Ming

Lam

PhD

Biography

Dr. Lam’s research program is to uncover the biology underlying distant metastases and treatment response, and identify actionable targets for castration-resistant prostate cancer and bladder cancer. The goal is to rationally devise novel therapeutic strategies to improve survivorship of patients affected by cancer. Dr. Lam’s focus areas include:

1. Tumor interaction with microenvironment at metastatic sites.  We are interested in investigating how microenvironment regulates tumor dormancy and support tumor growth in distant metastases.

2. Identification of treatment response and resistance. Treatment response is diverse among patients or even within different metastatic sites of patients, suggesting tumor heterogeneity. We utilize clinical specimens, cell models, and patient-derived xenografts to systematically identify treatment targets, response, and resistance.

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3. Bladder cancer rapid autopsy program and biorepository. This is a multi-disciplinary effort among urologists, medical oncologists, pathologists, translational scientists, and computational biologists to partner with patients and accrue biospecimens from patients with bladder cancer. This invaluable resource is critical for understanding the disease and for much needed therapeutic discovery.

Memberships

American Association for Cancer Research
American Urological Association
Seattle Tumor Translational Research (STTR)
Fred Hutchinson/University of Washington Cancer Consortium
Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America (SCBA)
Society for Basic Urological Research (SBUR)

Research highlights

• Study uncovers genomic architecture and natural history of metastatic bladder cancer - Fred Hutch
• https://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2018.36.6_suppl.478
• https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2019/06/hsieh-metastatic-bladder-cancer.html
• https://www.pcf.org/bio/hung-ming-lam/

Selected publications

Cancer metastases and preclinical models

• Itagi P, Schuster SL, Arora S, Persse TW, Waters JA, Yang M, Min A, Chandra P, Adil M, Galipeau PC, Rudoy D, Kreitman AS, Lin Y, Ko M, Sayar E, Patton RD, Kollath L, Meis A, Lindergren S, Ji N, Ali K, Venkatesh H, Wladyka CL, McDeed AP, Mills CB, Vashisth M, Kim JY, Nadal R, Hawley JE, Yezefski TA, Psutka SP, Gore JL, Lin DW, Nelson PS, Cheng HH, Schweizer MT, Fong L, Lee JK, Yu EY, Corey E, Morrissey C, Grivas P, Montgomery RB, Wright JL, Haffner MC, Vakar-Lopez F, Mian OY ƚ, Lam HM ƚ, Hsieh AC ƚ, Ha G ƚ. (2026) Evolution and heterogeneity of lethal metastatic bladder cancer subtypes. Nature. PMID: 42749807. ƚ Corresponding author
• Lee HJ, Gulati R, Sayar E, Patel RA, Itagi P, Richards HM, Persse T, Arora S, Coleman I, Adil M, Schuster SL, Shokri F, Wright JL, Yu EY, True LD, Chambers M, Hawley JE, Cheng HH, Schweizer MT, Grivas P, Nelson PS, Montgomery RB, Hsieh AC, Vakar-Lopez F, Morrissey C, Lam HM, Ha G, Tretiakova MS, Haffner MC, Raychaudhuri R. (2025) Patterns of HER2 Expression in Metastatic Prostate and Urothelial Cancers: Implications for HER2-Targeted Therapies. Cancer Res Commun. 5:1419-1428. PMID: 40767528.
• Raychaudhuri R, Khaki AR, Redman MW, Baker KK, Ng K, Chen X, Mao J, Woo B, Lin A, Hannochka A, Conrad N, Kahugu M, Panlasigui P, Haffner MC, Hsieh AC, Lam HM, Vakar-Lopez F, Yezefski T, Schweizer MT, Montgomery RB, Yu EY, Dash A, Psutka SP, Lin DW, Schade GR, Gore JL, Wright JL, Grivas P. (2025) Neoadjuvant Pembrolizumab and Accelerated Methotrexate, Vinblastine, Doxorubicin, and Cisplatin in Nonurothelial Histologic Subtypes of Muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer: A Phase 2 Trial. Eur Urol. 88(6):559-563. PMID: 40764177.
• Roudier MP, Gulati R, Sayar E, Patel RA, Tratt M, Richards HM, Cejas P, Munoz Gomez M, Qiu X, Xie Y, Hanratty B, Zaidi S, Zhao JL, Adil M, Mittal C, Zhao Y, Dumpit R, Coleman I, Low JY, Persse T, Galipeau P, Lee JK, Tretiakova M, Chambers M, Vakar-Lopez F, True LD, Perrone M, Lam HM, Kollath LA, Ding CC, Harmon S, Cheng HH, Yu EY, Montgomery RB, Hawley JE, Lin DW, Corey E, Schweizer MT, Setty M, Ha G, Sawyers CL, Morrissey C, Long H, Nelson PS, Haffner MC. (2025) Patterns of intra- and intertumor phenotypic heterogeneity in lethal prostate cancer. J Clin Invest. 135(15). PMID: 40493417.
• Li S, Wong A, Sun H, Bhatia V, Javier G, Jana S, Wu Q, Montgomery RB, Wright JL, Lam HM, Hsieh AC, Faltas BM, Haffner MC, Lee JK. (2024) A combinatorial genetic strategy for exploring complex genotype-phenotype associations in cancer. Nat Genet. 56(3):371-376. PMID: 38424461.
• Ghali F, Vakar-Lopez F, Roudier MP, Garcia J, Arora S, Cheng HH, Schweizer MT, Haffner MC, Lee JK, Yu EY, Grivas P, Montgomery B, Hsieh AC, Wright JL, Lam HM. (2023) Metastatic Bladder Cancer Expression and Subcellular Localization of Nectin-4 and Trop-2 in Variant Histology: A Rapid Autopsy Study. Clin Genitourin Cancer. 21:669-678. PMID: 3734428.
• Jana S, Brahma S, Arora S, Wladyka CL, Hoang P, Blinka S, Hough R, Horn JL, Liu Y, Wang LJ, Depeille P, Smith E, Montgomery RB, Lee JK, Haffner MC, Vakar-Lopez F, Grivas P, Wright JL, Lam HM, Black PC, Roose JP, Ryazanov AG, Subramaniam AR, Henikoff S, Hsieh AC. (2023) Transcriptional-translational conflict is a barrier to cellular transformation and cancer progression. Cancer Cell. 41:853-870. PMID: 37084735.
• Makrakis D, Wright JL, Roudier MP, Garcia J, Vakar-Lopez F, Porter MP, Wang Y, Dash A, Lin D, Schade G, Winters B, Zhang X, Nelson P, Mostaghel E, Cheng HH, Schweizer M, Holt SK, Gore JL, Yu EY, Lam HM, Montgomery B. (2023) A Phase 1/2 Study of Rapamycin and Cisplatin/Gemcitabine for Treatment of Patients With Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer. Clin Genitourin Cancer. 21(2):265-272. PMID: 36710146.
• Kim Y.S., Hsieh A.C., Lam H.M. (2022) Bladder cancer patient-derived organoids and avatars for personalized cancer discovery. Eur Urol Focus. S2405-4569(22):166-3. PMID: 35915037
• Cai E., Garcia J., Liu Y., Vakar-Lopez F., Arora S., Nguyen H., Lakely B., Brown L., Wong A., Montgomery B., Lee. J.K., Corey E., Wright J.L., Hsieh A.C., Lam H.M. (2021) A bladder cancer patient-derived xenograft displays aggressive growth dynamics in vivo and in organoid culture. Sci Rep. 11:4609. PMID: 33633154
• Winters B. R., Sarkar N., Arora S., Bolouri H., Vakar-Lopez F., Cheng H. H., Schweizer M., Yu E. Y., Morrissey C., Grivas P., McFerrin L., Montgomery B., Wright J. L.ƚ, Lam H.M.ƚ, Hsieh A. C.ƚ (2019) Genomic distinctions between metastatic lower and upper tract urothelial carcinoma revealed through rapid autopsy. JCI Insight. 5:e128728. PMID: 31145100 ƚ Corresponding author
• Lam H.M., McMullin R., Nguyen H.M., Coleman I., Gormley M., Gulati R., Brown L., Holt S.K., Li W., Ricci D., Verstraeten K., Thomas S., Mostaghel E.A., Nelson P.S., Vessella R.L., Corey E. (2017) Characterization of an abiraterone ultraresponsive phenotype in castration-resistant prostate cancer patient-derived xenografts. Clin Can Res. 23(9):2301-2312. PMID: 27993966
• Lam H.M., Nguyen H.M., Labrecque M., Brown L., Gulati R., Coleman I., Lakely B., Sondheim D., Mostaghel, E.A., Nelson P.S., Corey E., (2020) Durable response of enzalutamide-resistant prostate cancer to supraphysiological testosterone is associated with a multifaceted growth suppression and impaired DNA damage response transcriptomic program in patient-derived xenografts. Eur Urol. 77:144-155. PMID: 31227306
• Lam H.M., Nguyen H.M., Corey E. (2018) Generation of prostate cancer patient-derived xenografts to investigate mechanisms of novel treatments and treatment resistance in prostate cancer. Methods Mol Biol. 1786:1-27. PMID: 29786784

Cancer interaction with microenvironment at metastatic sites

• Lee Y.C., Lam H.M., Rosser C., Theodorescu D. Parks W., Chan K.S. (2022) The Dynamic Roles of the Bladder Tumor Microenvironment. Nature Reviews Urology. 19(9):515-33. PMID: 35764795
• Winters B., Vakar-Lopez F., Brown L., Montgomery B., Seiler R., Black P.C., Boormans J.L., Dall'Era M., Davincioni E., Douglas J., Gibb E.A., van Rhijn B., van der Heijden M.S., Hsieh A., Wright J.L., Lam H.M. (2018) MTOR protein expression in the tumor and associated micro-environment correlates with aggressive pathology at cystectomy. Urol Onc. 36:342.e7-342.e14. PMID: 29657089
• Ruppender N., Larson S., Lakely B., Kollath L., Brown L., Coleman I., Coleman R., Nguyen H.M., Nelson P.S., Corey E., Snyder L.A., Vessella R.L., Morrissey C., Lam H.M. (2015) Cellular adhesion promotes prostate cancer cells escape from dormancy. PLoS One. 10:e0130565. PMID: 26090669
• Morrissey C., Vessella R.L., Lange P.H., Lam H.M. (2016) The Biology and Clinical Implications of Prostate Cancer Dormancy and Metastasis. J Mol Med. 94(3):259-265. PMID: 26489605
• Sosa M.S., Parikh F., Maia A.G., Estrada Y., Bosch A., Bragado P., Ekpin E., George A., Zheng Y., Lam H.M., Morrissey C., Chung C.Y., Farias E., Bernstein E., Aguirre-Ghiso J.A. (2015) NR2F1 controls tumor cell dormancy via SOX9 and RARβ driven quiescence programs. Nature Commun. 6:6170-6184. PMID: 25636082
• Lam H.M., Vessella R.L., Morrissey C. (2014) The role of the microenvironment: Dormant prostate metastatic cancer cells in the bone marrow. Drug Discov Today. 11(5): 41-47.

Estrogen receptor signaling in prostate cancer

• Lam H.M., Chen J., Medvedovic M., Ho S.M., Tam N.N. (2016) Bisphenol A-specific induction of prostatic hyperplasia and pre-neoplastic lesion accompanied by HNF4α-associated inflammatory response. Endocrinology. 157:207-219. PMID: 26496021

• Lam H.M., Ouyang B., Chen J., Ying J, Wang J., Wu C.L., Jia L., Medvedovic M., Vessella R.L., Ho SM. (2014) Stimulation of GPR30 inhibited growth and induced necrosis in castration-resistant prostate cancer. Endocr Relat Cancer. 21:903-914. PMID: 25287069
• Chan Q.K.Y.*, Lam H.M.*, Ng C.F., Lee A.Y.Y., Chan E.S.Y., Ng H.K., Ho S.M., Lau K.M. (2010) Activation of GPR30 inhibits growth of prostate cancer cells via sustained activation of Erk1/2, upregulation of p21(WAF1/CIP1), and induction of G2 cell-cycle arrest. Cell Death Differ. 17:1511-1523. PMID: 20203690 *Co-first author
• Lam H.M., Suresh Babu C.V., Wang J., Yuen Y., Lam Y.W., Ho S.M., Leung Y.K. (2012) Phosphorylation of human estrogen receptor-beta at serine 105 inhibits breast cancer cell migration and invasion. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 358:27-35. PMID: 22370157