Lei Xu
My research team aims to understand disease progression and treatment resistance, developing innovative strategies to improve patient outcomes. Currently, we focus on three diseases:
1. Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2): NF2 causes tumors on the hearing nerve, leading to hearing loss and social impairment. We're pioneering novel mouse models to reproduce tumor-induced hearing loss, discovering novel therapies to enhance treatment efficacy and prevent hearing loss.
2. Ovarian cancer: We're deciphering treatment resistance mechanisms and exploring ways to improve chemo- and immunotherapy efficacy while reducing malignant ascites. Targeting TGF-β and angiotensin signaling has shown promising results in enhancing treatment outcomes and quality of life for patients.
3. Schwannomatosis (SWN): With a focus on alleviating chronic pain in SWN patients, we've established clinically-relevant models using patient-derived cells and orthotopic xenografts in mice. These models help us investigate pain response mechanisms and test potential treatments.