Le Xuan (Truong) Nguyen, Ph.D.

Le Xuan (Truong) Nguyen, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in City of Hope® Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Hematologic Malignancies Translational Science. His research seeks to better understand the molecular mechanisms that regulate the growth, survival and treatment resistance of leukemia stem cells. He is dedicated to translating his laboratory discoveries into novel and effective therapies that target leukemia-initiating cells and improve outcomes for cancer patients.

Dr. Nguyen received his Ph.D. in molecular biology from Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, Korea, before completing postdoctoral fellowships at Stanford Cancer Institute and City of Hope. His clinical research includes active collaboration with colleagues at City of Hope, including its Cancer and Cell Biology Division of the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), where he also serves as an adjunct faculty member.

An established expert in leukemia research and cellular biology, Dr. Nguyen is involved in a wide range of research grants and programs. These include a role as principal investigator (PI) of a multiple-PI research program, funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute, that is studying the possibility of targeting microRNAs to eradicate leukemia stem cells, in addition to serving as co-investigator on multiple other studies investigating potential new therapies for hematologic malignancies.

Dr. Nguyen’s scholarship and research has been published in dozens of high-impact journals, including Nature Medicine, Nature Communication, Cancer, PNAS, Blood, Journal of Hematology and Oncology, Leukemia, and Cancers, serving as first or senior author for 24 papers, including two reviews. He has presented 20 abstracts at national and international meetings, and in the last three years, he has published more than 10 manuscripts in high-impact journals (Nature Communication, Cancer, JHO, Leukemia, PNAS and Cancers), most of which he serves as co-first or co-corresponding author. 

Awards

• 2009, 21st Annual Meeting of the Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology
• 2008, Korean Brain and Neural Science Congress

• Zhenhua Chen, Keren Zhou, Andrew Small, Gang Xiao, Jianhuang Xue, Le Xuan Truong Nguyen, Zheng Zhang, Emily Prince, Hengyou Weng, Huilin Huang, Xiaolan Deng, Zhicong Zhao, Ying Qing, Chao Shen, Brandon Tan, Rui Su, Hanjun Qin, Yangchan Li, Zhaohui Gu, Vu N. Ngo, Xin He, Jianfei Chao, Keith Leung, Kitty Wang, Lei Dong, Wei Li, Li Han, Xi Qin, Zhenming Cai, Yue Sheng, Yu Chen, Xiwei Wu, Yanhong Shi, Mingjiang Xu, Zhijian Qian, Guido Marcucci, Markus Müschen, Bin Zhang, Jianjun Chen. Phosphorylation stabilized TET1 promotes B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia development independent of its catalytic activity. Science Translational Medicine. 2023 Mar 29.
• Dinh Hoa Hoang, Ralf Buettner, Melissa Valerio, Lucy Ghoda, Bin Zhang, Ya-Huei Kuo, Steven T Rosen, John Burnett, Guido Marcucci, Vinod Pullarkat and Le Xuan Truong Nguyen. Arsenic trioxide and venetoclax synergize against AML progenitors by ROS induction and inhibition of Nrf2 activation. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2022 Jun 12;23(12):6568 (Corresponding author)
• Hanying Wang, Xin He, Lei Zhang, Haojie Dong, Feiteng Huang, Sierra Li, Wei Chen, Xiyuan Lu, Khyatiben Pathak, Wenfeng Huang, Zheng Li, Lianjun Zhang, Le Xuan Truong Nguyen, Lu Yang, Lifeng Feng, David Gordon, Jing Zhang, Patrick Pirrotte, Chun-Wei Chen, Amandeep Salhotra, Ya-Huei Kuo, David Horne, Guido Marcucci, David Sykes, Stefano Tiziani, Hongchuan Jin, Xian Wang, and Ling Li. Disruption of dNTP homeostasis by ribonucleotide reductase hyperactivation overcomes AML differentiation blockade. Blood. 2022 Jun 30;139(26):3752-3770.
• Dinh Hoa Hoang, Dandan Zhao, Sergio Branciamore, Davide Maestrini, Ya-Huei Kuo, Russell Rockne, Samer K. Khaled, Bin Zhang, Le Xuan Truong Nguyen, Guido Marcucci. MicroRNA networks in FLT3-ITD acute myeloid leukemia. PNAS. 2022 Apr 19;119(16):e2112482119 (Co-corresponding author)
• Dinh Hoa Hoang, Corey Morales, Ivan Rodriguez Rodriguez, Melisa Martinez, Jiamin Guo, Min-Hsuan Chen, Xiwei Wu, David Horne, Varsha Gandhi, Lisa S Chen, Bin Zhang, Vinod Pullarkat, Steven T Rosen, Guido Marcucci, Ralf Buettner, Le Xuan Truong Nguyen. Synergistic effects of venetoclax and 8-chloro-adenosine in AML: the interplay of rRNA inhibition and fatty acid metabolism. Cancers. 2022;14(6):1446 (Corresponding author)
• Lianjun Zhang, Le Xuan Truong Nguyen, Dijiong Wu, Guerry J Cook, Dinh Hoa Hoang, Casey J Brewer, Xin He, Haojie Dong, Shu Li, Man Li, Ying-Chieh Chen, Dandan Zhao, Jing Qi, Wei-Kai Hua, Qi Cai, Emily Carnahan, Wei Chen, Xiwei Wu,  Piotr Swiderski, Russell C Rockne, Marcin Kortylewski, Ling Li, Bin Zhang, Guido Marcucci and Ya-Huei Kuo. Targeting aberrantly expressed miR-126 in inv(16) acute myeloid leukemia inhibits leukemia development and leukemia stem cell maintenance. Nature Communication. 2021 Oct 22;12(1):6154. PMID: 34686664 (Co-first author)
• Junjing Qiao, Chen Liang, Dandan Zhao, Le Xuan Truong Nguyen, Shanshan Suo, Fang Chen, Dinh Hoa Hoang, Francesca Pellicano, Yasmin Elhajmoussa, Lucy Ghoda, Akihiko Yoshimura, Anthony S Stein, Harris Ali, Paul Koller, Mhairi Copland, Danilo Perrotti, Anjia Han, Bin Zhang, Guido Marcucci. SPRED1 deficit promotes treatment resistance and transformation of chronic phase CML. Leukemia 2022 Feb;36(2):492-506. PMID: 34564700
• Le Xuan Truong Nguyen, Bin Zhang, Dinh Hoa Hoang, Dandan Zhao, Huafeng Wang, Herman Wu, Yu-Lin Su, Haoje Dong, Sonia Rodriguez-Rodriguez, Brian Armstrong, Lucy Y. Ghoda, Danilo Perroti, Flavia Pichiorri, Jianjun Chen, Ling Li, Marcin Kortylewski, Russel C. Rockne, Ya-Huei Kuo, Samer Khaled, Nadia Carlesso, Guido Marcucci. Cytoplasmic DROSHA and non-canonical mechanisms of miR-155 biogenesis in FLT3-ITD acute myeloid leukemia. Leukemia 2021 Aug;35(8):2285-2298. PMID: 33589748 (Co-corresponding author)
• Bin Zhang, Le Xuan Truong Nguyen, Dandan Zhao, David E Frankhouser , Huafeng Wang , Dinh Hoa Hoang , Junjing Qiao , Christina Abundis , Matthew Brehove , Yu-Lin Su , Yuxin Feng , Anthony Stein , Lucy Ghoda , Adrianne Dorrance , Danilo Perrotti , Zhen Chen , Anjia Han , Flavia Pichiorri , Jie Jin , Tijana Jovanovic-Talisman , Michael A Caligiuri , Calvin J Kuo , Akihiko Yoshimura , Ling Li , Russell C Rockne , Marcin Kortylewski , Yi Zheng , Nadia Carlesso , Ya-Huei Kuo , Guido Marcucci. Treatment-induced arteriolar revascularization and miR-126 enhancement in bone marrow niche protect leukemic stem cells in AML. J Hematol Oncol. 2021 Aug 9;14(1):122. PMID: 34372909, PMCID: PMC8351342. (Co-first author)
• Ralf Buettner, Le Xuan Truong Nguyen , Corey Morales , Min-Hsuan Chen , Xiwei Wu , Lisa S Chen , Dinh Hoa Hoang , Servando Hernandez Vargas , Vinod Pullarkat , Varsha Gandhi , Guido Marcucci , Steven T Rosen. Targeting the metabolic vulnerability of acute myeloid leukemia blasts with a combination of venetoclax and 8-chloro-adenosine. J Hematol Oncol. 2021 Apr 26;14(1):70.  PMID: 33902674, PMCID: PMC8074444 (Co-corresponding author)
• Dang Quan Nguyen, Dinh Hoa Hoang, Michael Nelson, Lokesh Nigam, Vo Thanh Thao Nguyen, Lianjun Zhang, Tram Kim Thi Pham, Huu Duc Ho, Dai Dong Thi Nguyen, Trung Quoc Lam, Trinh To Tat, Yasmin Elhajmoussa, Quoc Trung Ly, Flavia Pichiorri, Vinod Pullarkat, Bin Zhang, Ya-Huei Kuo, Guido Marcucci, Le Xuan Truong Nguyen. Requirement of GTP binding for TIF-90-regulated ribosomal RNA synthesis and oncogenic activities in human colon cancer cells. J Cell Physiol. 2020 Oct;235(10):7567-7579. PMID: 32159236 (Corresponding author)