Xiaosong Wang, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Pathology



Office Location:
University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute
Hillman Cancer Center, Research Pavilion
5117 Centre Avenue
Room G.5a
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
 Contact Information:
Office Telephone: 412-623-1587
Email: xiaosongw@pitt.edu

Wang Cancer Genomics & Molecular Targeting Lab

Education

  • BS, MD (equivalent) - China Medical University, Shenyang, China, 1994-2001
  • PhD - Peking University, Health Science Center, Beijing, China, 2003-2006

Research Interests

The Cancer Genome Project Initiatives have generated a daunting amount of genomic and deep sequencing data for tens of thousands of human tumors. An overarching challenge of this post-genomics era is to identify and recognize the cancer drivers and targets from these massive amount of multi-omics data, especially those that can be therapeutically targeted to improve the clinical outcome. The mission of our lab is to apply a multiple disciplinary approach inclusive of bioinformatics, genetics, molecular and cell biology, and translational studies to detect driving genetic aberrations and qualify appropriate cancer targets on the basis of massive multi-omics data. Our research projects are comprised of both computational and laboratory components. Our dry lab researches focus on 1) developing innovative and integrative computational technologies and tools to discover causal genetic and epigenetic alternations, viable therapeutic targets, and predictive biomarkers in cancer; 2) develop novel bioinformatics tools and models to predict therapeutic responses of cancer targeted therapies and immunotherapies, as well as to facilitate clinically important decisions. Our wet lab researches focus on experimentally characterizing individual genetic and epigenetic aberrations in breast cancer such as recurrent gene fusions, genomic amplifications, and epimutations, as well as qualifying viable cancer targets and predictive biomarkers for the development of precision therapeutics. Our current disease focus is clinically intractable breast cancers, such as luminal B, basal-like, and metastatic tumors. We expect that our new discoveries will yield novel insights into the recurring genetic abnormalities leading to breast cancer initiation, progression, metastasis, and therapeutic resistance, and establish viable targets for effective intervention.

Selected Publications

View Dr. Wang's complete bibliography on PubMed
  • Lee S*, Hu Y*, Loo SK, Tan Y, Bhargava R, Lewis MT, Wang XS#. Landscape analysis of adjacent gene rearrangements reveals BCL2L14-ETV6 gene fusions in more aggressive triple-negative breast cancer. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Apr 22:201921333. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1921333117.
  • Chi X*, Sartor MA*, Lee S*, Anurag M, Patil S, Hall P, Wexler M, Wang XS. Universal concept signature analysis: genome-wide quantification of new biological and pathological functions of genes and pathways. Briefings in Bioinformatics. 2019 Oct 18: bbz093. doi: 10.1093/bib/bbz093.
  • Kim JA, Tan Y, Wang X, Cao X, Veeraraghavan J, Liang Y, Edwards DP, Huang S, Pan X, Li K, Schiff R. and Wang XS#. Comprehensive functional analysis of the tousled-like kinase 2 frequently amplified in aggressive luminal breast cancers. Nature Communications. 2016 7:12991.
  • Veeraraghavan J, Tan Y, Cao XX, Kim JA, Wang X, Chamness GC, Maiti SN, Cooper LJN, Edwards DP, Contreras A, Hilsenbeck SG, Chang EC, Schiff R, Wang XS#. Recurrent ESR1-CCDC170 rearrangements in an aggressive subset of estrogen-receptor positive breast cancers. Nature Communications. 2014 5:4577. PMID: 25099679.
  • Xu QW, Zhao W, Wang Y, Sartor MA, Han DM, Deng JX, Ponnala R, Yang JY, Zhang QY, Liao GQ, Qu YM, Li L, Liu FF, Zhao HM, Yin YH, Chen WF, Zhang Y#, Wang XS#. An integrated genome-wide approach to discover tumor specific antigens as potential immunological and clinical targets in cancer. Cancer Research. 2012 72:6351-61. PMID: 23135912.
  • Wang XS*, Shankar S*, Dhanasekaran SM*, Ateeq B, Prensner JR, Yocum AK, Pflueger D, Jing X, Fries DF, Han B, Li Yong, Cao Q, Cao X, Maher CA, Kumar SC, Demichelis F, Tewari AK, Kuefer R, Omenn GS, Palanisamy S, Rubin MA, Varambally S, Chinnaiyan AM. Characterization of KRAS Rearrangements in Metastatic Prostate Cancer. Cancer Discovery. 2011 1:35-43. PMID: 22140652.
  • Wang XS, Prensner JR, Chen G, Cao Q, Han B, Dhanasekaran SM, Ponnala R, Cao X, Varambally S, Thomas DG, Giordano TJ, Beer DG, Palanisamy N, Sartor MA, Omenn GS, Chinnaiyan AM. An integrative approach to reveal driver gene fusions from paired-end sequencing data in cancer. Nature Biotechnology. 2009 27:1005-1011. PubMed PMID: 19881495.