About

The Lina Cui Laboratory focuses on the fields of chemical biology, molecular imaging, and medicinal chemistry. The lab's research involves the development of novel imaging agents for the detection and treatment of diseases, with a particular emphasis on heparanase and its role in various pathologies.

Research topics

• Biology
• Chemistry
• Biochemistry
• Organic chemistry
• Combinatorial chemistry
• Biophysics
• Nanotechnology
• Computational biology
• Cell biology
• Materials science
• Biomedical engineering
• Cancer research
• Pathology
• Immunology
• Medicine
• Photochemistry

Selected publications

• [Risk factors for bleeding complications in patients undergoing percutaneous liver biopsy].

  PubMed · 2025-06-01

  article

  /L, hepatocentesis can still be performed safely with appropriate management measures.

  PublisherDOI

• Molecular requirements of chromogranin B for the long-sought anion shunter of regulated secretion

  International Journal of Biological Macromolecules · 2025-03-17 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  All eukaryotes utilize regulated secretion to release molecular signals packaged in secretory granules for local and remote signaling. An anion shunt conductance was first suggested in secretory granules of bovine chromaffin cells nearly five decades ago. Biochemical identity of this conductance remains undefined. CLC-3, an intracellular Cl − /H + exchanger, was proposed as a candidate sixteen years ago, which, however, was contested experimentally. Here, we show that chromogranin B (CHGB) makes the kernel of the long-sought anion shunter in cultured and primary neuroendocrine cells and its channel functions are essential to proper granule maturation. Intragranular pH measurements and cargo maturation assays revealed that normal granular acidification, proinsulin-insulin conversion, and dopamine-loading in neuroendocrine cells all rely on functional CHGB+ channels. Primary β-cells from Chgb−/− mice exhibited persistent granule deacidification, which suffices to uplift plasma proinsulin level, diminish glucose-induced 2nd-phase insulin secretion and dwindle monoamine content in chromaffin granules from the knockout mice. Data from targeted genetic manipulations, dominant negativity of a deletion mutant lacking channel-forming parts and tests of CLC-3/5 and ANO-1/2 all exclude CHGB -less channels from anion shunting in secretory granules. The highly conserved CHGB+ channels thus function in regulated secretory pathways in neuronal, endocrine, exocrine and stem cells of probably all vertebrates. • Loss of CHGB function disrupts secretory granule acidification in neuroendocrine cells, requiring anion shunt conduction. • CHGBΔMIF, defective in forming a functional Cl − channel, suppresses endogenous CHGB, leading to granule deacidification in cultured cells • CLC-3, CLC-5, ANO-1, and ANO-2 don't contribute to CHGB-mediated granule acidification. • Chgb -/- β-cells show persistent granule deacidification, which causes hyperproinsulinemia, diminished 2nd-phase insulin release, and decreased monoamine in chromaffin granules in mice.

  PublisherDOI

• [Evaluation of information quality in autoimmune liver disease-related videos on TikTok].

  PubMed · 2025-08-01

  other

  The overall quality of videos related to autoimmune liver disease on the TikTok video platform is low. Therefore, publishers should focus on the comprehensiveness and accuracy of the information. Additionally, the TikTok platform should optimize its video review mechanism to provide the public with more accurate and reliable health information.

  PublisherDOI

• The effect of follow-up reexamination on the long-term prognosis of patients with acute coronary syndrome undergoing coronary angiography

  BMC Medicine · 2025-08-22 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) remain at high risk for recurrent adverse cardiovascular events after discharge. Patient adherence to secondary prevention is poor. This study proposes a follow-up center-based secondary prevention program to assess whether a structured cardiologist-led follow-up and reexamination protocol influences ACS patient prognosis. METHODS: A total of 9,534 ACS patients undergoing coronary angiography were retrospectively included and divided into a reexamination group (n = 6,804) and a non-reexamination group (n = 2,730) according to whether they were reexamined within one year or not. The patients were followed up after discharge for 3 years, and clinical outcomes were recorded. The primary outcome was cardiac death. RESULTS: Reexamination within 12 months was significantly associated with a reduced risk of cardiac death (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.58; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.44-0.75) at 3 years after ACS. Among patients who underwent reexamination, the risk of cardiac death was 50% lower (aHR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.35-0.70) and 63% lower (aHR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.20-0.67) in the high-frequency (more than or equal to 2 times within one year) and long-term (continued reexamination after the first year of follow-up) reexamination groups, respectively. Similar results were observed after propensity score matching analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Participation in a structured follow-up and reexamination programme significantly reduces the risk of cardiac death among ACS survivors. Establishing a follow-up center could be of great significance in improving patient prognoses.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• [Analysis of clinical characteristics and current diagnosis and treatment status of IgG4-related diseases in the real world].

  PubMed · 2025-07-20

  otherOpen access

  As a multisystem disease, IgG4-RD still faces the difficulties of time-consuming diagnosis and inappropriate treatment. Therefore, it is necessary to rely on a multidisciplinary collaboration model to improve the awareness level and promote the early and standardized diagnosis and treatment of patients with IgG4-RD.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Host FSTL1 defines the impact of stem cell therapy on liver fibrosis by potentiating the early recruitment of inflammatory macrophages

  Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy · 2025-03-07 · 12 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Adult stem cell therapy holds great promise for treating decompensated liver cirrhosis on the basis of animal studies, despite uncertainty about its clinical therapeutic efficacy and unclear underlying mechanisms. Here, we investigated the role of follistatin-like 1 (FSTL1), a profibrotic and proinflammatory matricellular protein, in inflammation-related heterogeneity in stem cell therapy. Our results showed that a high level of circulating FSTL1 is significantly correlated with therapeutic response in patients with cirrhosis. FSTL1 facilitated MSC-mediated early recruitment of Ly6C + inflammatory macrophages within 24 h postinfusion, which was essential for the empowerment of MSCs and subsequent Ly6C − CX3CR1 + macrophage remodelling at 48 h postinfusion. Fstl1 deficiency abrogated early macrophage recruitment and effective Ly6C − CX3CR1 + macrophage accumulation, resulting in the poor antifibrotic effect of MSCs in mice. Whereas, recombinant FSTL1 protein restored the therapeutic efficacy of MSCs in CCl 4 -injured Fstl1 +/− mice. Mechanistically, host FSTL1 enhanced rapid recycling of CCR2 to the membrane via activation of the CD14/TLR4/NF-κB/ ATP6V1G2 axis, leading to early recruitment of Ly6C + monocytes /macrophages. Taken together, our findings revealed that FSTL1 is a critical regulator of the fibrotic immune microenvironment and facilitates subsequent stem cell therapy. These data suggest that FSTL1 could serve as a predictive biomarker of stem cell therapy response in patients with liver cirrhosis.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• OUFR Versus FFR for Functional Assessment of Coronary Artery Stenosis in Patients With Unstable Angina

  JACC Asia · 2025-01-14 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Hybrid intravascular ultrasound-optical coherence tomography (IVUS-OCT) imaging can integrate both advantages. Optical ultrasonic flow ratio (OUFR) was recently developed for functional assessment. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to verify the diagnostic performance of OUFR using fractional flow reserve (FFR) as the reference standard. METHODS: ) was derived from single modality IVUS imaging in 58 patients (80 vessels). In all cases, wire-based FFR was measured in the same vessels for comparison. RESULTS: (0.91). CONCLUSIONS: is feasible and accurate in the prospective study, resulting in excellent agreement with FFR, superior to single imaging modality-based physiology indexes.

  PublisherDOI

• The prognostic value of anti-gp210 and anti-centromere antibodies in patients with primary biliary cholangitis: Enhancing the prognostic utility on the GLOBE scoring system

  Digestive and Liver Disease · 2025-01-13 · 9 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Positivity for anti-gp210 and anti-centromeric antibodies (ACA) in patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) have been associated with the progression of liver failure and portal hypertension (PH), respectively. The value of combining risk autoantibody assessments with prognostic scoring systems in improving risk assessment in patients with PBC remains unclear. AIMS: To investigate the prognostic significance of various combinations of anti-gp210 and ACA statuses and their enhancing the prognostic utility on the GLOBE scoring system. METHODS: Stepwise Cox regression was used to estimate the relationship between anti-gp210 antibodies or ACA and liver transplant (LT)-free survival. The GLOBE scoring system was used to stratify the patients. RESULTS: A total of 1412 patients with confirmed PBC were included in the study. The anti-gp210+ status was a significant risk factor for LT/liver-related death, whereas the ACA+ status was a significant risk factor for variceal bleeding (P = 0.002 and 0.007, respectively). The anti-gp210 + ACA + status was a risk indicator for the entire cohort independent of the GLOBE score (P = 0.001, hazard ratio [HR]: 2.649, 95 % confidence interval [CI]: 1.492-4.703) and liver stiffness measurements (LSM; P = 0.039, HR: 4.969, 95 % CI: 1.088-22.692). A significant difference was observed in the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve between the fitted scoring model (consisting of the GLOBE score, anti-gp210 + ACA+ status, and albumin level) and the GLOBE scoring system alone (P = 0.034). When enrolled patients were classified as high-, medium-, and low-risk by the GLOBE scoring system (1.8 and 0.5), the anti-gp210 + ACA+ status was associated with a 1.6- and 3.3-fold higher 5-year incidence of LT/liver-related death in the high- and medium-risk groups, respectively, in comparison with the anti-gp210 + ACA- cases. The anti-gp210 + ACA+ status was also a risk indicator for the presentation of the hepatic failure phenotype in comparison with the anti-gp210- status (P = 0.007, odds ratio [OR]: 6.419, 95 % CI: 1.645-25.042), and the presentation of PH phenotype in comparison with the anti-ACA- status (OR: 3.473, 95 % CI: 1.328-9.018, P = 0.011). CONCLUSION: The anti-gp210 + ACA+ status was an independent prognostic marker that could predict a poor prognosis in patients with PBC at diagnosis and may further optimise risk stratification in combination with the GLOBE scoring system.

  PublisherDOI

• Tuning the efficiency of molecular probes <i>via</i> quinone methide-based <i>in situ</i> labeling

  RSC Chemical Biology · 2025-12-17 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  In this work, we tuned quinone-methide based fluorescent probes containing different phenol linker modifications using two logical chemical approaches to improve probe stability, protein-fluorophore adduct yield, and cellular retention and contrast.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Definition and validation of recompensation in patients with primary biliary cholangitis-related decompensated cirrhosis treated with ursodeoxycholic acid: Based on the BAVENO VII criteria

  Journal of Translational Internal Medicine · 2025-07-31 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Background and Objectives Few studies have provided real-world data on the biochemical response, risk assessment, and prognosis of patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC)-related decompensated cirrhosis undergoing ursodeoxycholic acid therapy. The objective of this study is to define recompensation in this patient population based on the BAVENO VII criteria. Methods This retrospective analysis included 170 patients with cirrhosis who presented with ascites, hepatic encephalopathy, and/or variceal bleeding as their initial decompensating events at Xijing Hospital from 2006 to 2023. Events of further decompensation, liver transplantation, and liver-related death were recorded. Results Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) had complex prognostic value in patients with PBC-related decompensated cirrhosis receiving ursodeoxycholic acid therapy. In patients with normal total bilirubin (TBIL) at the 1-year follow-up, elevated ALP was associated with poor prognosis (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.57, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.12-5.87, P = 0.025), whereas in those with elevated TBIL, decreased ALP was associated with poor prognosis (HR: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.26-1.08, P = 0.082). A Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score &lt; 10 and the absence of decompensating events from the last decompensated state over the next 12 months were used to assess PBC recompensation. During follow-up, 26% (45/170) of patients experienced at least one episode of recompensation. Compared with observations in the non-recompensation group, the recompensation group exhibited a longer liver transplantation-free survival (HR: 16.48, 95% CI: 2.23-121.57, P = 0.006), lower rates of further decompensation (22% vs . 63%, P &lt; 0.001), a significant reduction in high-risk patients ( P &lt; 0.05, all), and notable improvements in serum indicators (platelet count, TBIL, albumin, and international normalized ratio). Baseline platelet and TBIL levels, the 1-year Rotterdam criteria, and severe interface hepatitis were associated with recompensation. Conclusions We defined PBC recompensation as a Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score &lt; 10 and the absence of decompensating events from the last decompensated state for the next 12 months, aligned with the requirements of BAVENO VII for patients with PBC-related decompensated cirrhosis.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Probing the role of heparanase via in situ labeling

  NIH · $1.9M · 2017–2023

Frequent coauthors

• Kelton A. Schleyer

  Massachusetts General Hospital

  128 shared

• Jun Liu

  University of Florida Health Science Center

  104 shared

• Chao Cui

  Northwest A&F University

  99 shared

• Xiaowei Ma

  73 shared

• Ying Han

  Xijing Hospital

  65 shared

• Xinmin Zhou

  Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University

  48 shared

• Jie Dai

  Shanghai Jiao Tong University

  41 shared

• Yongquan Shi

  Second Hospital of Shandong University

  36 shared

Labs

• Lina Cui LaboratoryPI