Cardiovascular and Cancer Genetics

The goal of Dr. Hwang's translational work is to provide insights into developing novel strategies for preventing cancer and improving cardiovascular health.

On This Page
Hwang

Research Interests

Research Interests

Cardiovascular and Cancer Genetics

Earlier work in Dr. Hwang’s lab revealed that p53, one of the most commonly mutated tumor suppressor genes that controls multiple pathways involved in cell growth, also regulates the mitochondria as part of its adaptive activities against oxidative and other cellular stresses. The research group is focusing on this link between cancer and mitochondrial metabolism, which also impacts the cardiovascular system, by using mouse models as well as by performing translational studies in patients with Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS), a cancer predisposition disorder caused by diverse germline mutations in TP53. Their work has shown that inhibiting mitochondrial metabolism can prevent tumorigenesis in a mouse model of LFS and that p53 can protect the mitochondrial genome in chemotherapy-induced heart failure, both of which may have important clinical implications. While continuing to examine the role of p53 in cardiac muscle homeostasis, they have recently identified specific pathways that regulate the mitochondria and may be involved in skeletal muscle adaptation to exercise training and chronic fatigue. The goal of their study on mitochondrial metabolism in model systems is to determine their relevance to human diseases through translational studies and to develop new strategies for cancer prevention and maintaining cardiovascular health.

Featured Publications

Reducing Fatty Acid Oxidation Improves Cancer-free Survival in a Mouse Model of Li-Fraumeni Syndrome.

Authors: Wang PY, Ma J, Li J, Starost MF, Wolfgang MJ, Singh K, Pirooznia M, Kang JG, Hwang PM.
Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2021 Jan 01;14(1):31-40
Read Publication

A mouse homolog of a human TP53 germline mutation reveals a lipolytic activity of p53.

Authors: Kang JG, Lago CU, Lee JE, Park JH, Donnelly MP, Starost MF, Liu C, Kwon J, Noguchi AC, Ge K, Wang PY, Hwang PM.
Cell Rep. 2020 Jan 21;30(3):783-792
Read Publication

p53 prevents doxorubicin cardiotoxicity independently of its prototypical tumor suppressor activities.

Authors: Li J, Wang PY, Long NA, Zhuang J, Springer DA, Zou J, Lin Y, Bleck CKE, Park JH, Kang JG, Hwang PM.
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2019 Sep 24;116(39):19626-19634
Read Publication

Mouse homolog of the human TP53 R337H mutation reveals its role in tumorigenesis.

Authors: Park JH, Li J, Starost MF, Liu C, Zhuang J, Chen J, Achatz MI, Kang JG, Wang PY, Savage SA, Hwang PM
Cancer Res 2018 Sep 15;78(18):5375-5383
Read Publication

Inhibiting mitochondrial respiration prevents cancer in a mouse model of Li-Fraumeni syndrome.

Authors: Wang PY, Li J, Walcott FL, Kang JG, Starost MF, Talagala SL, Zhuang J, Park JH, Huffstutler RD, Bryla CM, Mai PL, Pollak M, Annunziata CM, Savage SA, Fojo AT, Hwang PM
J Clin Invest 2017 Jan 03;127(1):132-136
Read Publication
View More Publications

Meet the Team

Hwang

Paul Hwang, M.D., Ph.D.

Senior Investigator

Dr. Paul Hwang earned BA degrees in biochemistry and chemistry from the University of Kansas in 1985, after which he spent a year at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and University of Zurich as a Fulbright Scholar. He graduated from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with an MD and PhD in 1993. He did his internship and residency in internal medicine at the UCSF School of Medicine in San Francisco, followed by a clinical fellowship in cardiology and postdoctoral research in molecular oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Upon completion of his training in 2001, Dr. Hwang joined the NHLBI as a tenure-track investigator and became a senior investigator in the Cardiovascular Branch in 2011. He was elected as member of American Society for Clinical Investigation and fellow of the American College of Cardiology. He has served on the editorial boards of Drug Discovery Today, Frontiers in Mitochondrial Physiology, and Mitochondrion, and has authored numerous research articles and reviews in major journals. He has been recognized for his contributions to the NHLBI intramural research by receiving the NHLBI Orloff Science Award and the NHLBI Director’s Award for Outstanding Translational Science.

Mateus Mori

Mateus Mori, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow