1. Ex-vivo expanded gamma/delta T cells for treating cancers

I. We study the molecular mechanisms of gamma/delta T cells cytotoxicity activities and morphological changes first in ovarian cancers treatment. We have demonstrated that ex-vivo expanded gamma/delta T cells from human PBMCs showed potent cytotoxicity towards epithelial ovarian malignancy both in-vitro and in the tumor xenograft mice.  

 II. In order to develop a best clinically feasible therapeutic method, we recently continue to optimize and modify different chimeric gamma/delta T cells as well as develop to target different types of cancers (ex: pancreatic cancers) to achieve the greatest enhancement in therapies. Next step will be to test the new chimeric gamma/delta T cells in the xenograft animal models.

 2. Engineering chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells for treating Cancers

I. T cells engineered with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) have been successfully applied in treating patients with advanced B cell malignancies but have not well done yet in treating solid tumors specifically in the clinical trials. Our laboratory is taking several CARs approaches to combat different solid tumors, for example: ovarian and pancreatic cancers. Moreover, the molecular mechanisms as well as the therapeutic efficiency by the CART cell strategy will also be investigated first using tumor xenograft mice models.

 II. Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor CART cells therapy. Immune checkpoint inhibitor PD1/PD-L1 pathway plays an essential role in immune suppression in the tumor microenvironment and blockade of PD1/PD-L1 by monoclonal antibodies has been shown success in the treatment of several tumor types. We have developed different CARs strategies targeting PD1/PDL1 axis for further cell immunotherapy investigation. The goal is to eliminate tumor cells and build-up a potent immunotherapy protocols for clinical translation.