Ren Xu, PhD

Research Program: Cancer Therapeutics Faculty Rank: Professor Campus: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College: College of Medicine Department: Radiation Oncology

Cancer Research Interest

• Disease Site Focus: Breast
• Research Focus Area: Treatment
• Type of Research: Translational
• Research Keywords: Triple Negative Breast Cancer, obesity, tumor microenvironment, extracellular matrix
• Research Interest Statement: Dr. Xu is a world-class scientist who has made outstanding contributions to cancer research, distinguished by his leadership on multiple R01 grants focused on the mechanistic understanding of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in breast cancer (BC), his exceptional mentorship, and his comprehensive research program encompassing tumor–host interactions, obesity, cell metabolism, drug resistance, and metastasis. He received extensive training in mammary gland biology and breast cancer research at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under the mentorship of Dr. Mina J. Bissell prior to his faculty appointment. Dr. Xu’s research has revealed key mechanisms underlying obesity-related tumor development and progression and has identified actionable therapeutic targets that could ultimately lead to new strategies for eradicating breast cancer. His work serves as a model for disease site–focused, multidisciplinary science that integrates basic and translational cancer research. Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease, and Dr. Xu’s research focuses on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive subtype with poor prognosis that accounts for approximately 15% of all BC cases. Because TNBC lacks expression of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and HER2, it is unresponsive to hormone therapy or HER2-targeted treatments. Dr. Xu’s innovative approach to TNBC centers on the activation of ECM networks. He identified an ECM transcriptional network and several key hubs—such as Hsp47, P4HA1, and PLOD2—as critical regulators of ECM remodeling in human breast cancer. He further demonstrated that these hub genes are amplified and overexpressed in TNBC and represent actionable therapeutic targets. These discoveries highlight unique molecular hubs within the ECM network that can be leveraged to develop novel therapeutic strategies targeting tumor–host interactions. Arkansas has one of the highest obesity rates in the United States, and obesity is a well-established risk factor for numerous cancers, including breast cancer, where it is associated with poor outcomes. Fibrosis—characterized by excessive ECM deposition—is a hallmark of obese adipose tissue. Dr. Xu’s recent studies showed that Hsp47 expression is induced in obese adipose tissue, and that targeting Hsp47 can suppress obesity-associated fibrosis and breast cancer progression. These findings identify a novel and promising target for mitigating obesity-driven breast cancer progression.

Contact Information

• Email Address: RXu@uams.edu
• Profiles Research Networking Software: View Profile

Active Grants

• NIH/Nat. Cancer Institute – 5R01CA274981
  “The PLOD2/succinate axis in cancer cell plasticity and stemness.”
  Principal Investigator
  9/1/2025 – 8/31/2028
• NIH/Nat. Cancer Institute – 5R01CA277946
  “Roles of mRNA Transfer in Cancer Cell-Platelet Communication”
  Principal Investigator
  7/1/2025 – 6/30/2028
• NIH/Nat. Cancer Institute – 5R01CA207772
  “Roles of Hsp47 in Breast Cancer Progression”
  Principal Investigator
  6/1/2025 – 5/31/2026

Recent Publications

• Xiong G, He D, Napier D, [et al., including Xu R]. Hsp47 drives obesity-associated breast cancer progression by enhancing asporin deposition in adipose tissue. Breast cancer research : BCR. 2025 27(1):125. PMID: 40619405.
• Gupta A, Huang L, Liu J, [et al., including Xu R]. Single-cell analysis of gene regulatory networks in the mammary glands of P4HA1-knockout mice. PLoS genetics. 2025 21(7):e1011505. PMID: 40694594.
• Ho YH, Liao Y, Liao L, [et al., including Xu R]. Advances of Cell Printing Technology in Organoid Engineering. Tissue engineering. Part B, Reviews. 2025. PMID: 40501290.
• Bhullar AS, Jin K, Shi H, [et al., including Xu R]. Engineered extracellular vesicles for combinatorial TNBC therapy: SR-SIM-guided design achieves substantial drug dosage reduction. Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy. 2024 32(12):4467-4481. PMID: 39369270.
• Xiong G, Obringer B, Jones A, [et al., including Xu R]. Regulation of RORα Stability through PRMT5-Dependent Symmetric Dimethylation. Cancers. 2024 16(10). PMID: 38791992.
• Tong Y, Qi Y, Xiong G, [et al., including Xu R]. The PLOD2/succinate axis regulates the epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity and cancer cell stemness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2023 120(20):e2214942120. PMID: 37155842.
• Li J, Xu R. Obesity-Associated ECM Remodeling in Cancer Progression. Cancers. 2022 14(22). PMID: 36428776.
• Xiong G, Xu R. Retinoid orphan nuclear receptor alpha (RORα) suppresses the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) by directly repressing Snail transcription. The Journal of biological chemistry. 2022 298(7):102059. PMID: 35605663.
• Wang P, Jin JM, Liang XH, [et al., including Xu R]. Helichrysetin inhibits gastric cancer growth by targeting c-Myc/PDHK1 axis-mediated energy metabolism reprogramming. Acta pharmacologica Sinica. 2022 43(6):1581-1593. PMID: 34462561.
• Mao W, Xiong G, Wu Y, [et al., including Xu R]. RORα Suppresses Cancer-Associated Inflammation by Repressing Respiratory Complex I-Dependent ROS Generation. International journal of molecular sciences. 2021 22(19). PMID: 34639006.
• Xu R, Zhou X, Wang S, Trinkle C. Tumor organoid models in precision medicine and investigating cancer-stromal interactions. Pharmacology & therapeutics. 2021 218:107668. PMID: 32853629.