Zhen Guo, PhD

Title and Affiliations

Instructor, Department of Medicine
American Society for Radiation Oncology

Research Area

Understanding how breast cancer treatments can unintentionally damage the heart.

Impact:

More than half of people treated for breast cancer receive radiation which helps control tumors and improve breast cancer outcomes. But it can also expose the heart to damage, leading to serious heart problems years after treatment. There are currently no approved treatments to prevent or reverse this kind of heart injury. By studying heart tissue from patients who developed heart failure after treatment, researchers discovered a rise in activated fibroblasts—cells that promote scarring and weaken heart function. They also found higher levels of CD47, a protein that prevents immune cells from clearing damaged cells. Dr. Guo and his team hypothesize that radiation-induced increases in CD47 in the heart leads to a buildup of harmful fibroblasts and heart damage.

What’s next

For his American Society for Radiation Oncology research, Dr. Guo and his team plan to test whether blocking the CD47 protein in model systems can prevent harmful fibroblasts from building up in the heart during cancer treatment. If successful, this approach could help protect heart health without reducing the effectiveness of radiation.

Biography

Zhen Guo, PhD is an Instructor in the Department of Medicine at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine. He earned his PhD in Pharmacology from Sun Yat-sen University in 2018, after which he completed postdoctoral training at University of California, Los Angeles and Washington University in St. Louis with support from an American Heart Association (AHA) Postdoctoral Fellowship Award (2022). Since joining the faculty at Washington University, Dr. Guo has received several honors, including the AHA Second Century Early Faculty Independence Award (2024), the Washington University in St. Louis Diabetes Research Center Pilot and Feasibility Award (2025), and the Paul and Patti Eisenberg Scholar Award (2023). Dr. Guo is now establishing an independent research program in cardio-oncology, with a particular focus on cardio-protection against cancer therapy-related cardiac injury in survivors.