We work on cancer prevention and immunotherapy using tumour-targeted replicating oncolytic viruses, in particular focusing on replicating adenovirus and vaccinia virus.
A systemically deliverable oncolytic Vaccinia virus demonstrates potent anti-tumor efficacy and sensitizes pancreatic cancer to α-PD1. J Immunother Cancer (2021) 9(1):e001624. PMID: 33500259
Transient Inhibition of PI3Kδ Enhances the Therapeutic Effect of Intravenous Delivery of Oncolytic Vaccinia Virus. Mol Ther (2020) 28(5):1263-1275. PMID: 32145202
A Virus-Infected, Reprogrammed Somatic cell-derived Tumor cell (VIReST) regime can prevent initiation and progression of pancreatic cancer. Clin Can Res (2019) 26(2):465. PMID: 31767564
Re-designing Interleukin-12 to enhance its safety and potential as an anti-tumor immunotherapeutic agent. Nature communications (2017) 8(1): 1395. PMID: 29123084
CEACAM6 attenuates adenovirus infection by antagonizing viral trafficking in cancer cells. J Clin Invest (2009) 119(6):1604-15. PMID: 19411761
The major research interest in my group is developing new cancer immunotherapy agents or/and approaches through comprehensive investigations into the interaction of oncolytic viruses, tumour cells, tumour microenvironment and host immune responses.
Our four main research areas of interests are:
Dynamics of binding ability prediction between spike protein and human ACE2 reveals the adaptive strategy of SARS-CoV-2 in humans Xue X, Shi J, Xu H et al. Scientific Reports (2021) 11(7)
Erratum: A virus-infected, reprogrammed somatic cell-derived tumor cell (VIReST) vaccination regime can prevent initiation and progression of pancreatic cancer (Clinical Cancer Research (2020) 26 (465-476) DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-19-1395) Lu S, Zhang Z, Du P et al. Clinical Cancer Research (2021) 27(7) 2663
A novel vaccinia virus enhances anti-tumor efficacy and promotes a long-term anti-tumor response in a murine model of colorectal cancer Wang N, Wang J, Zhang Z et al. Molecular Therapy - Oncolytics (2021) 20(7) 71-81
A systemically deliverable Vaccinia virus with increased capacity for intertumoral and intratumoral spread effectively treats pancreatic cancer Marelli G, Chard Dunmall LS, Yuan M et al. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (2021) 9(7)
Patient-derived xenograft: a developing tool for screening biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets for human esophageal cancers Lan T, Xue X, Dunmall LC et al. Aging (2021) 13(7) 12273-12293
A Tumor-Targeted Replicating Oncolytic Adenovirus Ad-TD-nsIL12 as a Promising Therapeutic Agent for Human Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Zhang Z, Zhang C, Miao J et al. Cells (2020) 9(7)
Promising xenograft animal model recapitulating the features of human pancreatic cancer Miao JX, Wang JY, Li HZ et al. World Journal of Gastroenterology (2020) 26(7) 4802-4816
Treatment and Prevention of Lung Cancer Using a Virus-Infected Reprogrammed Somatic Cell-Derived Tumor Cell Vaccination (VIReST) Regime Zhang Z, Lu S, Dunmall LSC et al. Frontiers in Immunology (2020) 11(7)
Generation and characterization of an Il2rg knockout Syrian hamster model for XSCID and HAdV-C6 infection in immunocompromised patients Li R, Ying B, Liu Y et al. DMM Disease Models and Mechanisms (2020) 13(7)
Erratum: A new oncolytic Vaccinia virus augments antitumor immune responses to prevent tumor recurrence and metastasis after surgery (J ImmunoTher Cancer (2020) 8 (e000415) DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2019-000415) Ahmed J, Chard LS, Yuan M et al. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (2020) 8(7)
For additional publications, please click herePostdoctoral Researchers
Dr Louisa Chard, Dr Rathi Gangeswaran, Dr Peng Liu, Dr Ming Yuan
Clinical Research Fellows
Dr Lewis Stephen
PhD Students
Ms Zuoyi Zhao, Mr Christian Jacobus Bouwens, Ms Carmela Di Gioia, Ms Elisa Heyrman
Visiting Research Fellows
Ms Lijuan Chen, Ms Yafeng Wang
I qualified in medicine and obtained my PhD in 1997. From 1999 to 2005, I undertook postdoctoral research in molecular biology of cancer as well as cancer viral and genetic therapy at the MRC Toxicology Unit in Leicester University and the Cancer Research UK Molecular Oncology Unit based at Imperial College London.
I joined the Barts Cancer Institute (formerly Institute of Cancer) on 1st July 2005 as a Lecturer. I was promoted to a senior Lecturer and subsequently Reader in Molecular Oncology in 2007 and 2011, respectively, and became Professor of Cancer Cell and Gene Therapy in 2015.
I established the first Sino-British Research Centre for Molecular Oncology with Prof Nick Lemoine in 2006. The Centre was a joint venture entity between Queen Mary University of London and Zhengzhou University. The Centre was elected as a National Centre for International Research in Cell and Gene Therapy by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China in 2014. I have been appointed as the Director of the Centre since then.
I have been working in cancer virotherapy since 2001 with a substantial track record of publications in prestigious scientific journals such as “Nature Biotechnology”, “The Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI)”, “Gut”, and “Nature Communications”, etc.
My long-term research aim is to develop more effective cancer cell and gene therapies based on the genetically engineered oncolytic virus platform, for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human cancer, and advance them into clinical testing.