Scientific Publications

Despite the success of immune checkpoint blockers (ICBs), predicting which patients will respond to treatment remains a significant challenge, particularly in those with advanced NSCLC. Some circulating antibodies may serve as indicators of a pre-existing antitumor adaptive immune response. This study investigated the potential of baseline serum antibodies as predictors of response and survival in patients with advanced NSCLC undergoing ICB, chemotherapy, or ICB + chemotherapy.

• Link: https://aacrjournals.org/cancerres/article/85/8_Supplement_1/6042/759856/Abstract-6042-Baseline-serum-level-of-IgG

Metastasis remains the leading cause of cancer mortality. The natural product brusatol (Bru) has exhibited promising anticancer activity; however, the target proteins of Bru and the underlying mechanisms in suppressing tumor metastasis remain unclear.

• Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0944711325001096?via%3Dihub

Most cancers are currently incurable, partly due to abnormal post-translational modifications (PTMs). In this study, we initially used multiple myeloma (MM) as a working model and found that SUMOylation activating enzyme subunit 1 (SAE1) promotes the malignancy of MM. Through proteome microarray analysis, SAE1 was identified as a potential target for bioactive colcemid or its derivative colchicine. Elevated levels of SAE1 were associated with poor clinical survival and increased MM proliferation in vitro and in vivo.

• Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211383525000656?via%3Dihub

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a clinically heterogeneous malignancy with diverse patient outcomes, largely influenced by the tumor microenvironment (TME). Understanding the roles of fibroblasts and macrophages within the TME is essential for developing personalized therapeutic strategies in DLBCL.

• Link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00262-025-03968-7

Background: Gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA), which has been classified as type II adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction in western countries, is similar to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in geographical distribution, treatment methods, clinical symptoms and the adjacent localization in China, and is even called "sister cancer" by Chinese oncologists. The absence of specific early symptoms and biomarkers leads to late-stage diagnosis, while early diagnosis and biomarkers with high sensitivity and specificity are critical to improve overall survival and assess prognosis in patients with GCA.

• Link: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5144640

Autoantibodies (AAb) are an immunological resource ripe for exploitation in cancer detection and treatment. Key to this translation is a better understanding of the self-epitope that AAb target in tumor tissue, but do not bind to in normal tissue. Posttranslational modifications (PTMs) on self-proteins are known to break tolerance in many autoimmune diseases and have also recently been described in cancer.

• Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0958166923001660?via%3Dihub

Tumor-associated antigens (TAA) are proteins expressed during the growth and development of tumor cells, and TAA autoantibodies (TAAbs) can be detected in the serum of lung cancer patients, which can be utilized in the early screening of lung cancer. Almost all the TAAbs applied for diagnosis are those elevated, however, there are still large numbers of autoantibodies detected to decrease in tumor serums, and their functions were rarely known. Diagnosing malignant small lung nodules (≤3cm) in CT scans remains a challenge in clinical practice.

• Link: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2025.1538071/full

Cholestasis is a multifactorial hepatobiliary disorder, characterized by obstruction of bile flow and accumulation of bile, which in turn causes damage to liver cells and other tissues. In severe cases, it can result in the development of life-threatening conditions, including cirrhosis and liver cancer. Paeoniflorin (PF) has been demonstrated to possess favourable therapeutic potential for the treatment of cholestasis. The objective of this research was to examine the molecular mechanism of PF in the treatment of ANIT-induced cholestasis and to propose novel avenues for further research on the pharmacological effects of PF. In vivo and in vitro models of cholestasis were developed.

• Link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10753-025-02245-0

The survival rate of patients with glioma has not significantly increased in recent years despite aggressive treatment and advances in immunotherapy. The limited response to treatments is partially attributed to the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, in which regulatory T cells (Treg) play a pivotal role in immunologic tolerance. In this study, we investigated the impact of complement factor H (FH) on Tregs within the glioma microenvironment and found that FH is an ICOS ligand.

• Link: https://aacrjournals.org/cancerimmunolres/article/13/1/122/750794/Complement-Factor-H-Is-an-ICOS-Ligand-Modulating

Retrospective characterization of cell-cell relationships in the tumor microenvironment provides significantly better predictive power than PD-L1 expression, tumor mutational burden (TMB), or gene expression profiles. In this small study assessing the safety and possible efficacy of gemcitabine and pembrolizumab in immunotherapy-naïve patients with NSCLC who have received prior treatment, we investigated both standard and novel immune parameters on 16 enrolled patients.

• Link: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.20.24317919v1