Hui Ling

Assistant Professor

biography

Hui Ling received his M.D. degree in 2000 from the First Military Medical University (now the Southern Medical University), Guangzhou, China, and his Ph.D. degree in 2010 from the National University of Singapore, Singapore. He worked in China as a physician from 2000 to 2005. In his PhD, he investigated the anticancer potential of triterpenoids contained in Poria cocos, a herb widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. He also explored the beneficial activities of naturally occurring or semi-synthetic shogaols (the pungent components of dry ginger) in cancer prevention and therapeutics. In October 2010, he joined George A. Calin\'s laboratory at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, USA, as a postdoctoral fellow studying the role of long non-coding RNAs in human cancer. He received the Odyssey Fellowship award from 2012 to 2015, and becomes a research assistant professor in Experimental Therapeutics, MD Anderson Cancer Center from September 2015.

 

Area of Interest

Dr. Hui Ling has a broad interest in understanding the relevance of noncoding RNAs in human disease, especially in human cancers. He has worked on both microRNAs and long noncoding RNAs, and made several novel findings on noncoding RNA involvement in cancer progression and metastasis. Specifically, his research focuses on roles of noncoding RNAs in chromosomal instability, a fundamental feature underlying many types of human cancers. He also systematically explored noncoding RNAs related to cancer resistance, and studied the molecular mechanisms with a wide range of experimental approaches. Meanwhile, he is keen in translating the basic discoveries on noncoding RNAs into cancer biomarkers and therapeutic usages.


top publication

1) Hui Ling*, Karen Pickard*, Cristina Ivan*, Claudio Isella, Mariko Ikuo, Richard Mitter, Riccardo Spizzo, Marc Bullock, Cornelia Braicu, Valentina Pilecki, Maria I. Almeida, Lianchun Xiao, Alex Mirnezami, George Calin, MilenaNicoloso. The clinical and biological significance of miR-224 expression in colorectal cancer metastasis. Gut. 2015 Mar 24. pii: gutjnl-2015-309372. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2015-309372. [Epub ahead of print] * These authors contributed equally to this work.

2) Hui Ling, Kimberly Vincent, Riccardo Fodde, Martin Pichler, Ioana Berindan-Neagoe, Frank Slack, George A Calin.Junk DNA and long non-coding RNAs twist in cancer genetics. Oncogene, 2015 Jan 26. doi: 10.1038/onc.2014.456.

3) Kimberly Vincent, Martin Pichler, Gyeong-Won Lee, and Hui Ling *. MicroRNAs, genomic instability and cancer. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2014 Aug;15(8):14475-14491.

4). Hui Ling *, Muller Fabbri *, George A. Calin. MicroRNAs and other non-coding RNAs as targets for anticancer drug development. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 2013 Oct;12(11):847-65. (Citation: 158) * These authors contributed equally to this work

5). FeiFei Gan*, Hui Ling *, Xiaohui Ang, Shridhivya A Reddy, Stephanie S-H Lee, Hong Yang, Sock-Hoon Tan, John D Hayes, Wai-Keung Chui, Eng-Hui Chew. A novel shogaol analog suppresses cancer cell invasion and inflammation,and displays cytoprotective effects through modulation of NF-ƒÈB and Nrf2-Keap1 signalling pathways. Toxicologyand Applied Pharmacology. 2013 Jul;272(3):852-62.

6). Hui Ling*, Riccardo Spizzo*, Yaser Atlasi, Milena Nicoloso, Masayoshi Shimizu, Roxana S. Redis, Naohiro Nishida,Roberta Gafa, Jian Song, Zhiyi Gu, Cristina Ivan, Elisa Barbarotto, Ingrid De Vries, Xinna Zhang, Manuela Ferracin,Mike Churchman, Janneke F. van Galen, Berna H. Beverloo, Maryam Shariati, Franziska Haderk, Marcos R Estecio, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Gijs A. Patijn, David C. Gotley, Vikas Bhardwaj, Shureiqi Imad, Subrata Sen, Asha S.Multani, James Welsh, Ken Yamamoto, Itsuki Taniguchi, Min-Ae Song, Steven Gallinger, Graham Casey, Stephen NThibodeau, Loic Le Marchand, Maarit Tiirikainen, Sendurai A. Mani, Wei Zhang, Ramana V. Davuluri, Koshi Mimori, Masaki Mori, Anieta M. Sieuwerts, John W.M. Martens, Ian Tomlinson, Massimo Negrini, Ioana BerindanNeagoe, John A. Foekens, Stanley R. Hamilton, Giovanni Lanza, Scott Kopetz, Riccardo Fodde, George A. Calin.CCAT2, a novel non-coding RNA mapping to 8q24, underlies metastatic progression and chromosomal instability in colon cancer. Genome Research. 2013 Sep;23(9):1446-61.

7). Hui Ling, Wei Zhang, George A. Calin. Principles of microRNA involvement in human cancers. Chinese Journal of Cancer. 2011 Nov; 30(11):739-48. (Featured on journal cover)

8). Hui Ling, Yaochun Zhang, Ka-Yun Ng, Eng-Hui Chew. Pachymic acid impairs breast cancer cell invasion by suppressing nuclear factor-kappaB-dependent matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression. Breast Cancer Research & Treatment. 2011 Apr;126(3):609-20.

9). Hui Ling, Hong Yang, Sock-Hoon Tan, Wai-Keung Chui, Eng-Hui Chew. 6-Shogaol, an active constituent of ginger, inhibits breast cancer cell invasion by reducing matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression via blockade of nuclear factor-ƒÈB activation. British Journal of Pharmacology. 2010 Dec;161(8):1763-77.

10). Hui Ling, Xiaobin Jia, Yaochun Zhang, Leslie A. Gapter, Yin-shan Lim, Rajesh Agarwal, Ka-Yun Ng. Pachymic acidinhibits cell growth and modulates arachidonic acid metabolism in nonsmall cell lung cancer A549 cells. Molecular Carcinogenesis. 2010 Mar;49(3):271-82.

11). Hui Ling, Liang Zhou, Xiaobin Jia, Leslie A. Gapter, Rajesh Agarwal, Ka-Yun Ng. Polyporenic acid C inducescaspase-8-mediated apoptosis in human lung cancer A549 cells. Molecular Carcinogenesis. 2009 Jun;48(6):498-507.