Publications by authors named "Cheng C Zhang"

Chimeric antigen receptor-T cell (CAR-T) immunotherapy has shown remarkable results for the treatment of certain hematologic malignancies. A redirection strategy that utilizes clinically relevant CAR-T cells in combination with adapter proteins may be an effective strategy to target other hematologic and solid cancers. We established a fusion antibody-based strategy with flexibility to target multiple tumor types in combination with a novel anti-leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptor-B 4 (LILRB4) CAR-T cell.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Targeting Meis1 and Hoxb13 transcriptional activity could be a viable therapeutic strategy for heart regeneration. In this study, we performd an in silico screening to identify FDA-approved drugs that can inhibit Meis1 and Hoxb13 transcriptional activity based on the resolved crystal structure of Meis1 and Hoxb13 bound to DNA. Paromomycin (Paro) and neomycin (Neo) induced proliferation of neonatal rat ventricular myocytes in vitro and displayed dose-dependent inhibition of Meis1 and Hoxb13 transcriptional activity by luciferase assay and disruption of DNA binding by electromobility shift assay.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Leukocyte Ig-like receptor B family 4 (LILRB4) as an immune checkpoint on myeloid cells is a potential target for tumor therapy. Extensive osteolytic bone lesion is the most characteristic feature of multiple myeloma. It is unclear whether ectopic LILRB4 on multiple myeloma regulates bone lesion.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Therapeutic genome editing of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) would provide long-lasting treatments for multiple diseases. However, the in vivo delivery of genetic medicines to HSCs remains challenging, especially in diseased and malignant settings. Here we report on a series of bone-marrow-homing lipid nanoparticles that deliver mRNA to a broad group of at least 14 unique cell types in the bone marrow, including healthy and diseased HSCs, leukaemic stem cells, B cells, T cells, macrophages and leukaemia cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy shows impressive efficacy treating hematologic malignancies but requires further optimization in solid tumors. Here, we developed a TMIGD2 optimized potent/persistent (TOP) CAR that incorporated the costimulatory domain of TMIGD2, a T and NK cell costimulator, and monoclonal antibodies targeting the IgV domain of B7-H3, an immune checkpoint expressed on solid tumors and tumor vasculature. Comparing second- and third-generation B7-H3 CARs containing TMIGD2, CD28, and/or 4-1BB costimulatory domains revealed superior antitumor responses in B7-H3.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - The success of T cell-centered immune checkpoint blockade therapies in cancer treatment is limited due to the presence of immunosuppressive myeloid cells that hinder antitumor immunity.
  • - The receptor LILRB3, found only on myeloid cells, is linked to inhibiting these cells' activity, but its role as a checkpoint in cancer treatment is not fully understood.
  • - Research shows that blocking LILRB3 signaling can reactivate the immune system against solid tumors, suggesting that targeting this receptor may offer a new immunotherapy strategy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common and deadly type of leukemia affecting adults. It is typically managed with rounds of non-targeted chemotherapy followed by hematopoietic stem cell transplants, but this is only possible in patients who can tolerate these harsh treatments and many are elderly and frail. With the identification of novel tumor-specific cell surface receptors, there is great conviction that targeted antibody therapies will soon become available for these patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Immunosuppressive myeloid cells in the tumor microenvironment inhibit anti-tumor immunity and support tumor development. The leukocyte Ig-like receptor subfamily B (LILRB) proteins and the related receptor LAIR1 are immune checkpoint receptors that support the immunosuppressive activity of myeloid cells. All LILRBs and LAIR1 have intracellular immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motifs in their signaling domains, but the individual proteins have different functions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The current immune checkpoint blockade therapy has been successful in treating some cancers but not others. New molecular targets and therapeutic approaches of cancer immunology need to be identified. Leukocyte associated immunoglobulin like receptor 1 (LAIR1) is an immune inhibitory receptor expressing on most immune cell types.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Hippo signaling restricts tissue growth by inhibiting the transcriptional effector YAP. Here we uncover a role of Hippo signaling and a tumor suppressor function of YAP in estrogen receptor positive (ER) breast cancer. We find that inhibition of Hippo/MST1/2 or activation of YAP blocks the ERα transcriptional program and ER breast cancer growth.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Bone transport has been successfully applied for the management of large segmental bone defects. However, its main shortcoming is the long-lasting consolidation period, which may cause lots of related complications. To overcome this shortcoming, we developed bone transport combined with bone graft and internal fixation technique.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptor B (LILRB), a family of immune checkpoint receptors, contributes to acute myeloid leukemia (AML) development, but the specific mechanisms triggered by activation or inhibition of these immune checkpoints in cancer is largely unknown. Here we demonstrate that the intracellular domain of LILRB3 is constitutively associated with the adaptor protein TRAF2. Activated LILRB3 in AML cells leads to recruitment of cFLIP and subsequent NF-κB upregulation, resulting in enhanced leukemic cell survival and inhibition of T-cell-mediated anti-tumor activity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: New B-cell markers are needed for monitoring B lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) in the era of immunotherapies directed against CD19 and CD22. The expression of leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptor subfamily B member 1 (LILRB1) on hematogones in bone marrow (BM) and neoplastic B lymphoblasts has not yet been systematically investigated.

Methods: We assessed LILRB1 expression pattern on B cells in 19 control BMs and 22 B-ALL cases by flow cytometry.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Inhibitory leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptors (LILRBs 1-5) transduce signals via intracellular immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motifs that recruit phosphatases to negatively regulate immune activation. The activation of LILRB signaling in immune cells may contribute to immune evasion. In addition, the expression and signaling of LILRBs in cancer cells especially in certain hematologic malignant cells directly support cancer development.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Transposable elements or transposons are major players in genetic variability and genome evolution. Aberrant activation of long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1 or L1) retrotransposons is common in human cancers, yet their tumor-type-specific functions are poorly characterized. We identified MPHOSPH8/MPP8, a component of the human silencing hub (HUSH) complex, as an acute myeloid leukemia (AML)-selective dependency by epigenetic regulator-focused CRISPR screening.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Central nervous system (CNS) involvement in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) varies, ranging from 0.6%-46%. Leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptor B4 (LILRB4) has been shown to be critical in orchestration of infiltration of AML cells into the CNS in animal models, however it is unknown if an association exists between LILRB4 and CNS involvement (CNS+) in human patients with AML.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with monocytic differentiation (M-AML) remains a diagnostic challenge largely due to lack of sensitive and specific markers for immature monocytes. The immunoglobulin-like inhibitory receptors, LILRB1 and LILRB4, are expressed on monocytes but have not yet been systematically evaluated in the clinical setting.

Methods: We evaluated the diagnostic performance of LILRB1 and LILRB4 as monocytic markers for both immature and mature monocytes in comparison to other myelomonocytic markers including CD14, CD15, CD33, CD36, and CD64 in eight cases of control bone marrow (BM, 5) and peripheral blood (PB, 3), 64 cases of (M-AML), and 57 cases of AML without monocytic differentiation (NM-AML) by flow cytometric immunophenotyping.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common and aggressive blood cancer in adults. In particular, significant unmet medical needs exist for effective treatment strategies for acute myelomonocytic leukemia (M4) and acute monocytic leukemia (M5) AML subtypes. Antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) are a promising drug class for AML therapy, as demonstrated by the FDA-approved anti-CD33 ADC, gemtuzumab ozogamicin (Mylotarg).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Current immune checkpoint blockade strategies have been successful in treating certain types of solid cancer. However, checkpoint blockade monotherapies have not been successful against most hematological malignancies including multiple myeloma and leukemia. There is an urgent need to identify new targets for development of cancer immunotherapy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Anxiety disorders are prevalent, but effective and safe treatment options are limited; this study explores the role of nNOS-CAPON interaction in anxiety regulation.
  • Researchers administered nNOS-CAPON disruptors to mice under chronic stress conditions to assess their impact on anxiety-related behaviors, using various behavioral tests and biochemical analyses.
  • The findings indicate that the disruptors (ZLc-002 and Tat-CAPON12C) alleviate anxiety symptoms, promote synapse formation, and activate pathways important for synaptic plasticity, suggesting a potential new treatment for anxiety disorders.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We recently demonstrated that leukocyte Ig-like receptor 4 (LILRB4) expressed by monocytic acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells mediates T-cell inhibition and leukemia cell infiltration via its intracellular domain. The cytoplasmic domain of LILRB4 contains three immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motifs (ITIMs); the tyrosines at positions 360, 412, and 442 are phosphorylation sites. Here, we analyzed how the ITIMs of LILRB4 in AML cells mediate its function.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Notice

Message: fwrite(): Write of 34 bytes failed with errno=28 No space left on device

Filename: drivers/Session_files_driver.php

Line Number: 272

Backtrace:

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Warning

Message: session_write_close(): Failed to write session data using user defined save handler. (session.save_path: /var/lib/php/sessions)

Filename: Unknown

Line Number: 0

Backtrace: