Bing Li, Ph.D.

Education:Bing Li, Ph.D.

Ph.D., Immunology, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China; 2004
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY; 2011

Curriculum Vitae

Current Positions:

Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Member, Immuno-Oncology Program, James Graham Brown Cancer Center

Contact Information:

Clinical Translational Research Building, Room 605
University of Louisville
505 Hancock St.
Louisville, KY 40202, USA

Phone: (502) 852-2678 (Office) 502-852-3259 (Lab)

Email:

Website:

http://louisville.edu/medicine/departments/microbiology/faculty/li

Research Description:

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

Representative Publications:

  1.  Hao J, Zhang Y, Yan XF, Yan F, Sun Y, Zeng J, Waigel S, Yin Y, Fraig MM, Egilmez NK, Suttles J, Kong M, Liu S, Cleary MP, Sauter E, Li B.  Circulating adipose gatty acid hinding protein promotes obesity-associated breast/mammary tumor development.  Cell Metabolism 2018 Jul 31. pii: S1550-4131(18)30449-2. PMID: 30100196.
  2. Zeng J, Zhang Y, Hao J, Sun Y, Liu S, Bernlohr DA, Sauter ER, Cleary MP, Suttles J, Li B.  Stearic acid induces CD11c expression in proinflammatory macrophages via epidermal fatty binding protein.  Journal of Immunology 2018 May 15;200(10):3407-19. PMID: 29626089.
  3. Zhang Y, Hao J, Zeng J, Li Q, Rao E, Sun Y, Liu L, Mandal A, Landers VD, Morris RJ, Cleary MP, Suttles J, Li B.  Epidermal fatty acid binding protein prevents chemical-induced skin tumorigenesis by regulation of TPA-induced IFN/p53/SOX2 pathway in keratinocytes.  Journal of Investigative Dermatology 2018 Sep 1;138(9):1925-34. doi: 10.1016/jid.2018.02.041. PMID: 29559340.
  4. Hao J, Yan F, Zhang Y, Triplett A, Zhang Y, Schultz DA, Sun Y, Zeng J, Silverstein KAT, Zheng Q, Bernlohr DA, Cleary MP, Egilmez NK, Sauter E, Liu S, Suttles J, Li B.  Expression of adipocyte/macrophage fatty acid-binding protein in tumor-associated macrophages promotes breast cancer progression.  Cancer Research 2018 May 1;78(9):2343-55. PMID: 29437708.
  5. Yan F, Shen N, Pang JX, Zhao N, Zhang YW, Bode AM, Al-Kali A, Litzow MR, Li B*, Liu SJ* (*corresponding 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 Apr;32(4):865-73. doi: 10.1038/leu.2017.307. PMID: 28993705. PMCID: PMC5871544.
  6. 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 damage through enhancing ceramide production.  Journal of Immunology 2017 Jan 15;198(2):798-807. PMID: 2720274. PMCID: PMC5225136.
  7. 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* (*corresponding author). RSK2 phosphorylates T-bet to attenuate colon cancer metastasis and growth.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 2017 Nov 28;114(48):12791-6. PMID: 29133416. PMCID: PMC5715759.
  8. Yan F, Shen N, Pang JX, Zhang YW, Rao EY, Bode AM, Al-Kali A, Zhang DE, Litzow MR, Li B*, Liu SJ* (*corresponding author). Fatty acid-binding protein FABP4 mechanistically links obesity withaggressive AML by enhancing aberrant DNA methylation in AML cells.  Leukemia2017 Jun;31(6):1434-42. PMID: 27885273. PMCID: PMC5457366.
  9. 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 May 19;42(5):953-64. PMID: PMID: 25992864. PMCID: PMC4440244,
  10. 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 Jun 1;74(11):2986-98. PMID: 24713431. PMCID: PMD4040301. 

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