Principal investigator2016
Name: Guangxun MENG Gender:
Education:

  

Academic degree: PhD Academic title: PI
Departments: Innate Immunity Discipline: Innate Immunity
Phone: 021-54923100 E-mail: gxmeng@sibs.ac.cn
Mailing Address: Life Science Research Building No. 320 Yueyang Road, Xuhui District, 200031

Curriculum vitae:

  Education:  

  20012004 Ph.D, Immunology, Technical University of Munich, Germany.  

  19982000 M.S., Shanghai Institute of Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China (Co-Educate).  

  19971998 M.S., Zoology, Shandong Normal University, China (Co-Educate).  

  19931997 B.S., Biology, Shandong Normal University, China .  

   Professional appointments:  

  20052010 Post.Doc. Mucosal Immunity, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, USA.  

  20002001 Guest Scientist, Max-Planck Unit for Structural Molecular Biology, Hamburg, Germany.  

   Awards & Honors:  

  2004 China Scholarship Council Award to outstanding Chinese oversea Ph.D students from Chinese Embassy to Germany.   

  2010 CAS 100 Talents  

  2011 SA-SIBS 

Research direction:

  Inflammation is an important host response to various stimuli and conditions including infection and tissue injury. Controlled inflammatory response is considered beneficial, but it can be rather detrimental if dysregulated. Diseases such as cancer, auto-immune diseases and infectious diseases all involve uncontrolled inflammation. There are many different mediators of inflammation, a crucial member of which is IL-1β. The production of functional IL-1β needs NF-kB dependent transcription of pro-IL-1β, followed with cleavage by caspases such as caspase-1. The activation of caspase-1 relays on the assembly of a protein complex called inflammasome, which consists of pattern recognition receptor (PRR) such as NLRP3 or AIM2, adaptor protein ASC and pro-caspase-1. The goal of our lab is to understand the function of innate immunity especially inflammasome in inflammatory diseases and related mechanisms. 

  Our scientific objectives include: 

  (1)Regulatory mechanism of inflammasome activation 

  NLRP3 inflammasome can be activated by various stimuli, including Alum, silica, influenza virus, ATP, which indicates common regulatory molecules are likely involved in the process. We will search for these regulators and clarify mechanisms for their involvement in inflammasome activation. 

  (2)Function of inflammasome in the control of microbial infection 

  As an important component of innate immunity, inflammasome is important for anti-microbial infection. Studies showed NLRP3 inflammasome is essential in initiation of immune response against Influenza virus, Adenovirus, Candida albicanset. al.. We will further explore the function of NLRP3 inflamamsome in anti-viral and fungal infections. 

  (3)Function of NLRs in autoimmune diseases and cancer 

  Early studies show that NOD2 and NLRP3 are involved in the development of IBD and CRC. We will further explore the role of these NLRs in the development of these diseases and identify new regulatory strategy. 

   (4) Pharmacological regulation of inflammasome activity 

  Since inflammasome is involved in many physiological and pathological process, it is of great therapeutic value to identify drugs to regulate inflammasome. We will screen existing drugs and new compounds to regulate inflammasome function.  

Research progress:

 

  2016 

  1.       Xuesong Sang#, Hongbin Wang#, Yihui Chen, Qiuhong Guo, Ailing Lu , Xiaoli Zhu, Guangxun Meng*. Vitamin C inhibits the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome by scavenging mitochondrial ROS. Inflammasome 2016; 2: 13–19. 

  2.       Numan Javed , Guang Xue1, Ailing Lu, Yue Xing, Yoichiro Iwakura, Hui Xiao, Hervé Lecoeur, Gerald F. Sp?th, Guangxun Meng*. Cross reactivity of S. aureus to murine cytokine assays: A source of discrepancy. Cytokine 81 (2016) 101–108. 

  2015 

  1.       Song L, Huang Y, Zhao M, Wang Z, Wang S, Sun H, Kan B, Meng G*, Liang W*, Ren Z*. A critical role for hemolysin in Vibrio fluvialis-induced IL-1β secretion mediated by the NLRP3 inflammasome in macrophages. Front Microbiol. 2015 May 22;6:510.  

  2.       Wang H#, Lei X#, Xiao X, Yang C, Lu W, Huang Z, Leng Q, Jin Q, He B, Meng G*, Wang J*. Reciprocal Regulation between Enterovirus 71 and the NLRP3 Inflammasome. Cell Rep. 2015 Jul 7;12(1):42-8.  

  3.       Chen M, Xing Y, Lu A, Fang W, Sun B, Chen C, Liao W, Meng G*. Internalized Cryptococcus neoformans Activates the Canonical Caspase-1 and the Noncanonical Caspase-8 Inflammasomes.  J Immunol. 2015 Nov 15;195(10):4962-72.   

    

  2014 

  1.       Chen W#, Xu Y#, Li H, Tao W, Xiang Y, Huang B, Niu J, Zhong J*, Meng G*. HCV Genomic RNA Activates the NLRP3 Inflammasome in Human Myeloid Cells. PLOS ONE. 2014 Jan 6;9(1):e84953. 

  2.       Mao L#, Zhang L#, Li H, Chen W, Wang H, Wu S, Guo C, Lu A, Yang G, An L, Abliz P* , Meng G*. Pathogenic Fungus Microsporum canis Activates the NLRP3 Inflammasome. INFECT IMMUN. 2014 Feb;82(2):882-92. 

  3.       Guo C#, Chen M#, Fa Z, Lu A, Fang W, Sun B, Chen C, Liao W*, Meng G*. Acapsular Cryptococcus neoformans activates the NLRP3 inflammasome. Microbes Infect. 2014 Oct;16(10):845-54. 

  2013 

  1.       Mao K#, Chen S#, Chen M, Ma Y, Wang Y, Huang B, He Z, Zeng Y, Hu Y, Sun S, Li J, Wu X, Wang X, Strober W, Chen C*, Meng G*, Sun B*. Nitric oxide suppresses NLRP3 inflammasome activation and protects against LPS-induced septic shock. Cell Res. 2013 Feb;23(2):201-12. 

  2.       Wang H, Xing Y, Mao L, Luo Y, Kang L, Meng G*. Pannexin-1 influences peritoneal cavity cell population but is not involved in NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Protein Cell. 2013 Apr;4(4):259-65.  

  3.       Wang Y#, Yang C#, Mao K, Chen S, Meng G*, Sun B*. Cellular localization of NLRP3 inflammasome. Protein Cell. 2013 Jun;4(6):425-31. 

  4.       Lei G#, Chen M#, Li H#, Niu JL, Wu S, Mao L, Lu A, Wang H, Chen W, Xu B, Leng Q, Xu C, Yang G, An L, Zhu LP*, Meng G*. Biofilm from a clinical strain of Cryptococcus neoformans activates the NLRP3 inflammasome. Cell Res. 2013 Jul;23(7):965-8. 

  5.       Li H#, Wu S#, Mao L#, Lei G, Zhang L, Lu A, An L, Yang G, Abliz P*, Meng G*. Human pathogenic fungus Trichophyton schoenleinii activates the NLRP3 inflammasome. Protein Cell. 2013 Jul;4(7):529-38. 

  6.       Wang H, Mao L, Meng G*. The NLRP3 inflammasome activation in human or mouse cells, sensitivity causes puzzle. Protein Cell. 2013 Aug;4(8):565-8.  

Xu Y#, Li H#, Chen W#, Yao X, Xing Y,Wang X,  Zhong J*, Meng G*. Mycoplasma hyorhinis Activates the NLRP3 Inflammasome and Promotes Migration and Invasion of Gastric Cancer Cells. PLOS ONE. 2013 Nov 6;8(11):e77955.

Laboratory members:

Associate Investigator: Ailing Lu, Ph.D. 

Research AssistantQiuhong Guo 

Current Students: Xiaomin Yao, Yue Xing, Shuxian Wu, Yihui Chen,  Zheng Li, Fujia Yao,. 

Graduated Students: Zhenzong Fa, Xuesong Sang, Guang Xue, Mingkuan Chen, HongbinWang, Wei Chen, Hua Li, Junling Niu, Caiqin Guo, Guowei Lei. 

International Students: Numan Javed (Pakistan), Kossiwa Kokou (Togo)