Dr WONG P Maria | mwpik@hkucc.hku.hk
Associate Professor
MBBS HK; MD HK; FRCPath; FRCPA; FHKAM (Pathology); FHKCPath; FIAC; MRCP UK

Pathology and Molecular Genetics of Lung Cancer

Research Description

Our research is focused on the study of the molecular genetics, pathobiological and clinical characteristics of lung cancer. The studies are aimed at achieving a better understanding of the carcinogenic and progression mechanisms of lung cancer, and to provide data for improving tumour diagnosis, prognostication and development of therapeutic strategies. Apart from expertise in pathology, contributions from clinical team members specializing in surgical and clinical oncological management ensure the accuracy and completeness of the tumour database. Findings are also investigated and substantiated using in-vitro models and functional studies.

Lung cancer is common amongst malignancies in HK with an incidence ratio of 2.5 male to 1 female. Lung cancer in men is mainly due to tobacco, but the majority of women are non-smokers with a smoker to non-smoker ratio of 0.3 compared to 6.2 in men. The mechanisms leading to lung cancer in patients with differential tobacco exposure are incompletely understood.

Our current studies are focused on two areas. The first is aimed at assessing the significance of candidate cancer genes in lung cancer development. Potential cancer-related genes are identified through comprehensive and integrative analysis of genomic and expression profile differences between cancerous and normal lung screened by microarray technology. Candidate genes are selected based on putative roles in cell proliferation, survival, tumour-host interaction, angiogenesis and other tissue remodeling functions. Hypotheses are validated by clinicopathological correlation and in-vitro models.

The second area is the study of EGFR mutations and signaling pathway abnormalities in lung cancer. Mutations of EGFR are associated with adenocarcinomas, non-smokers and the female gender. Patients whose tumours harbour EGFR mutations respond with tumour shrinkage and performance improvement to small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Current studies are aimed at mutational profiling of EGFR family and interacting pathway genes, and the effect of such mutations on downstream and signaling pathways.

FISH verification of 20q13.3 genomic gain identified in lung cancers by array-CGH (submitted)

Good correlation of chromosomal aberration profiles by metaphase and array-based CGH in lung cancer cell lines (submitted)