Professor Carlo M. Croce, the academician of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, gave a presentation in Huaxi campus.
On the morning of July 4th, the 8thsession of “Huaxiba Academician Lecture Series” was held in the Huaxi campus, Sichuan University. Dr. Croce, the academician of the Ohio State University, gave the lecture entitled “Cancer and Non-coding RNA”. About 150 students and teachers attended the lecture.
Dr. Croce, the discoverer of the gene Bcl-2, first briefly introduced the important role of Bcl-2 in tumorigenesis.Bcl-2 is a key oncogene, which played an important role in promoting the proliferation of tumor cellsand protecting tumor cells from apoptosis. Then, Dr. Crocegave the regulation mechanism details of the gene Bcl-2 in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Dr. Croce’s team discovered thatthe vast majority of CLL patients are characterized by the deletion of miR-15/16 andanegative relation between miR-15/16 and Bcl-2 in CLL cell lines. Then Dr. Croceshowed us more details of their studies: miR-15/16 can bind the 3' putative untranslated regions of Bcl-2 mRNAto reduce the expression of Bcl-2 protein. The deletion of mir-15/16 can relieve the suppression of Bcl-2, enhancing the apoptotic resistance ability of cancer cells. Lastly, Dr. Croceshared a new discovery about ABT-199 (Venetoclax, FDA approved),an inhibitor of Bcl-2,can simulate the miR-15/16-induced apoptosis of CLL cells. The lecture of Dr. Croceindicatedthat one typical mechanism in which ncRNA regulates the potential drivers of the cancer, providing new ideas for the treatment of its associated tumors. Students and teachers enthusiastically asked questions at the end of the presentation. Dr. Croce shared his academic viewpoints with the audience in an open atmosphere.
CV of Professor Croce
Dr. Croce is a member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Association for Cancer Research, American Society for Microbiology, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society of Hematology, the Human Genome Organization (HUGO), the National Academy of Sciences of USA, Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and the National Academy of Inventors. He is an internationally recognized leader in the field of miRNA.Dr. Crocehas made a series of pioneering research achievements in the pathogenesis of cancer, established genetic links to a variety of cancers including leukemia and lymphoma. He found and identified BCL2, ALL1 and TCL1 genes for the first time. He firstly revealed the important role of miRNA in tumorigenesis, which set off the research upsurge of miRNA.He has published more than 50 papers in journals includingScience,CellandNaturewith H-index over 200 and citation 100,000 times.