Recently, Tian Yuzi, a student under the 8-year Doctoral Cooperation Program between Xiangya Hospital, CSU, and the University of Michigan, as well as member of the team led by Professor Zhang Weiru, Director of the Department of General Practice in Xiangya Hospital, CSU, has published a research titled "HDAC6 mediates an aggresome-like mechanism for NLRP3 and pyrin inflammasome activation” as a co-first author online under the category of original treatise with Science, an international top journal (IF: 41.845).
The research has been completed under the joint supervision by Professor Hao Wu with Harvard University and Professor Yongqing Li with the University of Michigan. It reveals a signaling pathway of NLRP3 and pyran inflammasomes activated through the agency of histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) as a mediator. This signaling pathway is similar in mechanism to aggregate formation during protein degradation, so it also uncovers the dual role of the microtubule-organizing center (MTOC) in the activation and inhibition of inflammasomes, thereby offering a new target for the treatment of inflammasome-mediated diseases.
It was reported that Tian Yuzi was under the Program from 2017 to 2020; during the period, Tian Yuzi was engaged in research on Infection and Immunity (IAI) under the supervision by Professors Yongqing Li and Alam B Hasan with the University of Michigan. So far, he has published four articles as the first author or a co-first author in journals such as Science and JCI Insight. The 8-year Program has trained four outstanding students including Pan Bohong, Deng Qiufang, Tian Yuzi and Wu Zhenyu, who have published a total of 12 articles as the first authors or co-first authors.
The scientific research team led by Professor Zhang Weiru has long focused on research on renal fibrosis and correlation between lupus nephritis and immunity. It has maintained a long-term and stable cooperation with many first-rate overseas laboratories in The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of South Carolina. Professor Zhang has trained outstanding doctoral students including Xie Tingting, Xue Dan and Wang Xuan, who currently have published multiple research results in top international journals including Circulation Research (IF: 15.013), J Am Soc Nephrol (IF: 8.547) and Hypertension (IF: 6.873).
