Personal Introduction

Yan Zhang, Principal Investigator at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine/Shanghai Institute of Immunology. Dr. Zhang received her bachelor’s degree in biotechnology from China Pharmaceutical University. She completed her Ph.D. training at Nanjing University and carried out her postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health Cancer Institute (NIH/NCI), Bethesda. From 2016 to 2020, she worked as a staff scientist/faculty associate at the National Children's Hospital (CNMC) and the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore. In 2020, she joined the Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine as a principal investigator.

Her research has focuses on the fundamental mechanism of immune recognition and cancer biology, including both mechanisms that uncover the link between autoimmunity and cancer immunity, and on translating the new concept for production of new generation of cancer immunotherapeutics. Her work has been published as corresponding or co-corresponding author in peer-reviewed journals, including PNAS、Nature Immunology、Cell Research、Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy、Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer、Nature Communications, etc. She has served as principal investigator or key contributor on multiple projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the National Key Research and Development Program of China.

Biography

Dr. Zhang received her bachelor degree in Biotechnology from China Pharmaceutical University. She completed her Ph.D. training at Nanjing University and carried out her postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health Cancer Institute (NIH/NCI), Bethesda.

From 2016 to 2020, she worked as a staff scientist/faculty associate at the National Children's Hospital (CNMC) and the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore. In 2020, she joined the Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine as a principal investigator. Her research interests have focused on both fundamental mechanisms that uncover the link between autoimmunity and cancer immunity and on translating the new concepts for the production of better therapeutics of cancer immunotherapy. Relevant studies have been published in Blood, Cell Res, Sci Immunol, Nat Immunol, Nat Commun, etc.

Scientific Research Projects：

• Uncoupling autoimmune side effects from efficient cancer immunotherapy by targeting regulatory T cells. Funding Source: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant Number: 82071866, 2021/01-2024/12.

• Synergistic effect of TIGIT monoclonal antibody on CTLA-4-targeted cancer immunethera- py. Founding Source: Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality, Grant Number: 22ZR1454800, 2022/04-2025/03.

• Study on the mechanism of histone modification reading molecule ZMYND8 specifically regulating thymic Treg to affect tumor immunity. Funding Source: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant Number: 82271762, 2023/01-2026/12.

Publications:

*Co-first author; #Co-correspondence

• Zhou H*, Li J*, Mei S*, Zhang M, Zhao H, Yan K, Cheng Y, Zhou Q, Zheng P, Liu Y, Zhang P, Li H, Zhang Y#. Specific depletion of TIGIThigh CD226- clonally expanded intratumoral Tregs defines safe and effective TIGIT targeting. J Immunother Cancer 2026, 14(2):e013636.

• Zhang M*, Li J*, Yan K*, Zhou H, Mei S, Wang B, Li D, Du X, Liu M, Zhang P, Fields J K, Ye L, Zheng P, Liu Y, Lenardo M J#, Zhang Y#. pH-dependent dissociation from CTLA-4 in early endosomes improves both safety and antitumor activity of anti-CTLA-4 antibodies. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2025, 122(8):e2422731122.

• Hu Y, Zhao, Q, Qin Y, Mei S, Wang B, Zhou H, Han L, Zang Y, Yao, L, He Z, Li Y, Li H#, Zhang P#, Zhang Y#, Lenardo M#, Lu W#. CARD11 signaling regulates CD8+ T cell tumoricidal function. Nat Immunol 2025, 26(7): 1113-1126.

• Liu M*, Wang X*, Du X*, Wu W, Zhang Y, Zhang P, Ai C, Devenport M, Su J, Muthana M, Su L, Liu Y#, Zheng P#. Soluble CTLA-4 mutants ameliorate immune-related adverse events but preserve efficacy of CTLA-4- and PD-1-targeted immunotherapy. Sci Transl Med 2023, 15(685):eabm5663.

• Niu Z, Jin R, Zhang Y#, Li H#. Signaling pathways and targeted therapies in lung squamous cell carcinoma: mechanisms and clinical trials. STTT 2022, 7(1):353.

• Jia P, Li X, Wang X, Yao L, Xu Y, Hu Y, Xu W, He Z, Zhao Q, Deng Y, Zang Y, Zhang M, Zhang Y#, Qin J#, Wei L#. ZMYND8 mediated liquid condensates spatiotemporally decommission the latent super-enhancers during macrophage polarization. Nat Commun 2021, 12(1):6535.

• Zhang Y*#, Du X*, Liu M*, Tang F, Zhang P, Ai CX, Fields J, Sundberg E, Latinovic O, Devenport M, Zheng P# and Liu Y#. Hijacking Antibody-induced CTLA-4 Lysosomal Degradation for Safer and More Effective Cancer Immunotherapy. Cell Res, 2019, 29:607-629.

• Wei Z*, Zhang Y*, Chen J*, Hu Y*, Jia P, Wang X, Zhao Q, Deng Y, Li N, Zang Y, Qin J, Wang X#, Lu W#. Pathogenic CARD11 mutations affect B cell development and differentiation through a noncanonical pathway. Sci Immunol, 2019, 29;4(41).

• Zhang Y, Choksi S, Chen K, Pobezinskaya Y, Linnoila I, Liu ZG. ROS plays a critical role in the differentiation of alternatively activated macrophages and the occurrence of tumor associated macrophages. Cell Res, 2013, 23:898–914.

• Zhang Y, Morgan MJ, Chen K, Choksi S, Liu ZG. Induction of Autophagy is Essential for Monocyte-Macrophage Differentiation. Blood, 2012, 119(12):2895-2905.

• Li T, Morgan MJ, Choksi S, Zhang Y, Kim YS, Liu ZG. MicroRNAs modulate the noncanonical transcription factor NF-kappaB pathway by regulating expression of the kinase IKKalpha during macrophage differentiation. Nat Immunol, 2010, 11(9):799-805.

• Chen X, Ba Y, Ma L, Cai X, Yin Y, Wang K, Guo J, Zhang Y, Chen J, Guo X, Li Q, Li X, Wang W, Zhang Y, Wang J, Jiang X, Xiang Y, Xu C, Zheng P, Zhang J, Li R, Zhang H, Shang X, Gong T, Ning G, Wang J, Zen K, Zhang J, Zhang CY. Characterization of microRNAs in serum: a novel class of biomarkers for diagnosis of cancer and other diseases. Cell Res, 2008, 18(10):997-1006.

• Zhang Y, Ba Y, Liu C, Sun GX, Li D, Gao SY, Hao JH, Yu ZT, Zhang JF, Zen K, Tong ZS, Xiang Y and Zhang CY.PGC-1α induces apoptosis in human epithelial ovarian cancer cells through a PPARγ-dependent pathway. Cell Res, 2007, 17:363-373.