UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center : JCCC Member Directory

Betty P. Tsao, Ph.D.

Affiliation(s):

Professor, Department of Medicine, Rheumatology and Arthritis

Member, JCCC Tumor Immunology Program Area

Contact Information:

Phone:	(310) 825-8906
Email:	btsao@mednet.ucla.edu

Scientific Interest(s):

Dr. Betty Tsao is currently researching the identification of human chromosomal regions containing susceptibility genes for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Genetic susceptibility is the single greatest risk for SLE. Her laboratory has gathered approximately 300 families that contain two or more members with SLE. Recently, she has shown that the human chromosome 1q regions are likely to contain multiple genes that contribute to risks for developing SLE. Tsao is currently narrowing genomic regions containing these risk factors for SLE in several ethnic groups. This study is being supported by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 grant.

Selected Cancer-Related Publications:

Wu H, Boackle SA, Hanvivadhanakul P, Ulgiati D, Grossman JM, Lee Y, Shen N, Abraham LJ, Mercer TR, Park E, Hebert LA, Rovin BH, Birmingham DJ, Chang DM, Chen CJ, McCurdy D, Badsha HM, Thong BY, Chng HH, Arnett FC, Wallace DJ, Yu CY, Hahn BH, Cantor RM, Tsao BP. Association of a common complement receptor 2 haplotype with increased risk of systemic lupus erythematosus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Mar 6;104(10):3961-6. Epub 2007 Feb 22.

Yang Y, Chung EK, Wu YL, Savelli SL, Nagaraja HN, Zhou B, Hebert M, Jones KN, Shu Y, Kitzmiller K, Blanchong CA, McBride KL, Higgins GC, Rennebohm RM, Rice RR, Hackshaw KV, Roubey RA, Grossman JM, Tsao BP, Birmingham DJ, Rovin BH, Hebert LA, Yu CY. Gene copy-number variation and associated polymorphisms of complement component C4 in human systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE): low copy number is a risk factor for and high copy number is a protective factor against SLE susceptibility in European Americans. Am J Hum Genet. 2007 Jun;80(6):1037-54. Epub 2007 Apr 26.

Feng X, Wu H, Grossman JM, Hanvivadhanakul P, FitzGerald JD, Park GS, Dong X, Chen W, Kim MH, Weng HH, Furst DE, Gorn A, McMahon M, Taylor M, Brahn E, Hahn BH, Tsao BP. Association of increased interferon-inducible gene expression with disease activity and lupus nephritis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Rheum. 2006 Sep;54(9):2951-62.

Khanna D, Wu H, Park G, Gersuk V, Gold RH, Nepom GT, Wong WK, Sharp JT, Reed EF, Paulus HE, Tsao BP; Western Consortium of Practicing Rheumatologists. Association of tumor necrosis factor alpha polymorphism, but not the shared epitope, with increased radiographic progression in a seropositive rheumatoid arthritis inception cohort. Arthritis Rheum. 2006 pr;54(4):1105-16.

Wu H, Cantor RM, Graham DS, Lingren CM, Farwell L, Jager PL, Bottini N, Grossman JM, Wallace DJ, Hahn BH, Julkunen H, Hebert LA, Rovin BH, Birmingham DJ, Rioux JD, Yu CY, Kere J, Vyse TJ, Tsao BP. Association analysis of the R620W polymorphism of protein tyrosine phosphatase PTPN22 in systemic lupus erythematosus families: increased T allele frequency in systemic lupus erythematosus patients with autoimmune thyroid disease. Arthritis Rheum. 2005 Aug;52(8):2396-402.