Bing Li, Ph.D.

Lab Staff:
Research Assistant Professor: Yuwen Zhang, Ph.D.
Research Technician: Anita Mandal

Postdoctoral Fellows:
Jiaqing Hao, Ph.D.
Lianliang Liu, Ph.D.
Jun Zeng, Ph.D

Research Interest
The main focus in my laboratory is to understand the role of fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs) in chronic inflammation, obesity and cancer development. FABPs constitute a family of small, highly homologous intracellular lipid chaperones that have been recognized as central regulators of both metabolic and inflammatory pathways. We have shown that adipose FABP (A-FABP) and epidermal FABP (E-FABP) play important roles in many animal disease models. However, the exact mechanisms underlying these observations remain to be determined. Currently, research in my laboratory strives to understand how FABPs, including A-FABP and E-FABP, regulate cellular metabolism and intracellular signal transduction pathways in leukocytes, to determine the mechanisms by which FABPs link metabolism and complex diseases (obesity, skin inflammation and breast cancer development), and to identify specific small molecular regulators in modification of FABP activities for potential clinical applications.

Selected Publications

  1. Jiaqing Hao, Fei Yan, Yuwen Zhang, Ashley Triplett, Ying Zhang, Debra A. Schultz, Yanwen Sun, Jun Zeng, Kevin A.T. Silverstein, Qi Zheng, David A Bernlohr, Margot P. Cleary, Nejat K Egilmez, Edward Sauter, Shujun Liu, Jill Suttles and Bing Li. Expression of adipocyte/macrophage fatty acid binding protein in tumor associated macrophages promotes breast cancer progression. Cancer Research, 2018, February 6, doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.
  2. Yao K, Peng C, Zhang Y, Zykova TA, Lee MH, Lee SY, Rao E, Chen H, Ryu J, Wang L, Zhang Y, Gao G, He W, Ma WY, Liu K, Bode AM, Dong Z, Li B*, Dong Z* (*Co-correspondence author). RSK2 phosphorylates T-bet to attenuate colon cancer metastasis and growth.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Nov 28;114(48):12791-12796.
  3. Yan F, Shen N, Pang JX, Zhao N, Zhang YW, Bode AM, Al-Kali A, Litzow MR, Li B*, Liu SJ* (*Co-correspondence author). A vicious loop of fatty acid-binding protein 4 and DNA methyltransferase 1 promotes acute myeloid leukemia and acts as a therapeutic target.Leukemia. 2017 Oct 10. doi: 10.1038/leu.2017.307.
  4. Zhang Y, Rao E, Zeng J, Hao J, Sun Y, Liu S, Sauter ER, Bernlohr DA, Cleary MP, Suttles J, Li B. Adipose Fatty Acid Binding Protein Promotes Saturated Fatty Acid-Induced Macrophage Cell Death through Enhancing Ceramide Production.J Immunol. 2017 Jan 15;198(2):798-807.
  5. Yan F, Shen N, Pang JX, Zhang YW, Rao EY, Bode AM, Al-Kali A, Zhang DE, Litzow MR, Li B*, Liu SJ* (*Co-correspondence author). Fatty acid-binding protein FABP4 mechanistically links obesity with aggressive AML by enhancing aberrant DNA methylation in AML cells.Leukemia. 2017 Jun;31(6):1434-1442
  6. Zhang YW, Li Q, Rao EY, Sun Y,   Grossmann ME,   Morris RJ, Cleary MP, Li B. Epidermal Fatty Acid Binding Protein Promotes Skin Inflammation Induced by High-Fat Diet. Immunity, 2015; 42(5):953-964
  7. Zhang Y, Sun Y, Rao E, Yan F, Li Q, Zhang Y, Silverstein KA, Liu S, Sauter E, Cleary MP, Li B. Fatty acid-binding protein E-FABP restricts tumor growth by promoting IFN-β responses in tumor-associated macrophages, Cancer Research, 2014; 74:2988-98
  8. Qi C, Cai Y, Gunn L, Ding C, Li B, Kloecker G, Qian K, Vasilakos J, Saijo S, Iwakura Y, Yannelli JR, Yan J.Differential pathways regulating innate and adaptive antitumor immune responses by particulate and soluble yeast-derived β-glucans.Blood. 2011 Jun 23;117(25):6825-36.
  9. Li B, Cai Y, Qi C, Hansen R, Ding C, Mitchell TC, Yan J. Orally administered particulate beta-glucan modulates tumor-capturing dendritic cells and improves antitumor T-cell responses in cancer.Clinical Cancer Research. 2010 Nov 1;16(21):5153-64.
  10. Li B, Reynolds JM, Stout RD, Bernlohr DA, Suttles J. Regulation of Th17 differentiation by epidermal fatty acid-binding protein.J Immunol. 2009 Jun 15;182(12):7625-33.
  11. Salvador C*, Li B* (*Co-first author), Hansen R, Cramer DE, Kong M, Yan J.Yeast-derived beta-glucan augments the therapeutic efficacy mediated by anti-vascular endothelial growth factor monoclonal antibody in human carcinoma xenograft models.Clinical Cancer Research. 2008 Feb 15;14(4):1239-47.
  12. Li B, Allendorf DJ, Hansen R, Marroquin J, Cramer DE, Harris CL, Yan J.Combined yeast {beta}-glucan and antitumor monoclonal antibody therapy requires C5a-mediated neutrophil chemotaxis via regulation of decay-accelerating factor CD55.Cancer Research. 2007 Aug 1;67(15):7421-30.
  13. Li B, Allendorf DJ, Hansen R, Marroquin J, Ding C, Cramer DE, Yan J. Yeast beta-glucan amplifies phagocyte killing of iC3b-opsonized tumor cells via complement receptor 3-Syk-phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway.J Immunol. 2006 Aug 1;177(3):1661-9.