Kang Chen, Ph.D.
Professor
Kang Chen, Ph.D.
Department
Obstetrics and Gynecology > Faculty profile > Lab website
Secondary appointments:
Biochemistry Microbiology and Immunology, Oncology, Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics
Research interests
Cancer immunology
Research description
The immune system can combat cancer but can also be subverted by cancer cells to fuel tumor growth and spread.
We work with scientists and clinician colleagues and apply molecular, cellular, histological and computational techniques to animal models and human specimens in order to understand the immune responses to cancers in tumor tissues, local and systemic lymphoid tissues and mucosal barrier tissues. We also study cancers of B lymphocytes, the antibody-producing cells in the immune system. These cells employ somatic DNA recombinatorial and mutational strategies, namely class switching and somatic hypermutation, to generate antibody diversity using limited genomic material at the risk of dysregulation that can result in leukemia, lymphoma, autoimmune diseases or immunodeficiencies.
In addition, we apply various methods to study immune disorders, such as primary humoral immunodeficiencies, allergies and autoinflammatory syndromes, and reproductive disorders, such as preterm birth, with the goal of developing new therapeutic and preventive methods to these diseases, reducing adverse pregnancy outcomes and improving infant health.
PubMed - my bibliography
Recent publications
Li H, Liu T, Wang Y, Miao X-M, Xiong Y-Y, Zhao Q, Shen W-Y, Su F-H, Chen K, Dai R-P. Paraventricular nucleus CRH neurons regulate acute lung injury via sympathetic nerve–neutrophil axis. Nature Communications 2025;16:8870.
Wang X, Zhu R, Yu P, Qi S, Zhong Z, Jin R, Wang Y, Gu Y, Ye D, Chen K, Shu Y, Wang Y, Yu F-X. WWC proteins–mediated compensatory mechanism restricts schwannomatosis driven by NF2 loss of function. Science Advances 2025;11:eadp4765.
Zhu R, Liu X, Zhang X, Zhong Z, Qi S, Jin R, Gu Y, Wang Y, Chen L, Chen K, Ye D, Yu F-X. Gene therapy for diffuse pleural mesotheliomas in preclinical models by concurrent expression of NF2 and SuperHippo. Cell Reports Medicine 2024; 5:101763.
Rezazadeh F, Ramos N, Saliganan A-D, Al-Hallak N, Chen K, Mohamad B, Wiesend WN, Viola NT. Detection of IL12/23p40 via PET visualizes inflammatory bowel disease. Journal of Nuclear Medicine 2023; 64:1806-1814.
Chen K, Giuliana M, Grasset E, Cerutti A. Rethinking mucosal antibody responses: IgM, IgG and IgD join IgA. Nature Reviews Immunology 2020,20:427-441 (cover story).
Chen Y-Q, Li P-C, Pan N, Gao R, Wen Z-F, Zhang T-Y, Huang F, Wu F-Y, Ou X-L, Zhang J-P, Zhu X-J, Hu H-M, Chen K, Cai Y-L, Wang L-X. Tumor-released autophagosomes induces CD4+ T cell-mediated immunosuppression via a TLR2–IL-6 cascade. Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer 2019; 7:1-16.
Jones RF, Reyes JD, Gibson HM, Jacob JB, Vaishampayan U, Ratner S, Chen K, Wei W-Z. An HER2 DNA vaccine with evolution-selected amino acid substitutions reveals a fundamental principle for cancer vaccine formulation in HER2 transgenic mice. Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy 2019; 68:1143-1155.
Shan M, Carillo J, Yeste A, Gutzeit C, Garzon DS, Pybus M, Grasset EK, Yeiser JR, Matthews DB, van de Veen W, Comerma L, He B, Boonpiyathad T, Lee H, Blanco J, Osborne LC, Siracusa MC, Akdis M, Artis D, Mehandru S, Sampson HA, Berin MC, Chen K, Cerutti A (2018). Secreted IgD Amplifies Humoral T helper 2 responses by Activating Basophils through Galectin-9 and CD44. Immunity 2018; 49:709-724.
Luedtke DA, Niu X, Pan Y, Zhao J, Liu S, Edwards H, Chen K, Lin K, Taub JW, Ge Y. Inhibition of Mcl-1 enhances cell death induced by the Bcl-2-selective inhibitor ABT-199 in acute myeloid leukemia cells. Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy 2017; 2:17012.
Huang B, Faucette AN, Pawlitz MD, Pei B, Goyert JW, Zhou JZ, El-Hage NG, Cols M, Lin J, Yao F, Jassal JS, Dewar RS III, Dai J, Shen C, Polin LA, Nichols RA, Jones TB, Deng J, Bluth MH, Puder KS, Gonik B, Nayak NR, Puscheck E, Wei W-Z, Cerutti A, Colonna M, Chen K. Interleukin-33-induced expression of PIBF1 by decidual B cells protects against preterm labor. Nature Medicine 2017; 23:128-35.
Education/training
PhD, Weill Cornell Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Hospital for Special Surgery
BSc with First-Class Honours, National University of Singapore