Qin Yan, PhD
Professor of Pathology; Co-Leader, Genomics, Genetics, & Epigenetics Research Program; Director, Center for Epigenetics and Biomarkers, Pathology; Scientific Co-Director, Center for Breast Cancer
Research & Publications
Biography
News
Locations
Research Summary
Epigenetic aberrations often lead to cancer and other human diseases. The long-term goals of our laboratory are to elucidate the roles of epigenetic regulation in cancer initiation and progression and to translate our findings to the clinic. In particular, we focus on the epigenetic regulators of cancer metastasis, immune evasion and resistance to anticancer drugs in breast cancer and melanoma. We are currently studying how epigenetic regulators including KDM5 demethylases and bromodomain protein CECR2 contribute to cancer initiation and progression using biochemical, molecular biological, cell biological and mouse genetic approaches. As these epigenetic regulators are potential drug targets, we are developing small molecule inhibitors and degraders against these regulators for cancer treatment.
Specialized Terms: Epigenetics; Gene regulation; Cancer biology
Coauthors
Research Interests
Gene Expression Regulation; Immunotherapy; Melanoma; Neoplasm Metastasis; Retroelements; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; Jumonji Domain-Containing Histone Demethylases; Epigenomics; Epigenetic Repression
Public Health Interests
Cancer
Selected Publications
- KDM5B promotes immune evasion by recruiting SETDB1 to silence retroelementsZhang SM, Cai WL, Liu X, Thakral D, Luo J, Chan LH, McGeary MK, Song E, Blenman KRM, Micevic G, Jessel S, Zhang Y, Yin M, Booth CJ, Jilaveanu LB, Damsky W, Sznol M, Kluger HM, Iwasaki A, Bosenberg MW, Yan Q. KDM5B promotes immune evasion by recruiting SETDB1 to silence retroelements. Nature 2021, 598: 682-687. PMID: 34671158, PMCID: PMC8555464, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03994-2.
- CECR2 drives breast cancer metastasis by promoting NF-κB signaling and macrophage-mediated immune suppressionZhang M, Liu ZZ, Aoshima K, Cai WL, Sun H, Xu T, Zhang Y, An Y, Chen JF, Chan LH, Aoshima A, Lang SM, Tang Z, Che X, Li Y, Rutter SJ, Bossuyt V, Chen X, Morrow JS, Pusztai L, Rimm DL, Yin M, Yan Q. CECR2 drives breast cancer metastasis by promoting NF-κB signaling and macrophage-mediated immune suppression. Science Translational Medicine 2022, 14: eabf5473. PMID: 35108062, PMCID: PMC9003667, DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abf5473.
- Human WDR5 promotes breast cancer growth and metastasis via KMT2-independent translation regulationCai WL, Chen JF, Chen H, Wingrove E, Kurley SJ, Chan LH, Zhang M, Arnal-Estape A, Zhao M, Balabaki A, Li W, Yu X, Krop ED, Dou Y, Liu Y, Jin J, Westbrook TF, Nguyen DX, Yan Q. Human WDR5 promotes breast cancer growth and metastasis via KMT2-independent translation regulation. ELife 2022, 11: e78163. PMID: 36043466, PMCID: PMC9584608, DOI: 10.7554/elife.78163.
- The Crossroads of Cancer Epigenetics and Immune Checkpoint Therapy.Micevic G, Bosenberg M, Yan Q. The Crossroads of Cancer Epigenetics and Immune Checkpoint Therapy. Clinical Cancer Research 2022, 29: 1173-1182. PMID: 36449280, PMCID: PMC10073242, DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-22-0784.
- Cancer Epigenetics, Tumor Immunity, and ImmunotherapyCao J, Yan Q. Cancer Epigenetics, Tumor Immunity, and Immunotherapy. Trends In Cancer 2020, 6: 580-592. PMID: 32610068, PMCID: PMC7330177, DOI: 10.1016/j.trecan.2020.02.003.
- Potent BRD4 inhibitor suppresses cancer cell-macrophage interactionYin M, Guo Y, Hu R, Cai WL, Li Y, Pei S, Sun H, Peng C, Li J, Ye R, Yang Q, Wang N, Tao Y, Chen X, Yan Q. Potent BRD4 inhibitor suppresses cancer cell-macrophage interaction. Nature Communications 2020, 11: 1833. PMID: 32286255, PMCID: PMC7156724, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15290-0.
- KDM5 histone demethylases repress immune response via suppression of STINGWu L, Cao J, Cai WL, Lang SM, Horton JR, Jansen DJ, Liu ZZ, Chen JF, Zhang M, Mott BT, Pohida K, Rai G, Kales SC, Henderson MJ, Hu X, Jadhav A, Maloney DJ, Simeonov A, Zhu S, Iwasaki A, Hall MD, Cheng X, Shadel GS, Yan Q. KDM5 histone demethylases repress immune response via suppression of STING. PLOS Biology 2018, 16: e2006134. PMID: 30080846, PMCID: PMC6095604, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2006134.
- The KDM6A-KMT2D-p300 axis regulates susceptibility to diverse coronaviruses by mediating viral receptor expressionWei J, Alfajaro M, Cai W, Graziano V, Strine M, Filler R, Biering S, Sarnik S, Patel S, Menasche B, Compton S, Konermann S, Hsu P, Orchard R, Yan Q, Wilen C. The KDM6A-KMT2D-p300 axis regulates susceptibility to diverse coronaviruses by mediating viral receptor expression. PLOS Pathogens 2023, 19: e1011351. PMID: 37410700, PMCID: PMC10325096, DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1011351.
- DYRK1A promotes viral entry of highly pathogenic human coronaviruses in a kinase-independent mannerStrine M, Cai W, Wei J, Alfajaro M, Filler R, Biering S, Sarnik S, Chow R, Patil A, Cervantes K, Collings C, DeWeirdt P, Hanna R, Schofield K, Hulme C, Konermann S, Doench J, Hsu P, Kadoch C, Yan Q, Wilen C. DYRK1A promotes viral entry of highly pathogenic human coronaviruses in a kinase-independent manner. PLOS Biology 2023, 21: e3002097. PMID: 37310920, PMCID: PMC10263356, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002097.
- Histone H3 proline 16 hydroxylation regulates mammalian gene expressionLiu X, Wang J, Boyer J, Gong W, Zhao S, Xie L, Wu Q, Zhang C, Jain K, Guo Y, Rodriguez J, Li M, Uryu H, Liao C, Hu L, Zhou J, Shi X, Tsai Y, Yan Q, Luo W, Chen X, Strahl B, von Kriegsheim A, Zhang Q, Wang G, Baldwin A, Zhang Q. Histone H3 proline 16 hydroxylation regulates mammalian gene expression. Nature Genetics 2022, 54: 1721-1735. PMID: 36347944, PMCID: PMC9674084, DOI: 10.1038/s41588-022-01212-x.
- Integrative molecular and clinical profiling of acral melanoma links focal amplification of 22q11.21 to metastasisFarshidfar F, Rhrissorrakrai K, Levovitz C, Peng C, Knight J, Bacchiocchi A, Su J, Yin M, Sznol M, Ariyan S, Clune J, Olino K, Parida L, Nikolaus J, Zhang M, Zhao S, Wang Y, Huang G, Wan M, Li X, Cao J, Yan Q, Chen X, Newman AM, Halaban R. Integrative molecular and clinical profiling of acral melanoma links focal amplification of 22q11.21 to metastasis. Nature Communications 2022, 13: 898. PMID: 35197475, PMCID: PMC8866401, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28566-4.
- Genome-wide CRISPR Screens Reveal Host Factors Critical for SARS-CoV-2 InfectionWei J, Alfajaro MM, DeWeirdt PC, Hanna RE, Lu-Culligan WJ, Cai WL, Strine MS, Zhang SM, Graziano VR, Schmitz CO, Chen JS, Mankowski MC, Filler RB, Ravindra NG, Gasque V, de Miguel FJ, Patil A, Chen H, Oguntuyo KY, Abriola L, Surovtseva YV, Orchard RC, Lee B, Lindenbach BD, Politi K, van Dijk D, Kadoch C, Simon MD, Yan Q, Doench JG, Wilen CB. Genome-wide CRISPR Screens Reveal Host Factors Critical for SARS-CoV-2 Infection. Cell 2020, 184: 76-91.e13. PMID: 33147444, PMCID: PMC7574718, DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.10.028.