Education

Ph.D.  Biomolecular Sciences, University of Central Florida, 2007
B.S.  Biology, Fudan University, China, 2001 

Background

Dr. Mengqian (Max) Chen is an assistant professor of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences at the University of South Carolina with over two decades of experience in cancer research. His work focuses on how cancer cells adapt during disease progression, the identification of new therapeutic targets, and the development of innovative drug candidates for advanced cancers.

Over the past decade, Dr. Chen has helped establish the Mediator kinases CDK8 and CDK19 as novel drug targets by demonstrating their critical role in driving therapy resistance and metastasis, while being dispensable for normal tissues. In collaboration with colleagues, he has developed selective CDK8/19 inhibitors and degraders that suppress leukemias and metastatic solid tumors and can prevent or reverse drug resistance.

In addition to his academic research, Dr. Chen has gained significant industry experience in preclinical drug development and clinical trial design, which informs his translational approach to advancing new targeted therapies for aggressive pediatric and adult cancers. 

Research Interests

• Tumor plasticity and therapy resistance
• Transcriptional reprogramming in cancer progression
• Mechanisms of tumor metastasis
• Design and development of targeted cancer therapeutics
• Selective inhibitors and protein degraders for cancer therapy 

Publications

Ding X, Liang J, Sharko AC, Hilimire TA, Li J, Loskutov J, Mack ZT, Ji H, Schools GP, Cai C, Pugacheva EN, Chen M, Roninson IB, Broude EV. Mediator kinase inhibitors suppress triple-negative breast cancer growth and extend tumor suppression by mTOR and AKT inhibitors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Nov 19;121(47):e2414501121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2414501121. Epub 2024 Nov 14. PubMed PMID: 39541354; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11588072.

Li J, Hilimire TA, Liu Y, Wang L, Liang J, Gyorffy B, Sikirzhytski V, Ji H, Zhang L, Cheng C, Ding X, Kerr KR, Dowling CE, Chumanevich AA, Mack ZT, Schools GP, Lim CU, Ellis L, Zi X, Porter DC, Broude EV, McInnes C, Wilding G, Lilly MB, Roninson IB, Chen M. Mediator kinase inhibition reverses castration resistance of advanced prostate cancer. J Clin Invest. 2024 Mar 28;134(10). doi: 10.1172/JCI176709. PubMed PMID: 38546787; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11093614.

Chen M, Li J, Zhang L, Wang L, Cheng C, Ji H, Altilia S, Ding X, Cai G, Altomare D, Shtutman M, Byrum SD, Mackintosh SG, Feoktistov A, Soshnikova N, Mogila VA, Tatarskiy V, Erokhin M, Chetverina D, Prawira A, Ni Y, Urban S, McInnes C, Broude EV, Roninson IB. CDK8 and CDK19: positive regulators of signal-induced transcription and negative regulators of Mediator complex proteins. Nucleic Acids Res. 2023 Aug 11;51(14):7288-7313. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkad538. PubMed PMID: 37378433; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10415139.

Zhang L, Cheng C, Li J, Wang L, Chumanevich AA, Porter DC, Mindich A, Gorbunova S, Roninson IB, Chen M, McInnes C. A Selective and Orally Bioavailable Quinoline-6-Carbonitrile-Based Inhibitor of CDK8/19 Mediator Kinase with Tumor-Enriched Pharmacokinetics. J Med Chem. 2022 Feb 24;65(4):3420-3433. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c01951. Epub 2022 Feb 3. PubMed PMID: 35114084; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10042267.

Chen M, Li J, Liang J, Thompson ZS, Kathrein K, Broude EV, Roninson IB. Systemic Toxicity Reported for CDK8/19 Inhibitors CCT251921 and MSC2530818 Is Not Due to Target Inhibition. Cells. 2019 Nov 9;8(11). doi: 10.3390/cells8111413. PubMed PMID: 31717492; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6912361.

Li J, Ji H, Porter DC, Broude EV, Roninson IB, Chen M. Characterizing CDK8/19 Inhibitors through a NFκB-Dependent Cell-Based Assay. Cells. 2019 Oct 6;8(10). doi: 10.3390/cells8101208. PubMed PMID: 31590445; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6830309.

Chen M, Liang J, Ji H, Yang Z, Altilia S, Hu B, Schronce A, McDermott MSJ, Schools GP, Lim CU, Oliver D, Shtutman MS, Lu T, Stark GR, Porter DC, Broude EV, Roninson IB. CDK8/19 Mediator kinases potentiate induction of transcription by NFκB. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Sep 19;114(38):10208-10213. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1710467114. Epub 2017 Aug 30. PubMed PMID: 28855340; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5617299.

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