Chengcheng (Alec) Zhang, Ph.D. 

Ph.D, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - 1999
Assistant Professor, Departments of Physiology, and Developmental Biology
Michael L. Rosenberg Scholar in Biomedical Research, UT Southwestern Medical Center

Researchers at UT Southwestern find way to help donor adult blood stem cells overcome transplant rejection

Office: (214) 645-6320
FAX: (214) 648-1960
Building ND, Room 5.124B
E-mail: Alec.Zhang@UTSouthwestern.edu

The long-term goal of our laboratory is to gain a comprehensive understanding of
the molecular mechanisms that govern the adult stem cell fate determination, and
to apply the knowledge obtained from these studies to the development of new
stem cell transplantation strategies and gene therapies for treating cancer and other
diseases. Our study is focused on hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and leukemia
stem cells (LSCs).

Recently we identified several groups of novel growth factors for HSCs, including
Angiopoietin-like proteins (Angptls) and IGFBP2. We subsequently developed a
very potent but simple serum-free culture system, which is capable of stimulating
a ~48 fold expansion of long-term HSCs. This provides a great system to study
the control of cell fates of HSCs: self-renewal, differentiation, apoptosis, and
mobilization, and may provide us the opportunity to uncover the mystery of
"stemness" of normal and cancer stem cells. We therefore seek to study:

1. ex vivo expansion of HSCs for cell therapy and gene therapy.

2. the interaction between normal or cancer stem cells and their in vivo
microenvironment.

3. cloning the receptor for Angiopoietin-like proteins, and the function and
signaling of the receptor in stem cells and cancer.

4. Stem cell immunology.

We believe research in these directions will greatly enhance our understanding of
the molecular mechanisms that control stem cells and cancer, and potentially
contribute to development of new strategies of stem cell engineering,
transplantation, and gene therapy.

Awards and honors

Basil O'Connor Scholar
American Society of Hematology Junior Faculty Scholar
New Investigator Award, American Cancer Society/UT Southwestern
Michael L. Rosenberg Scholar in Biomedical Research, UT Southwestern
Howard Temin KO1 award, National Cancer Institute
Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation for Cancer Research Fellow

Selected References

Zhang CC, Kaba M, Ge G, Xie K, Tong W, Hug C, Lodish HF. 2006. Angiopoietin-like proteins stimulate ex vivo expansion of hematopoietic stem cells. Nature Medicine 12: 240-245.

Zhang CC, Steele AD, Lindquist S, Lodish HF. 2006. Prion protein is expressed on long-term repopulating hematopoietic stem cells and is important for their self-renewal. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 103: 2184-2189.

Liao MJ*, Zhang CC*, Zhou B*, Zimonjic DB, Mani SA, Kaba M, Gifford A, Reinhardt F, Popescu NC, Guo W, Eaton EG, Lodish HF, Weinberg RA. 2007. Enrichment of a population of mammary gland cells that forms mammospheres and has in vivo repopulating activity. Cancer Res. 67: 8131-8138

Zhang CC, Kaba M, Iizuks S, Huynh H, Lodish HF. 2008. Angiopoietin-like 5 and IGFBP2 stimulate ex vivo expansion of human cord blood hematopietic stem cells. Blood 111: 3415-3423.

Zhang CC and Lodish HF. 2008. Cytokines regulation of hematopoietic stem cell functions. Current Opinion in Hematology 15: 307-311. 

Huynh H, Iizuka S, Kaba M, Kirak O, Zheng J, Lodish HF, Zhang CC. 2008. IGFBP2 secreted by a tumorigenic cell line supports ex vivo expansion of mouse hematopoietic stem cells. Stem Cells 26: 1628-1635.

Simsek T, Kocabas F, Zheng J, DeBerardinis RJ, Olson EN, Schneider JW, Zhang CC*, Sadek
HA*. 2010. Metabolic Profiling Enriches for Hematopoietic Stem Cells. Cell Stem Cell
7:380-390. (* corresponding authors)

Zheng J, Huynh H, Umikawa M, Silvany R, Zhang CC. 2011. Angiopoietin-like protein 3
supports the activity of mouse hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow niche. Blood
117:470-479

Zheng J, Umikawa M, Zhang S, Huynh H, Silvany R, Chen BPC, Chen L, Zhang CC. 2011. Ex
vivo expanded hematopoietic stem cells overcome the MHC barrier in allogeneic
transplantation. Cell Stem Cell. In press

Huynh H, Zheng J, Umikawa M, Zhang C, Silvany R, Iizuka S, Holzenberger M, Zhang W, Zhang CC. 2011. IGF Binding Protein 2 Supports the Survival and Cycling of Hematopoietic Stem Cells. Blood. In press