Yong Lu

Yong Lu, PhD

Associate Professor of Immunology in Medicine, Academic Institute
Associate Member, Research Institute
Houston Methodist
Weill Cornell Medical College


ylu2@houstonmethodist.org
Biography

Dr. Yong Lu joined Houston Methodist Academic Institute in November 2021. He is an awardee of the 2021 Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas Rising Stars program that recruits early-stage investigators who have demonstrated the promise for continued and enhanced contributions to the field of cancer research.

Prior to joining Houston Methodist, he was a co-leader of Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center for Signaling and Biotechnology (SBT) program. During 2019-2021, he was a member of NCI’s cell-based immunotherapy network to: (A) provide NCI with advice on the research gaps in cancer adoptive cell therapy; (B) advise the NCI on future directions of cancer adoptive cell therapy. Dr. Lu’s work focuses on translational T cell-based adoptive cell immunotherapy, targeting lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and other cancers.

Since 2020, Dr. Lu has been awarded, as the PI, 4 R01s from NCI, 1 ACS research scholar grant, 3 cancer foundation grants, and numerous intramural and industry grants. In addition to the CPRIT Rising Star award, Dr. Lu was the winner of New Drug Development Global Campaign in 2019 held by Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd.

Recent representative corresponding-authored publications include: Briefings in Bioinformatics 2022 (PMID: 35037026), Cancer Cell 2022 (PMID: 34678150); Nature Biomedical Engineering 2021 (PMID: 34725506); Nature Comm 2019 (PMID: 30914642); Cancer Cell 2018 (PMID: 29894691); Nature Comm 2016 (PMID: 27492902).

Description of Research

  • Research concerns why adoptive cell therapies, the type of  immunotherapy in which tumor-specific T cells (e.g. CAR-T cells) are given to a patient to help the body fight cancer, aren't effective against solid tumors like they are against leukemias and lymphomas.
  • Overcome resistance of CAR-T cell therapy in multiple myeloma.
  • The new tumor-specific Th9 cell-paradigm to eradicate advanced human tumors.

Publications

LILRB3 Modulates Acute Myeloid Leukemia Progression and Acts as an Effective Target for CAR T-cell Therapy
Mai, S, Hodges, A, Chen, HM, Zhang, J, Wang, YL, Liu, Y, Nakatsu, F, Wang, X, Fang, J, Xu, Y, Davidov, V, Kang, K, Pingali, SR, Ganguly, S, Suzuki, M, Konopleva, M, Prinzing, B, Zu, Y, Gottschalk, S, Lu, Y, Chen, SH & Pan, PY 2023, , Cancer research, vol. 83, no. 24, pp. 4047-4062. https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-22-2483

Mendelian randomization analysis revealed potential metabolic causal factors for breast cancer
Zhou, M, Henricks, M, Loch, V, Zhang, G, Lu, Y & Li, X 2023, , Scientific Reports, vol. 13, no. 1, 14290, pp. 14290. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41130-4

Distinct inflammatory Th17 subsets emerge in autoimmunity and infection
Bouch, RJ, Zhang, J, Miller, BC, Robbins, CJ, Mosher, TH, Li, W, Krupenko, SA, Nagpal, R, Zhao, J, Bloomfeld, RS, Lu, Y, Nikiforov, MA, Song, Q & He, Z 2023, , The Journal of experimental medicine, vol. 220, no. 10, e20221911. https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20221911

LILRB3 modulates acute myeloid leukemia progression and acts as an effective target for CAR T-cell therapy
Lu, Y 2023, , Cancer research.

Induction of tumor cell autosis by myxoma virus-infected CAR-T and TCR-T cells to overcome primary and acquired resistance
Zheng, N, Fang, J, Xue, G, Wang, Z, Li, X, Zhou, M, Jin, G, Rahman, MM, McFadden, G & Lu, Y 2022, , Cancer Cell, vol. 40, no. 9, pp. 973-985.e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccell.2022.08.001

Induction of tumor cell autosis by myxoma virus-infected CAR-T and TCR-T cells to overcome primary and acquired resistance
Zheng, N, Fang, J, Xue, G, Wang, Z, Li, X, Zhou, M, Jin, G, Rahman, MM, McFadden, G & Lu, Y 2022, , Cancer Cell, vol. 40, no. 9, pp. 973-985.e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccell.2022.08.001

VOC-alarm: mutation-based prediction of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern
Zhao, H, Han, K, Gao, C, Madhira, V, Topaloglu, U, Lu, Y & Jin, G 2022, , Bioinformatics, vol. 38, no. 14, pp. 3549-3556. https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btac370

Immuno-reactive cancer organoid model to assess effects of the microbiome on cancer immunotherapy
Shelkey, E, Oommen, D, Stirling, ER, Soto-Pantoja, DR, Cook, KL, Lu, Y, Votanopoulos, KI & Soker, S 2022, , Scientific Reports, vol. 12, no. 1, 9983, pp. 9983. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-13930-7

HDirect-MAP: Projection-free single-cell modeling of response to checkpoint immunotherapy
Lu, Y, Xue, G, Zheng, N, Han, K, Yang, W, Wang, RS, Wu, L, Miller, LD, Pardee, T, Triozzi, PL, Lo, HW, Watabe, K, Wong, STC, Pasche, BC, Zhang, W & Jin, G 2022, , Briefings in bioinformatics, vol. 23, no. 2, bbab575. https://doi.org/10.1093/bib/bbab575

HDirect-MAP: Projection-free single-cell modeling of response to checkpoint immunotherapy
Lu, Y, Xue, G, Zheng, N, Han, K, Yang, W, Wang, RS, Wu, L, Miller, LD, Pardee, T, Triozzi, PL, Lo, HW, Watabe, K, Wong, STC, Pasche, BC, Zhang, W & Jin, G 2022, , Briefings in bioinformatics, vol. 23, no. 2, bbab575. https://doi.org/10.1093/bib/bbab575

SIRP?-expressing cancer stem-like cells promote immune escape of lung cancer via Hippo signaling
Xu, C, Jin, G, Wu, H, Cui, W, Wang, YH, Manne, RK, Wang, G, Zhang, W, Zhang, X, Han, F, Cai, Z, Pan, BS, Hsu, CC, Liu, Y, Zhang, A, Long, J, Zou, H, Wang, S, Ma, X, Duan, J, Wang, B, Liu, W, Lan, H, Xiong, Q, Xue, G, Chen, Z, Xu, Z, Furth, ME, Molina, SH, Lu, Y, Xie, D, Bian, XW & Lin, HK 2022, , Journal of Clinical Investigation, vol. 132, no. 5, e141797. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI141797

Intrapleural nano-immunotherapy promotes innate and adaptive immune responses to enhance anti-PD-L1 therapy for malignant pleural effusion
Liu, Y, Wang, L, Song, Q, Ali, M, Crowe, WN, Kucera, GL, Hawkins, GA, Soker, S, Thomas, KW, Miller, LD, Lu, Y, Bellinger, CR, Zhang, W, Habib, AA, Petty, WJ & Zhao, D 2022, , Nature Nanotechnology, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 206-216. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-021-01032-w, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-021-01032-w

Intrapleural nano-immunotherapy promotes innate and adaptive immune responses to enhance anti-PD-L1 therapy for malignant pleural effusion
Liu, Y, Wang, L, Song, Q, Ali, M, Crowe, WN, Kucera, GL, Hawkins, GA, Soker, S, Thomas, KW, Miller, LD, Lu, Y, Bellinger, CR, Zhang, W, Habib, AA, Petty, WJ & Zhao, D 2022, , Nature Nanotechnology, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 206-216. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-021-01032-w

Induction of tumor cell Entosis by CAR-T and TCR-T cells expressing an oncolytic virus to overcome primary and acquired resistance
Zheng, N & Lu, Y 2022, , Cancer Cell, vol. 40, no. 9, pp. 973.

FGFR1/MAPK-directed brachyury activation drives PD-L1-mediated immune evasion to promote lung cancer progression
Hu, Y, Lu, Y, Xing, F & Wesley, H 2022, , Cancer Letters, pp. 547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.canlet.2022.215867

Adoptive cell therapy with tumor-specific Th9 cells induces viral mimicry to eliminate antigen-loss-variant tumor cells
Xue, G, Zheng, N, Fang, J, Jin, G, Li, X, Dotti, G, Yi, Q & Lu, Y 2021, , Cancer Cell, vol. 39, no. 12, pp. 1610-1622.e9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccell.2021.09.011

Bulk and Single-Cell Profiling of Breast Tumors Identifies TREM-1 as a Dominant Immune Suppressive Marker Associated With Poor Outcomes
Pullikuth, AK, Routh, ED, Zimmerman, KD, Chifman, J, Chou, JW, Soike, MH, Jin, G, Su, J, Song, Q, Black, MA, Print, C, Bedognetti, D, Howard-McNatt, M, O’Neill, SS, Thomas, A, Langefeld, CD, Sigalov, AB, Lu, Y & Miller, LD 2021, , Frontiers in Oncology, vol. 11, 734959. https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2021.734959

Elimination of acquired resistance to PD-1 blockade via the concurrent depletion of tumour cells and immunosuppressive cells
Xue, G, Wang, Z, Zheng, N, Fang, J, Mao, C, Li, X, Jin, G, Ming, X & Lu, Y 2021, , Nature Biomedical Engineering, vol. 5, no. 11, pp. 1306-1319. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-021-00799-6

Speed and Location Both Matter: Antigen Stimulus Dynamics Controls CAR-T Cell Response
Liu, C, Qi, T, Milner, JJ, Lu, Y & Cao, Y 2021, , Frontiers in immunology, vol. 12, 748768. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.748768

Targeting the IL-9 pathway in cancer immunotherapy
Zheng, N & Lu, Y 2020, , Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics, vol. 16, no. 10, pp. 2333-2340. https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2019.1710413