Paul J. Chiao, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor--Surgical Oncology & Cancer Biology

Dr. Chiao is the director of the laboratory research section of the Pancreatic Tumor Study Group.

The goal of my research is to determine the roles of the nuclear oncogenes Rel/NF-kappaB and tumor suppressor gene SMAD4/DPC4 in pancreatic tumorigenesis, tumor cell apoptosis and development of metastasis. One of our focuses is the regulation of IkappaB, the inhibitor of Rel/NF-kappaB, by signaling pathways through IKK1 and IKK2 kinases. The other is to identify and clone the target genes induced by Rel/NF-kappaB and SMAD4/DPC4 in tumorigenesis, apoptosis and metastasis.

Education:

• Undergraduate: The University of Iowa, Iowa City IA
• Graduate (Ph.D. in Molecular Biology): The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Science, Houston TX.
• Postdoctoral Fellowship: The Salk Institute, San Diego CA

Selected References:

1. Grau A, Zhang L, Wang W, Ruan S, Abbruzzese J, Evans DB, Zhang W, and Chiao PJ. Induction of p21-wafl expression and growth inhibition by transforming growth factor-beta is mediated by tumor suppressor gene DPC4 in human pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells. Cancer Res 1997;57:3929-3934.

2. Wang W, Larry L, Evans DB, Abbruzzese J, and Chiao PJ. Constitutive activation of RelA transcription factor in majority of human pancreatic adenocarcinoma and pancreatic tumor cell lines. Clinical Cancer Res (recently accepted for publication)

3. Deyo JE, Chiao PJ, Tainsky MA. A novel protein expressed at high cell density but not during growth arrest. DNA and Cell Biology 1998;17:437-447.

4. Wang M, Abbruzzese LJ, Friess H, Hittelman NW, Evans DB Abbruzzese MC, Chiao PJ, Li D. DNA adducts in human pancreatic tissues and their potential role in carcinogenesis. Cancer Res 1998;58(1):1538-1543.

5. Robinson EK, Grau AM, Evans DB, Smid CM, Chiao PJ, Abbruzzese LJ, Grimm EA. Mechanism of tamoxifen-induced growth inhibition in human pancreatic cancer cell lines. Ann of Surg Onc 1998;5:342-349.