Baylor College of Medicine Houston, Texas
Professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology William T. Butler Endowed Chair for Distinguished Faculty Director, Basic Science Research Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center
Investigating ways to enhance the efficacy of immunotherapies in breast cancer.
Some breast tumors can evade the immune system, develop resistance to therapy and metastasize. They accomplish this by directly influencing specific cells of the immune system, even those that are far from the tumor itself. One of these immune cells, B-cells, are profoundly altered to the point where they are dysfunctional and cannot participate in a robust immune response to breast tumors. Dr. Zhang is examining breast tumor-induced B cell dysfunctions which are diverse across the patient population. His team identified several forms of tumor-induced B cell abnormality, in patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and in laboratory models of TNBC. Dr. Zhang and his colleagues are exploring B-cell abnormality to potentially uncover biomarkers and therapeutic targets that can be used to predict outcomes of immunotherapy or overcome immunosuppression, particularly in aggressive breast cancers such as TNBC.
Dr. Zhang and his team classified tumor-induced B cell abnormality into three categories from 0 to 2 based on their effect on B-cell production and function. Type 0 shows no characteristic difference from a normal B-cell population; Type 1 abnormality exhibits a global reduction in B cells; Type 2 has an accumulation of immature B cells, which may be immunosuppressive; The team is utilizing cutting-edge single-cell technology to characterize the abnormal B cells and validated their functions in laboratory models. Specifically, Dr. Zhang and his colleagues will identify potential mechanisms and therapeutic targets to restore B-cell function as well as assess the impact TiBA-1 and –2 have on tumor progression.
Dr. Zhang’s team will continue a comprehensive molecular characterization of the B cells in different pre-clinical models and investigate how the same lineage of immune cells can be systemically altered in divergent directions toto become immunosuppressive. The team will also determine how B cells at variable stages of development can be used as indicators of immune system status, thereby serving as biomarkers to predict therapeutic outcomes. Finally, they will identify molecular targets that can be leveraged to correct the aberrations induced by breast tumors and improve the efficacy of therapies that rely on a functional immune system.
Xiang (Shawn) Zhang, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, the William T. Butler Endowed Chair for Distinguished Faculty, and the Interim Director of Basic Research at the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Dr. Zhang continues to investigate biological mechanisms and therapeutic strategies of breast cancer metastasis and has made several findings using an integrative strategy that combines cancer genomics and experimental metastasis approaches. His long-term goals are to eradicate latent cancer cells in distant organs, and to reduce the incidence of overt metastases.
He received his PhD degree from Columbia University under the mentorship of Dr. Lawrence Chasin where he focused on the biology of mRNA splicing. He then joined Dr. Joan Massague’s laboratory at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he began to study cancer metastasis.
Dr. Zhang is the recipient of several prestigious awards: Laura Ziskin Translational Research Award of Breast Cancer (2022), Michael E. DeBakey Excellence in Research Award, Baylor College of Medicine (2018), Sue Eccles Young Investigator Award, Metastasis Research Society (2018), Leadership Award, Teresa Research Foundation (2016), Excellence in Research Award, Baylor College of Medicine (2016), Era of Hope Scholar Award, Department of Defense, Breast Cancer Research Program (2015), Career Catalyst Research Award, Susan G. Komen Foundation (2015). He is also an awardee of the K99/R00 Pathways to Independence Grant from the National Cancer Institute.
If not for BCRF, my research would have been confined to what I was trained for, but not up to the boundary of my creativity. It would be impossible for my team to explore and discover new therapeutic opportunities behind the crosstalk between cancer cells and the immune system.
2012
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