About

Zhao Chen, PhD, MPH, is an Associate Dean for Research and a Distinguished Professor in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Zuckerman College of Public Health. Her research has focused on epidemiologic studies of women's health and aging-related health conditions, with extensive experience in body composition assessments, breast cancer risk factors, fracture risk in cancer survivors, osteoporosis prevention, epidemiology of anemia, and biomarker and genetic variations for chronic diseases and sarcopenia among women and elderly from diverse ethnic backgrounds. She is a member of the Arizona Cancer Center, Arizona Center on Aging, Arizona Arthritis Center, and Bio5, and is a funded researcher by the NIH. Dr. Chen has served on numerous scientific study sections for the NIH and other funding agencies nationally and internationally. Her work with the U.S. Women's Health Initiative has produced significant research on epidemiologic methodology and osteoporosis risk factors, notably highlighting increased fracture risk among breast cancer survivors and the association between body composition, dietary intake, and mammographic density. Currently, she leads investigations on longitudinal changes in bone strength and skeletal muscle loss related to aging, hormone, and nutritional interventions, supported by NIH funding. She is dedicated to building research and health promotion programs aimed at healthy aging across all ethnic groups, providing research training especially for minority students, and engaging in community health education and screening efforts.

Research topics

• Cancer research
• Immunology
• Biochemistry
• Cell biology
• Biology
• Molecular biology
• Chemistry

Selected publications

• Antibody-based binding domain fused to TCRγ chain facilitates T cell cytotoxicity for potent anti-tumor response

  Oncogenesis · 2023 · 4 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Molecular biology
  • Biology
  • Cell biology

  Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy has demonstrated potent clinical efficacy in the treatment of hematopoietic malignancies. However, the application of CAR-T in solid tumors has been limited due in part to the expression of inhibitory molecules in the tumor microenvironment, leading to T-cell exhaustion. To overcome this limitation, we have developed a synthetic T-cell receptor (TCR) that targets programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), a molecule that is widely expressed in various solid tumors and plays a pivotal role in T-cell exhaustion. Our novel TCR platform is based on antibody-based binding domain, which is typically a single-chain variable fragment (scFv), fused to the γδ TCRs (TCRγδ). We have utilized the T-cell receptor alpha constant (TRAC) locus editing approach to express cell surface scFv of anti-PD-L1, which is fused to the constant region of the TCRγ or TCRδ chain in activated T cells derived from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Our results indicate that these reconfigured receptors, both γ-TCRγδ and δ-TCRγδ, have the capability to transduce signals, produce inflammatory cytokines, degranulate and exert tumor killing activity upon engagement with PD-L1 antigen in vitro. Additionally, we have also shown that γ-TCRγδ exerted superior efficacy than δ-TCRγδ in in vivo xenograft model.

  DOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant K01AR002060

  NIH · $369k · 2003

• NIH Grant R01AR049411

  NIH · $2.0M · 2010

• NIH Grant R21AR060811

  NIH · $358k · 2015

• NIH Grant R01AG029133

  NIH · $593k · 2011

Frequent coauthors

• Kwok‐Kin Wong

  130 shared

• Andrew L. Kung

  Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

  123 shared

• Geoffrey I. Shapiro

  117 shared

• Pasi A. Jänne

  116 shared

• Xiaohong Tan

  Guangxi Medical University

  105 shared

• Yuchuan Wang

  98 shared

• Weihua Zhou

  92 shared

• Jane A. Cauley

  University of Pittsburgh

  89 shared

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