Professor Ping Wang

Profile

M.D. - Suzhou Medical College, China (1983)
M.S. – Shanghai Cancer Institute, China (1986)
Ph.D. – Karolinska Institute (1992)

Postdoctor – Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Stockholm (1992 – 1996)

Associate Research Director – Astrazenica Lund and Affiliated Assistant Professor – Lund University (1996 – 2000)

Senior Lecturer, then Professor – Barts and London Medical School (2000 – present).

Teaching

Research

Research Interests:

Topics:
Regulation of antigen processing and presentation
The development of nano-vaccine for the treatment of chronic infectious diseases
regulation of balanced adaptive immune responses and immune tolerance.

1.  Quality control of MHC I antigen presentation: The assembly of MHC I and antigenic peptides is regulated by different molecules in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of antigen presenting cells. Previous findings indicated that tapasin (TAP-A) has unique function in regulation of MHC I – peptide assembly. We are currently looking into the potential function of tapasin in selection of peptide repertoires for MHC I assembly.

2.   Nano-vaccine: Based on our studies in antigen presentation in the ER membrane, we have developed a nano-vaccine delivery system by using MHC – antigen and cytokine engineered ER membrane particles. We found that the delivery of both antigen and mitogenic cytokines directly to antigen specific T cells from HBV chronically infected patients can effectively recall their anti-viral immune responses. We are currently developing HBV therapeutic vaccine for clinical trials.

3.   Intrinsic regulation of B and T cell function: B and T cells are major effector lymphocytes in response to pathogen invasion. However, dysregulation of B and T cells can result in inflammatory autoimmunity or immune tolerance to pathogens. In addition to the Treg cells, B and T cells are intrinsically regulated in response to antigen and microenvironments.  We are studying the mechanisms of these regulations.

4. Role of early growth response genes (Egr) in the development and function of B and T cells. Egr molecules have been found to control the development and function of B and T cells. We have developed transgenic and knockout models and demonstrated their functions in the control of immune responses and inflammatory autoimmune diseases. We are investigating the molecular mechanisms of Egr function.

All these research topics have implications in autoimmune diseases, microbial and tumor immunity as well as vaccine development. Our research is supported by Arthritis Research UK and MRC.

Publications

Suling Li, Hans-Olov Sjögren, Ulf Hellman, Ralf Pettersson and Ping Wang. Cloninig and functional characterization of a novel subunit of the transportor associated with antigen presentation. Proc.Natl. Acad. Sci., 1997, 94;8708-8713.

Paulsson KM, Jevon M, Wang JW, Li S, Wang P. The double lysine motif of tapasin is a retrieval signal for retention of unstable MHC class I molecules in the endoplasmic reticulum. J Immunol. 2006; 176:7482-8.

Sofra V, Mansour S, Liu M, Gao B, Primpidou E, Wang P, Li S. Antigen-loaded ER microsomes from APC induce potent immune responses against viral infection. Eur J Immunol. 2009; 39:85-95. (WP is corresponding author).

Mengya Liu, Tizong Miao, Haoxiang Zhu, Alistair L. J. Symonds, Li Li, Anna Schurich, Mala K. Maini, Jiming Zhang, Patrick Kennedy, Suling Li, and Ping Wang. IL-2–Engineered nanoAPC Effectively Activate Viral Antigen-Mediated T Cell Responses from Chronic Hepatitis B Virus-Infected Patients Journal of Immunology 2012;188:1534-43.

Zhu B, Symonds AL, Martin JE, Kioussis D, Wraith DC, Li S, Wang P. Early growth response gene 2 (Egr-2) controls the self-tolerance of T cells and prevents the development of lupuslike autoimmune disease. J Exp Med. 2008; 205:2295-307.

Li S, Miao T, Sebastian M, Bhullar P, Ghaffari E, Liu M, Symonds AL, Wang P. The Transcription Factors Egr2 and Egr3 Are Essential for the Control of Inflammation and Antigen-Induced Proliferation of B and T Cells. Immunity. 2012;37:685-96.

Miao T, Raymond M, Bhullar P, Ghaffari E, Symonds AL, Meier UC, Giovannoni G, Li S, Wang P. Early growth response gene-2 controls IL-17 expression and Th17 differentiation by negatively regulating Batf. J Immunol. 2013 Jan 1;190(1):58-65. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1200868. Epub 2012 Nov 30.

Li S, Symonds AL, Miao T, Sanderson I, Wang P. Modulation of antigen-specific T-cells as immune therapy for chronic infectious diseases and cancer. Front Immunol. 2014 Jun 17;5:293. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2014.00293. eCollection 2014.

Ogbe A, Miao T, Symonds AL, Omodho B, Singh R, Bhullar P, Li S, Wang P. Early Growth Response Genes 2 and 3 Regulate the Expression of Bcl6 and Differentiation of T Follicular Helper Cells. J Biol Chem. 2015. 290:20455-65.

Randeep Singh, Tizong Miao, Alistair L. J. Symonds, Becky Omodho, Suling Li, and Ping Wang. Egr2 and 3 inhibit T-bet mediated IFN production in T cells. J Immunol 2017, 198:4394.

Tizong Miao, Alistair L. J. Symonds, Randeep Singh, Janine D. Symonds, Ane Ogbe, Becky Omodho, Bo Zhu, Suling Li, and Ping Wang. Egr2 and 3 control adaptive immunoresponses by temporally uncoupling clonal expansion from T cell differentiation J Exp Med 2017, 214:1787.

View all Ping Wang's Research Publications at: http://www.researchpublications.qmul.ac.uk