Zihai Li

Combination strategies to maximize the benefits of cancer immunotherapy

Journal of Hematology & Oncology · 2021 · 645 citations

Immunotherapies such as immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) and adoptive cell therapy (ACT) have revolutionized cancer treatment, especially in patients whose disease was otherwise considered incurable. However, primary and secondary resistance to single agent immunotherapy often results in treatment failure, and only a minority of patients experience long-term benefits. This review article will discuss the relationship between cancer immune response and mechanisms of resistance to immunotherapy. I…

Next-generation immuno-oncology agents: current momentum shifts in cancer immunotherapy

Journal of Hematology & Oncology · 2020 · 243 citations

Cancer immunotherapy has reached a critical point, now that immune checkpoint inhibitors and two CAR-T products have received market approval in treating 16 types of cancers and 1 tissue-agnostic cancer indication. Accompanying these advances, the 2018 Nobel Prize was awarded for the discovery of immune checkpoint pathways, which has led to the revolution of anti-cancer treatments. However, expanding the indications of immuno-oncology agents and overcoming treatment resistance face mounting chal…

COVID-19 vaccines for patients with cancer: benefits likely outweigh risks

Journal of Hematology & Oncology · 2021 · 127 citations

Less than a year since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, ten vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 have been approved for at least limited use, with over sixty others in clinical trials. This swift achievement has generated excitement and arrives at a time of great need, as the number of COVID-19 cases worldwide continues to rapidly increase. Two vaccines are currently approved for full use, both built on mRNA and lipid nanotechnology platforms, a success story of mRNA technology 20 years in the making.…

Innate Immune Responses to Highly Pathogenic Coronaviruses and Other Significant Respiratory Viral Infections

Frontiers in Immunology · 2020 · 46 citations

The new pandemic virus SARS-CoV-2 emerged in China and spread around the world in <3 months, infecting millions of people, and causing countries to shut down public life and businesses. Nearly all nations were unprepared for this pandemic with healthcare systems stretched to their limits due to the lack of an effective vaccine and treatment. Infection with SARS-CoV-2 can lead to Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). COVID-19 is respiratory disease that can result in a cytokine storm with stark di…

Proteotoxic stress response drives T cell exhaustion and immune evasion

Nature · 2025-10-01 · 33 citations

Chronic infections and cancer cause T cell dysfunction known as exhaustion. This cell state is caused by persistent antigen exposure, suboptimal co-stimulation and a plethora of hostile factors that dampen protective immunity and limit the efficacy of immunotherapies1–4. The mechanisms that underlie T cell exhaustion remain poorly understood. Here we analyse the proteome of CD8+ exhausted T (Tex) cells across multiple states of exhaustion in the context of both chronic viral infections and cance…