Qing Wang

Cancer biologist in Hsin-Sheng Yang's lab at the University of Kentucky who studies how the tumour suppressor Pdcd4 holds back mTORC2 signalling, protein synthesis and cancer cell invasion

Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology and Markey Cancer Center, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky (Hsin-Sheng Yang lab, papers 2017–2026)

Cancer cells burn sugar fast, even when oxygen is plentiful, a habit called aerobic glycolysis. In the Atlas study WANG2026B in Neoplasia, Qing Wang was first author in Hsin-Sheng Yang's lab. The team showed in non-small cell lung cancer cells and in tumours grown in mice that the tumour suppressor Pdcd4 binds Rictor, the core partner of mTOR in the mTORC2 complex, through three positively charged amino acids (R105, K108 and R110). This binding breaks up mTORC2 and lowers its activity. Less mTORC2 means less PFKFB3, an enzyme that speeds up glycolysis, so the cancer cells use less sugar and grow more slowly. The work was done in cells and mouse xenografts.

Wang has worked with Yang in the Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology at the University of Kentucky for several years; PubMed lists 18 papers with both names and this address. Much of the work is on Pdcd4 in colorectal cancer. A 2025 first-author paper showed that Pdcd4 blocks translation of Slug, a protein that helps cancer cells invade, through the 5' untranslated region of its messenger RNA. A 2020 first-author paper found that blocking the IGF-1 receptor in colon cancer cells switches on MEK, a survival signal, which may explain why IGF-1 receptor drugs worked poorly in patients. No official profile page was found.

Milestones in the Atlas

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Co-authors in the Atlas 1

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