Fan ZHU, PhD
E-mail Address：fanzhu@whu.edu.cn
Office Address: 185# DongHu Road, Wuhan, Hubei, 430071
Position(s):Chair and Professor
Affiliation(s):Department of medical microbiology
Research interests / Specialties:The role of virus on host cells
Education and Training
B.S., 1988-1992 department of virus and molecular biology, Wuhan University, China
M.S., 1996-1998 College of life science, Wuhan University, China
Ph.D., 1998-2002 College of life science, Wuhan University, China
Post-doctoral training, 2005-2007 Stanford University, USA
Research Description
1. Study of Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs) in multiple sclerosis, Schizophrenia;
HERVs are sequences in the genome that are derived from ancient viral infections of germ cells in human; as such their proviruses are passed on to the next generation and now remain in the genome. HERVs make up 98,000 elements and fragments—nearly 8%—of the human genome. The retroviral proteins themselves have been co-opted to serve novel host functions, particularly in reproduction and development.
It was now found that some human ERVs have been implicated in Multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia, cancers and some other diseases. But how HERVs are activated and the functions of HERVs in these diseases are still not known. And these are the project we want to study.
2. Study of HBV in HCC
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) causes the disease hepatitis, leads to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC, the most common type of liver cancer worldwide). Our purpose is to study the Molecular Mechanism of HBV in HCC, identify the molecular targets in HCC.
Selected Publications (* correspondence author):
（1）Lijuan Liu, Xiaobei Chen, Shuixiang Xie, Chuanjie Zhang, Zhenpeng Qiu, Fan ZHU *（correspondence author）. Variant 1 of KIAA0101, overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma, prevents doxorubicin-induced apoptosis by inhibiting p53 activation. Hepatology, 2012; 56(5):1760-1769 (Impact factor: 12.003)
（2）Wenjie HUANG, Shan LI, Yuanmin HU, Hongnian YU, Feng LUO, Qi ZHANG, Fan ZHU* (correspondence author). Implication of the env Gene of the Human Endogenous Retrovirus W Family in the Expression of BDNF and DRD3 and Development of Recent-Onset Schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull, 2011; 37,988-1000. (Impact factor: 8.8)
（3）Honglian Yu , Tao Liu , Zhankui Zhao, Yatang Chen , Jie Zeng , Shaojun Liu, Fan ZHU* (correspondence author). Mutations in 3' long terminal repeat of HERV-W family in chromosome 7 upregulate syncytin-1 expression in urothelial cell carcinoma of the bladder through interacting with c-Myb. Oncogene. 2014; 33(30): 3947-58. (Impact factor: 8.559)
（4）Wenjie Huang, Zhongchun Liu, Wei Wei, Gaohua Wang, Jianguo WU* and Fan ZHU*（correspondence author）. Human endogenous retroviral pol RNA and protein detected and identified in the blood of individuals with schizophrenia. Schizophr Res, 2006; 83(2-3):193-199. （Impact factor:4.23）
（5）Wei WEI, Wenjie HUANG, Yin PAN，Fan ZHU* (correspondence author), and Jianguo WU*. Functional switch of viral protein HBx on cell apoptosis, transformation, and tumorigenesis in association with oncoprotein. Cancer Letters 2006 Nov 28; 244(1):119-28. (Impact factor: 3.277)
