Peishan Lee
Graduate Student

plee@sanfordburnham.org

 Role of MALT1, cIAP2-MALT1 and proteolytic targets in the B lineage.

Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma is a form of low-grade marginal zone B cell lymphomas that arises from a background of chronic inflammatory disease at a number of mucosal sites. Recurrent chromosomal translocations have been described in MALT lymphoma, with the most common one being a t(11;18) translocation that results in a fusion protein containing cellular inhibitor of apoptosis protein 2 (cIAP2) and the paracaspase MALT1. The cIAP2-MALT1 fusion protein is capable of activating the NF-κB pathway constitutively. Yet, no comparative analysis of cIAP2-MALT1 versus its normal counterpart has been performed. It has been shown that MALT1 possesses protease activity and two of its substrates that have been described are A20 and BCL-20. However, it remains unclear whether the function of cIAP2-MALT1 or MALT1 is strictly dependent on its proteolytic activity. My research will address these knowledge gaps by utilizing a chimera mouse model to determine the effects of MALT1 and cIAP2-MALT1 on B cell differentiation, longevity, function, and transformation. The role of MALT1-mediated substrate cleavage in human B cell lymphoma will also be explored.
 

Education
2009-present University of California, San Diego, Biomedical sciences graduate program
2005-2007 National Taiwan University, M.S. in Biochemical Sciences
2001-2005 California Institute of Technology, B.S. in Biology
 

Publications

Chen YT, Ross DS, Chiu R, Zhou XK, Chen YY, Lee P*, Hoda SA, Simpson AJ, Old LJ, Caballero O, Neville AM. Multiple cancer/testis antigens are preferentially expressed in hormone-receptor negative and high-grade breast cancers. PLoS One. 18;6(3):e17876. 2011.

Chen YT, Chadburn A, Lee P*, Hsu M, Ritter E, Chiu A, Gnjatic S, Pfreundschuh e, Knowles DM, Old LJ. Expression of cancer testis antigen CT45 in classical Hodgkin lymphoma and other B-cell lymphomas. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 107: 3093-3098, 2010

Chen YT, Hsu M, Lee P*, Shin SJ, Mhawech-Fauceglia P, Odunsi K, Altorki NK, Song CJ, Jin BQ, Simpson AJ, Old LJ. Cancer/Testis Antigen CT45: Analysis of mRNA and Protein Expression in Human Cancer. Int J Cancer. 124(12): 2893-2898, 2009

Chang WW, Lee CH, Lee P*, Lin J, Hsu CW, Hung JT, Lin JJ, Yu J, Wong CH, Yu JC, Shao LE, Yu AL. Expression of Globo H and SSEA3 in breast cancer stem cells and the involvement of fucosyltransferases 1 & 2 in Globo H synthesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 105: 11667-11672, 2008
 

Outside Interests
Piano, keyboardist in a rock band, cooking/baking, karaoke, photography, traveling, Hip-Hop dance, anime drawing.