Research Interests

• Dr. Li’ group has been focusing on cancer stem cells (CSCs), signaling transduction, mechanism of tumor metastasis and drug resistance, as well as pre-clinical researches for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). They firstly found CD133 could be used as specific biomarker for sorting and enrichment of HCC CSCs, and CD133+/CD44+ cells might represent true cancer stem/progenitor cells in HCC, which could allow a better understanding of HCC initiation and progression. BMP4 might be a potent therapeutic agent in HCC that targets CSCs. NRBP2 plays an important role in the tumor progression and chemotherapeutic resistance of HCC. ZNF143–MDIG–CDC6 oncoprotein axis that provides a novel therapeutic target in HCC. Recently, they found that STAT5A/CDYL2/SLC7A6 axis to provide novel insight into CDYL2, which may serve as a potential factor for predicting prognosis and a therapeutic target for HCC patients.