Children's Hospital is part of the UPMC family.
Our Sites
Be safe anytime, anywhere.
To find a pediatrician or pediatric specialist, please call 412-692-7337 or search our directory.
A resource for our network of referring physicians.
For more information about research, please call our main office at 412-692-6438.
Ranked #8 Nationally by U.S. News & World Report.
The laboratory of Baoli Hu, PhD, investigates the genetic and epigenetic events that contribute to the evolution of brain tumors. The long-term goals of the lab are to achieve a better understanding of brain tumor biology and to develop more effective diagnoses and therapeutic strategies for the treatment of brain cancer.
Cancer is increasingly being viewed as an ecosystem where the cancer cells dynamically evolve and spatiotemporally communicate with the surrounding cellular environment. Deciphering this evolutionary complexity allows us to better understand brain tumor initiation, progression, recurrence, and drug resistance. The Hu Lab for Brain Tumor Evolution and Therapy is focused on glioma and medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumors in adults and children, respectively.
Intratumor genetic heterogeneity and phenotypic diversity are the hallmarks of glioma and medulloblastoma, which predict the risk of tumor development, progression, and response to treatment. To delineate crosstalk mechanisms of these factors, the Hu Lab has developed human-in-mouse model systems based on malignant transformation of human neural/cerebellar stem cells driven by subtype-specific genetic/epigenetic alterations. These models can faithfully recapitulate the molecular diversity, cellular heterogeneity, and histology seen in patient tumors. In addition, these models enable precise system-level comparisons of premalignant and malignant states of these stem cells, which deepens our understanding of tumor evolutionary dynamics in the molecular and cellular level. The key regulators in this process are validated as diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for clinical application.
Emerging evidence suggests that glioma/medulloblastoma stem cells may contribute to tumor evolution and anti-therapy. We previously found that glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) differentiate into endothelial-like cells (GdECs), which recruit host endothelial cells (ECs) to form an invasive niche, resulting in tumor invasiveness and recurrence. We are continuing our efforts to gain a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of these cancer stem cells, and how they communicate with their surrounding cells (e.g. endothelial cells, microglia/macrophages, astrocytes, etc.), which allows us to develop novel and more effective therapies by targeting critical components of the tumor microenvironment.
The invasive niche is comprised of GSCs, GdECs, ECs, and other types of cells in glioblastoma tumors. Representative images show the close proximity of GdEC (yellow) and host ECs (green) compared with GSCs (red). (Hu, et al., Cell, 22 Feb 2016)
The major challenge in the clinical management of glioblastoma is that cancer cells extensively infiltrate into the surrounding tissue, leading to nearly universal recurrence. Group 3 medulloblastoma is characterized by frequent metastasis at diagnosis and the worst prognosis among all the subgroups. We aim to elucidate molecular mechanisms of de novo invasion and treatment-induced invasion (e.g. temozolomide, bevacizumab, etc.), which enables us to identify the “drivers” mediating invasion by cancer cells and to disseminate and aid in the development of new therapies.
Suppression of tumor invasiveness by depleting WNT5A-mediated GdECs using HSVTK/ganciclovir (GCV) cell ablation system. Representative images for tumor appearance (left) and peritumoral satellite lesions (right) in PDX mouse model. (Hu, et al., Cell, 22 Feb 2016)
Principal Investigator baolihu@pitt.edu Read More>>
Rashmi Srivastava, PhD Post-doctoral Fellow
Han Zou, medical student International Scholar
Evridiki Asimakidou, MD Visiting Scholar
The Hu Lab UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh John G. Rangos Sr. Research Center, Suite 7127 4401 Penn Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15224 412-692-9457
The Hu Lab received R21 funding from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to investigate the role of SMARCD3/BAF60C in neurodevelopment and medulloblastoma.
The Hu Lab received the 2020 Walter L. Copeland Fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation to study the role of CHI3L1 in reprogramming of the tumor immune microenvironment of glioblastoma.
The Hu Lab received two awards to study new epigenetic alterations in medulloblastoma, funded by the Matthew Larson Foundation and the Connor’s Cure fund from the V Foundation for Cancer Research.
The Hu Lab received three awards to investigate the role of WNT5A in glioblastoma therapy resistance, including UPMC Competitive Medical Research Fund Award, B*CURED Brain Cancer Research Investigator Award, and the Walter L. Copeland Fund Award.
Baoli Hu, PhD, delivered a virtual presentation, “Understanding and Targeting CHI3L1/YKL-40 Signaling in Glioblastoma,” by invitation for OncoArendi Therapeutics, Warsaw, Poland.
Dr. Hu delivered a virtual presentation, “Glioblastoma Therapy: Targeting Intracellular or Intercellular Signaling?” for the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy fall seminar series.
A Resource of High-quality and Versatile Nanobodies for Drug Delivery Shen Z, Xiang Y, Vergara S, Chen A, Xiao Z, Santiago U, Jin C, Sang Z, Luo J, Chen K, Schneidman-Duhovny D, Camacho C, Calero G, Hu B, Shi Y iScience 2021 Aug 21
Chitinase-3-like 1 Protein Complexes Modulate Macrophage-mediated Immune Suppression in Glioblastoma Chen A, Jiang Y, Li Z, Wu L, Santiago U, Zou H, Cai C, Sharma V, Guan Y, McCarl LH, Ma J, Wu YL, Michel J, Shi Y, Konnikova L, Amankulor NM, Zinn PO, Kohanbash G, Agnihotri S, Lu S, Lu X, Sun D, Gittes GK, Wang Q, Xiao X, Yimlamai D, Pollack IF, Camacho CJ, Hu B The Journal of Clinical Investigation 2021 Aug 16
ZFTA–RELA Dictates Oncogenic Transcriptional Programs to Drive Aggressive Supratentorial Ependymoma Arabzade A, Zhao Y, Varadharajan S, Chen HC, Jessa S, Rivas B, Stuckert AJ, Solis M, Kardian A, Tlais D, Golbourn BJ, Stanton AJ, Chan YS, Olson C, Karlin KL, Kong K, Kupp R, Hu B, Injac SG, Ngo M, Wang PR, De León LA, Sahm F, Kawauchi D, Pfister SM, Lin CY, Hodges HC, Singh I, Westbrook TF, Chintagumpala MM, Blaney SM, Parsons DW, Pajtler KW, Agnihotri S, Gilbertson RJ, Yi J, Jabado N, Kleinman CL, Bertrand KC, Deneen B, Mack SC Cancer Discovery 2021 Sep 11
Therapy-Induced Transdifferentiation Promotes Glioma Growth Independent of EGFR Signaling Oh H, Hwang I, Jang JY, Wu L, Cao D, Yao J, Ying H, Li JY, Yao Y, Hu B, Wang Q, Zheng H, Paik J Cancer Research 2021 Mar 15
Telomere Dysfunction Activates YAP1 to Drive Tissue Inflammation Chakravarti D, Hu B, Mao X, Rashid A, Li J, Li J, Liao WT, Whitley EM, Dey P, Hou P, LaBella KA, Chang A, Wang G, Spring DJ, Deng P, Zhao D, Liang X, Lan Z, Lin Y, Sarkar S, Terranova C, Deribe YL, Blutt SE, Okhuysen P, Zhang J, Vilar E, Nielsen OH, Dupont A, Younes M, Patel KR, Shroyer NF, Rai K, Estes MK, Wang YA, Bertuch AA, DePinho RA Nature Communications 2020 Sep 21
Tumor Evolution of Glioma-Intrinsic Gene Expression Subtypes Associates with Immunological Changes in the Microenvironment Wang Q, Hu B, Hu X, Kim H, Squatrito M, Scarpace L, deCarvalho AC, Lyu S, Li P, Li Y, Barthel F, Cho HJ, Lin YH, Satani N, Martinez-Ledesma E, Zheng S, Chang E, Sauvé CG, Olar A, Lan ZD, Finocchiaro G, Phillips JJ, Berger MS, Gabrusiewicz KR, Wang G, Eskilsson E, Hu J, Mikkelsen T, DePinho RA, Muller F, Heimberger AB, Sulman EP, Nam DH, Verhaak RGW Cancer Cell 2017 Jul 10
PAF Promotes Stemness and Radioresistance of Glioma Stem Cells Ong DST, Hu B, Ho YW, Sauve, GC, Bristow CA, Wang Q, Multani SA, Chen P, Nezi L, Jiang S, Gorman CE, Monasterio, MM, Koul D, Marchesini M, Colla S, Jin EJ, Sulman EP, Lang FF, Spring DJ, Yung AW, Verhaak RGW, Chin L, Wang YA, and DePinho RA Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 2017 Oct 24
QKI Deficiency Maintains Stemness of Glioma Stem Cells in Suboptimal Environment by Downregulating Endolysosomal Degradation Shingu T, Ho A, Yuan L, Zhou X, Dai C, Zheng S, Wang Q, Zhong Y, Chang, Q, Horner J, Liebelt BD, Yao Y, Hu B, Chen Y, Fuller GN, Verhaak RGW, Heimberger AM, Hu J Nature Genetics 2017 Jan
Epigenetic Activation of WNT5A Drives Glioblastoma Stem Cell Differentiation and Invasive Growth Hu B, Wang Q, Wang YA, Hua S, Sauve, GC, Ong DS, Zheng, DL, Chang Q, Ho YW, Monasterio, MM, Lu X, Zhong Y, Zhang J, Deng P, Tan Z, Wang G, Liao, W, Corley LJ, Yan H, Zhang J, You, Y, Liu N, Cai L, Finocchiaro G, Phillips JJ, Berger MS, Spring DJ, Hu J, Sulman EP, Fuller GN, Chin L, Verhaak RGW, DePinho RA Cell 2016 Nov 17
Targeting YAP-Dependent MDSC Infiltration Impairs Tumor Progression Wang G, Lu X, Dey P, Deng P, Wu CC, Jiang S, Fang Z, Zhao K, Konaparthi R, Hua S, Zhang J, Li-Ning-Tapia EM, Kapoor A, Wu CJ, Patel NB, Guo Z, Ramamoorthy V, Tieu TN, Heffernan T, Zhao D, Shang X, Khadka S, Hou P, Hu B, Jin EJ, Yao W, Pan X, Ding Z, Shi Y, Li L, Chang Q, Troncoso P, Logothetis CJ, McArthur MJ, Chin L, Wang YA, DePinho RA Cancer Discovery 2016 Jan
From the Cover: Neutralization of Terminal Differentiation in Gliomagenesis Hu J, Ho AL, Yuan L, Hu B, Hua S, Hwang SS, Zhang J, Hu T, Zheng H, Gan B, Wu G, Wang YA, Chin L, DePinho RA Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 2013 Sep 3
Passenger Deletions Generate Therapeutic Vulnerabilities in Cancer Muller FL, Colla S, Aquilanti E, Manzo VE, Genovese G, Lee J, Eisenson D, Narurkar R, Deng P, Nezi L, Lee MA, Hu B, Hu J, Sahin E, Ong D, Fletcher-Sananikone E, Ho D, Kwong L, Brennan C, Wang YA, Chin L, DePinho RA Nature 2012 Aug 15
STAR RNA-binding Protein Quaking Suppresses Cancer via Stabilization of Specific miRNA Chen AJ, Paik JH, Zhang H, Shukla SA, Mortensen R, Hu J, Ying H, Hu B, Hurt J, Farny N, Dong C, Xiao Y, Wang YA, Silver PA, Chin L, Vasudevan S, Depinho RA Genes & Development 2012 Jul 1
The Hu Lab is looking for talented and highly-motivated post-docs, undergraduate, and graduate students, who are interested in our research and joining us. Candidates should contact Dr. Hu via email.
Children's Hospital's main campus is located in the Lawrenceville neighborhood. Our main hospital address is:
UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh One Children’s Hospital Way 4401 Penn Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15224
In addition to the main hospital, Children's has many convenient locations in other neighborhoods throughout the greater Pittsburgh region.
With MyCHP, you can request appointments, review test results, and more.
For questions about a hospital bill call:
To pay your bill online, please visit UPMC's online bill payment system.
Interested in giving to Children's Hospital? Support the hospital by making a donation online, joining our Heroes in Healing monthly donor program, or visiting our site to learn about the other ways you can give back.