Yu Laboratory
Location
Microbiology & Immunology
BSB B2325
General Interests
Tumor Immunology, Cancer Immunotherapy, Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, Graft-versus-Host Disease, Graft-versus-Leukemia Effect
Research Areas
The research scope of Dr. Yu’s laboratory (Yu Lab) is in tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy. The researchers in Yu’s Lab have been focusing on two lines of basic and translational studies:
Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (allo-HCT). Acting through donor lymphocyte-mediated mechanisms termed the graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effect, allo-HCT is an effective therapy for hematological malignancies such as leukemia. However, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) remains a prominent cause of transplant-related morbidity and mortality after allo-HCT. Despite advances in patient care and pharmacologic prophylactic strategies, the incidence of GVHD, especially cGVHD, has not been substantially reduced over the years. Furthermore, corticosteroids remain as the first line therapy for GVHD and frequently fail with life-threatening consequences. Yu Lab focuses on defining the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate the pathogenicity of allogeneic T and B cells in GVHD, and on developing new and effective therapies to prevent and treat GVHD.
Adoptive T-cell Therapy (ACT). The adaptive immune system has the capacity to recognize and kill malignant cells. However, immune tolerant mechanisms that normally protect healthy tissues from autoimmune attack prevent the development of effective anti-tumor immunity. Tumors use numerous immunosuppressive mechanisms to evade otherwise effective T-cell responses. Despite promising results achieved by targeting one or more of the immune evasion mechanisms, there is clearly room for improvement because only a subset of cancer patients usually respond to current treatment. Aiming at understanding T-cell response against tumor and promoting anti-tumor activity, Yu Lab is interested in investigating T-cell activation, differentiation, persistence, migration, and metabolism in immunotherapy against cancer.
Current Members
Recent Publications
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Tipping the GVH/GVL balance by targeting HIF1α.
(Wu Y, Yu XZ.) Cell Rep Med. 2023 Nov 21;4(11):101295 PMID: 37992679 PMCID: PMC10694739 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85177835310 11/23/2023
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Targeting protein tyrosine phosphatases for CDK6-induced immunotherapy resistance.
(Gao X, Wu Y, Chick JM, Abbott A, Jiang B, Wang DJ, Comte-Walters S, Johnson RH, Oberholtzer N, Nishimura MI, Gygi SP, Mehta A, Guttridge DC, Ball L, Mehrotra S, Sicinski P, Yu XZ, Wang H.) Cell Rep. 2023 Apr 25;42(4):112314 PMID: 37000627 PMCID: PMC10544673 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85151481968 04/01/2023
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(Bastian D, Sui X, Choi HJ, Wu Y, Tian L, Yang K, Liu C, Liu Y, Yu XZ.) J Immunol. 2023 Feb 15;210(4):486-495 PMID: 36548465 PMCID: PMC9938950 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85147317750 12/23/2022
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(Han L, Wu Y, Fang K, Sweeney S, Roesner UK, Parrish M, Patel K, Walter T, Piermattei J, Trimboli A, Lefler J, Timmers CD, Yu XZ, Jin VX, Zimmermann MT, Mathison AJ, Urrutia R, Ostrowski MC, Leone G.) Nat Commun. 2023 Jan 03;14(1):1 PMID: 36596776 PMCID: PMC9810714 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85145429848 01/04/2023
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ER stress: an emerging regulator in GVHD development.
(Choi HJ, Yu XZ.) Front Immunol. 2023;14:1212215 PMID: 37744326 PMCID: PMC10511645 09/25/2023
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ER stress: an emerging regulator in GVHD development
(Choi HJ, Yu XZ.) Frontiers in Immunology. 2023;14 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85171864193 01/01/2023
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(Wang J, Chang CY, Yang X, Zhou F, Liu J, Zhu S, Yu XZ, Liu C, O'Sullivan TE, Xie P, Feng Z, Hu W.) Blood. 2022 Nov 10;140(19):2076-2090 PMID: 35981499 PMCID: PMC9837439 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85140086530 08/19/2022
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(Schutt SD, Wu Y, Kharel A, Bastian D, Choi HJ, Hanief Sofi M, Mealer C, McDaniel Mims B, Nguyen H, Liu C, Helke K, Cui W, Zhang X, Ben-David Y, Yu XZ.) J Clin Invest. 2022 Nov 01;132(21) PMID: 36074578 PMCID: PMC9621143 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85141004782 09/09/2022
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(Tian L, Wu Y, Choi HJ, Sui X, Li X, Sofi MH, Kassir MF, Chen X, Mehrotra S, Ogretmen B, Yu XZ.) Cell Mol Immunol. 2022 Nov;19(11):1235-1250 PMID: 36071219 PMCID: PMC9622814 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85137418710 09/08/2022
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(Sofi MH, Tian L, Schutt S, Khan I, Choi HJ, Wu Y, Bastian D, Ticer T, Kassir MF, Atilgan FC, Kim J, Sui X, Zivkovic A, Mehrotra S, O'Bryan JP, Stark H, Martin PJ, Ogretmen B, Yu XZ.) Leukemia. 2022 Jul;36(7):1907-1915 PMID: 35513703 PMCID: PMC9256768 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85129354225 05/06/2022
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MicroRNA-31 regulates T-cell metabolism via HIF1α and promotes chronic GVHD pathogenesis in mice.
(Wu Y, Mealer C, Schutt S, Wilson CL, Bastian D, Sofi MH, Zhang M, Luo Z, Choi HJ, Yang K, Tian L, Nguyen H, Helke K, Schnapp LM, Wang H, Yu XZ.) Blood Adv. 2022 May 24;6(10):3036-3052 PMID: 35073581 PMCID: PMC9131913 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85130628553 01/25/2022
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Sphingolipid metabolism in T cell responses after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation.
(Tian L, Ogretmen B, Chung BY, Yu XZ.) Front Immunol. 2022;13:904823 PMID: 36052066 PMCID: PMC9425084 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85137086832 09/03/2022