Profile

Maode Lai: Professor, Chief Physician
Dr. Lai graduated from the faculty of medicine, Zhejiang Medical University in 1982, and received his doctorate in Medical University of Lübeck in Federal Republic of Germany in 1990. Currently, he is the candidate president of Pathology Division of the Chinese Medical Association and chief scientist of a national scientific and technological pillar program. He is also the vice president of Colorectal Cancer Committee of Chinese Anti-Cancer Association, and the Pathologists Branch of Chinese Medical Doctor Association. The international journals which Dr. Lai serves in the editorial boards include Clinica Chimica Acta, Open Proteomics Journal, and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine International.

Research Interests
Our major research interestes are the initiation of colonrectal cancer and its progression from the adenoma to the formation of aggressive tumors in the context of metabolic disorders, e.g., metabolic syndrome. We explore the genomic and proteomic changes of adenoma-carcinoma transition and develop cell and animal models that confirm the functions of genomic and proteomic change of the disease. One of the current research focus is translational medicine, i.e., applying the already obtained information for designing new agents for therapeutic and diagnostic applications.

Ongoing projects
Ⅰ. Screening and functional analysis of conventional malignant tumor-related biomarkers.
By genomic and proteomic approaches, we have identified a serial of colorectal cancer-related biomarkers, e.g., IGFBP7, Reg4, secretagogin. Those biomarkers are undergoing vigorous testing for their functions in the development of colorectal cancer. Those findings will be translated into the development of agents for the applications of the early diagnosis, therapeutic assessment, and tumor recurrence monitoring.

Ⅱ. Identifing the molecular markers and the characteristic morphological features in precancerous lesions.
We are using large clinical sample base to verify the characteristic morphological, genomic and proteomic changes in the precancerous lesions of colorectal and lung cancer. The results will provide new insights to the initiation of these malignant tumors and facilitate the early diagnosis and intervention of them.

Ⅲ. Criteria standardazation of metabolic syndrome and early intervention
Supported by a national scientific and technological pillar program, this nation-wide multicenter project aims to establish diagnostic criteria and early intervention guidelines for metabolic syndrome. More specifically, we will try to use waist circumference and molecular biomarkers as major indicators for metabolic syndrome. Susceptible individuals will be selected and grouped into different early intervention arms for the assessing of proper intervention methods. In the mean time, diagnostic kits will be developed.

Selected Publications
Zhang H, Li Y, Lai M. The microRNA network and tumor metastasis. Oncogene. 2009 Nov 23. [Epub ahead of print]

Xue H, Lü B, Zhang J, Wu M, Huang Q, Wu Q, Sheng H, Wu D, Hu J, Lai M. Identification of serum biomarkers for colorectal cancer metastasis using a differential secretome approach. J Proteome Res. 2009 Nov 19. [Epub ahead of print]

Xu F, Xu J, Lou Z, Di M, Wang F, Hu H, Lai M. Micropapillary component in colorectal carcinoma is associated with lymph node metastasis in T1 and T2 Stages and decreased survival time in TNM stages I and II. Am J Surg Pathol. 2009;33(9):1287-92

Lü B, Yu J, Xu J, Chen J, Lai M. A novel approach to detect differentially expressed genes from count-based digital databases by normalizing with housekeeping genes.Genomics. 2009;94(3):211-6

Xue H, Lu B, Lai M. The cancer secretome: a reservoir of biomarkers. J Transl Med. 2008;6: 52.

Xu J, Lü B, Xu F, Gu H, Fang Y, Huang Q, Lai M. Dynamic down-regulation of Kruppel-like factor 4 in colorectal adenoma-carcinoma sequence. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2008;134: 891-8.

Xu F, Wang F, Di M, Huang Q, Wang M, Hu H, Jin Y, Dong J, Lai M. Classification based on the combination of molecular and pathologic predictors is superior to molecular classification on prognosis in colorectal carcinoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2007;13: 5082-8.

Lin J, Lai M, Huang Q, Ma Y, Cui J, Ruan W. Methylation patterns of IGFBP7 in colon cancer cell lines are associated with levels of gene expression. J Pathol. 2007;212: 83-90.

Xing X, Lai M, Gartner W, Xu E, Huang Q, Li H, Chen G. Identification of differentially expressed proteins in colorectal cancer by proteomics: down-regulation of secretagogin. Proteomics 2006;6: 2916-23.

Wang G, Lai M, Yang R, Chen P, Su Y, Lv B, Sun L, Huang Q, Chen S.. Histological types and significance of bronchial epithelial dysplasia. Mod Pathol 2006;19: 429-37.

Lai M, Lu B, Xing X, Xu E, Ren G, Huang Q. Secretagogin, a novel neuroendocrine marker, has a distinct expression pattern from chromogranin A. Virchows Arch 2006;449: 402-9.

Xu E, Lai M, Lv B, Xing X, Huang Q, Xia X. A single nucleotide polymorphism in the matrix metalloproteinase-2 promoter is associated with colorectal cancer. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2004;324: 999-1003.

Shao L, Huang Q, Luo M, Lai M. Detection of the differentially expressed gene IGF-binding protein-related protein-1 and analysis of its relationship to fasting glucose in Chinese colorectal cancer patients. Endocr Relat Cancer. 2004;11(1):141-8.

Lu B, Lai M, Cheng L, Xu J, Huang Q. Gastric medullary carcinoma, a distinct entity associated with microsatellite instability-H, prominent intraepithelial lymphocytes and improved prognosis. Histopathology 2004;45: 485-92.

Zhang Y, Lai M, Lv B, Gu X, Wang H, Zhu Y, Zhu Y, Shao L, Wang G. Overexpression of Reg IV in colorectal adenoma.Cancer Lett. 2003;200(1):69-76.