Yang, Decheng

Associate Professor, Dept of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
MSc (1982) University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
PhD (1986) University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Postdoc Fellow (1987) University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Research Interests

My research interests focus on two major areas. One is the molecular biology and pathogenesis of coxsackieviruses, a positive single stranded RNA virus. Specifically, we are mapping the viral gene structures responsible for viral translation initiation and cardiovirulence by mutational analysis. Based on these studies, antiviral drugs including antisense oligonucleotide, ribozyme and siRNA targeting these key genes will be developed for the treatment of viral myocarditis. To deliver these gene drugs, a heart-specific viral vector based on coxsackievirus genome will be developed. These drugs will be evaluated in vitro and in animal models.

The second area of my interest is the study of host gene responses to viral infection. The focus of this study is the transcriptional analysis and functional characterization of mouse genes encoding determinants of cardiac susceptibility to coxsackieviral infection. Differential mRNA display and oligonucleotide microarray are used to identify known and unknown genes involved in myocarditis development. Gene transfer in vitro and transgenic mouse models are employed to study the roles of these genes in signal transduction leading to myocyte apoptosis or cardiac hypertrophy. This study has great potential to discover new targets for gene therapy and molecular markers for diagnosis of viral myocarditis.

Selected Publications

Yuan J, Cheung P, Zhang HM, Chau D, Yanagawa B, Cheung C, Luo H, Wang Y, Suarez A, McManus B and Yang DC, A phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotide specifically inhibits coxsackievirus B3 replication in mouse heart. Lab Invest 2004 (in press).

Zhang M, Yuan J, , Cheung P, Luo H, Yanagawa B, Chau D, Stephan-Tozy N, Wong B, Zhang J, Wilson JE, McManus BM and Yang DC. Over-expression of interferon-g-inducible GTPase inhibits coxsackievirus B3-induced apoptosis through the activation of the PI3-K/Akt pathway and inhibition of viral replication. J. Biol. Chem. 278: 33011-33019, 2003.

Yang DC, Liu Z, Carthy CM, Anderson DR, Yu J, Bohunek L, Wilson JE and McManus BM. A Shine-Dalgarno-like sequence mediates in vitro ribosomal internal entry and subsequent scanning for translation initiation of coxsackievirus B3 RNA. Virology 305:31-43, 2003.

Carthy CM, Yanagawa B, Luo H, Granville DJ, Yang DC, Cheung P, Rudin CM, Thompson CB, Hunt DWC and McManus BM. Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL overexpression inhibits cytochrome c release, activation of multiple caspases, and virus release following coxsackievirus B3 infection. Virology 313: 147-157, 2003.

Luo H, Zhang J, Cheung C, Suarez A, McManus BM and Yang DC. Proteasome inhibition reduces coxsackievirus B3 replication in murine cardiomyocytes. Am J Pathol.163:381-385, 2003.

Yanagawa B, Spiller OB, Choy J, Luo H, Cheung P, Zhang HM, Goodfellow IG, Evans DJ, Suarez A, Yang DC, McManus BM. Coxsackievirus B3-associated myocardial pathology and viral load reduced by recombinant soluble human decay-accelerating factor in mice. Lab. Invest. 83: 75-85, 2003.

Yang DC, Cheung P, Yanagawa B, Chau D, Cheung C, McManus BM. Viral proteases in viral replication and pathogenesis. In: Current Topics in Virology. 17-31, 2003.

Zhang M, Cheung P, Yanagawa B, McManus BM and Yang DC. BNips: A Group of Pro-apoptotic proteins in the Bcl-2 family. Apoptosis. 8/3: 229-236, 2003.

Zhang M, Yanagawa B, Luo H, Cheung P, Wang A, Bohunek L Wilson JE, McManus BM and Yang DC. Nip21 gene expression reduces coxsackievirus B3 replication by promoting apoptotic cell death via a mitochondia-dependent pathway. Circ. Res. 90: 1251-1258, 2002.

Cheung P, Zhang H, Yuan J, Chau D, Yanagawa R, McManus BM and Yang DC. Specific interactions of HeLa cell proteins with coxsackievirus B3 RNA: La autoantigen binds differentially to multiple sites within the 5' untranslated region. Virus Res. 90:23-36, 2002.

Luo H, Yanagawa B, Zhang J, Luo Z, Zhang M, Esfandiarei M, Carthy C, Wilson JE, Yang DC, and McManus BM. Coxsackievirus B3 replication is reduced by inhibition of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling pathway. J Virol. 76:3365-3373, 2002.

Cheung PM, Yanagawa B, Wang A, Zhang H, Wilson JE, McManus BM, Yang DC. Molecular mechanisms of cardiovirulence and host cell responses in coxsackievirus B3 induced myocarditis. Recent Res Devel Virol. 3:427-454. 2001.

Wang, A, Cheung P, Bohunek B, Zhang H, Wilson J, McManus BM and Yang DC. Specific inhibition of coxsackievirus B3 translation and replication by phosphorothioate antisense oligodeoxynucleaotides. Antimicrob. Agents and Chemotherapy 45: 1043-1052, 2001.

Kanda T, Tanaka T, Sekiguchi K, Seta Y, Kurimoto M, Wilson JE, Nagai, Yang D, McManus BM, Kobayashi I: Effect of interleukin-18 on viral myocarditis; enhancement of interforn-g and natural killer cell activity. J Mol Cell Cardiol 32: 2163-2171, 2000.

Taylor L, Carthy C, Yang DC, Saad K, Wong D, Schreiner G, Stanton LW, and McManus BM. Host gene regulation during coxsackievirus B3 infection in mice using microarray analysis. Circ. Res. 87:328-334. 2000.