Dr Van Hoang
Position:
- Postdoctoral fellow, Biological Science Platform, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Credentials:
- PhD at Massey University
Biography:
During my PhD in Massey University (New Zealand), I have successfully investigated the effects of parasitism on modifications of monosaccharide composition in gastrointestinal mucins in sheep. Agriculture has played a key role in the New Zealand economy; hence, products from sheep and cattle contribute a large part to the total national income. We have successfully developed a method to obtain mucins from sheep without euthanizing the animals. This enabled me to investigate the changes in mucin compositions to predict the susceptibility or resistance of sheep to parasites. As a result of my studies, mucin monosaccharide profiles have been proposed as a predictive biomarker for the presence of parasites, which can be used to guide parasitic treatment.
As a postdoctoral fellow, my current project is to study the amplification of the antitumor effects of combretastatin A4 phosphate and cabozantinib by inhibition of autophagy in prostate cancer model. The hypothesis is that autophagy promotes tumor cell survival during vascular disruptive therapy, yet, conversely, impaired autophagy facilitates resistance to antiangiogenic therapy. We are optimistic that autophagy modulation may become a means to increase the benefits of antivascular therapies and assessing the autophagy status of tumors may become useful to predict response to a given antivascular treatment modality.
Working in prostate cancer in Dr. Emmenegger’s lab, the training and working experiences that I am gaining will have a great impact on my career development in cancer research. I would like to contribute to decrease in death and suffering of patients with prostate cancer by investigating mechanisms of therapeutic resistance. The metastasis propensity and inherent or acquired treatment resistance account for most of prostate cancer-related morbidity and mortality. I hope to uncover novel mechanisms of therapeutic resistance by comparing tumors that are sensitive to a specific therapy versus tumors that are non-responsive to it. The results of the proposed studies are expected to reveal biomarkers that can be used to predict patients’ responses to a given therapy in order to identify individuals that would benefit most from treatment, and to define molecular targets for overcoming treatment resistance.
After completion of the postdoctoral fellowship in Dr. Emmenegger’s laboratory, I plan to seek for a scientist/principal investigator position in the prostate cancer research field to develop effective treatments for advanced prostate cancer, and to understand the host and tumor genetics responsible for treatment outcome.
Best publications:
Hoang, V.C., Williams M.A.K., Simpson, H.V., 2010. Monosaccharide composition of fundic and duodenal mucins in sheep infected with Haemonchus contortus or Teladorsagia circumcincta. Vet Parasitol, 170 (3-4): 253-261.
Hoang, V.C., Williams M.A.K., Simpson, H.V., 2010. Effects of weaning and infection with Teladorsagia circumcincta on mucin carbohydrate profiles of early weaned lambs. Vet Parasitol, 171: 354-360.
Hoang, V.C., Simpson, H.V., Williams, M.A.K., Simcock, D.C., 2009. Effects of parasitism on gastrointestinal mucins of sheep. New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 36(4), 479.
Do, L.N., Hoang, V.C., Nguyen, P.H., Tran L.T.N., 2005. Purification of lectin from jequirity bean seeds Abrus precatorius for detecting some dangerous infectious bacteria by ELISA technique, Proceedings of National Biology Workshop (in Vietnamese).
autophagy modulation, antivascular therapy, antiangiogenic therapy, chemotherapy resistance.
