‐based protein assay for detection of early‐stage hepatocellular carcinoma

  Hepatology · 2022-07-31 · 89 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The sensitivity of current surveillance methods for detecting early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is suboptimal. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are promising circulating biomarkers for early cancer detection. In this study, we aim to develop an HCC EV-based surface protein assay for early detection of HCC. APPROACH AND RESULTS: Tissue microarray was used to evaluate four potential HCC-associated protein markers. An HCC EV surface protein assay, composed of covalent chem…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Tumor heterogeneity in VHL drives metastasis in clear cell renal cell carcinoma

  Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy · 2023 · 74 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  ) cells, promoted metastasis by enhancing the motility of VHL-WT cells and facilitating tumor cell vascular escape. Genetic deletion or antibody blockade of POSTN dramatically suppressed lung metastases in our preclinical models. This work supports a new strategy to halt the progression of ccRCC by disrupting the critical metastatic crosstalk between heterogeneous cell populations within a tumor.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Exosomes from Von Hippel-Lindau-Null Cancer Cells Promote Metastasis in Renal Cell Carcinoma

  International Journal of Molecular Sciences · 2023-12-09 · 13 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Exosomes are extracellular vesicles that modulate essential physiological and pathological signals. Communication between cancer cells that express the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) tumor suppressor gene and those that do not is instrumental to distant metastasis in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). In a novel metastasis model, VHL(−) cancer cells are the metastatic driver, while VHL(+) cells receive metastatic signals from VHL(−) cells and undergo aggressive transformation. This study investigates whether…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• DDX24 Is Essential for Cell Cycle Regulation in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells During Vascular Development via Binding to FANCA mRNA

  Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology · 2023-07-20 · 12 citations

  article

  BACKGROUND: The DEAD-box family is essential for tumorigenesis and embryogenesis. Previously, we linked the malfunction of DDX (DEAD-box RNA helicase)-24 to a special type of vascular malformation. Here, we aim to investigate the function of DDX24 in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and embryonic vascular development. METHODS: Cardiomyocyte (CMC) and VSMC-specific Ddx24 knockout mice were generated by crossing Tagln -Cre mice with Ddx24 flox/flox transgenic mice. The development of blood ves…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Explore Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) in a Cooperative Model of Metastasis in Renal Cell Carcinoma

  NIH · $367k · 2017–2019

• NIH Grant R01CA101904

  NIH · $2.9M · 2013

• NIH Grant R21CA122693

  NIH · $340k · 2009

Frequent coauthors

• Paul N. Hopkins

  University of Utah

  113 shared

• Roger R. Williams

  National Heart Lung and Blood Institute

  94 shared

• James T. Wu

  87 shared

• Steven C. Hunt

  Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar

  86 shared

• Saul J. Priceman

  City of Hope

  83 shared

• Jingying Xu

  Tongji University

  82 shared

• Brian L. West

  76 shared

• Gideon Bollag

  76 shared

Labs

• Lily Wu LaboratoryPI

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