Qing Yi, M.D., Ph.D., Research Laboratory
Immune Regulation and Immunotherapy in Multiple Myeloma
Members of Yi Research Team: (Back row) Yuhuan Zheng, Jing Yang, Sung Youl Hong, (Front row) Haiyan Li, Luhong Sun, Qing Yi, Jianfei Qian. Not pictured: Liang Zhang, Yong S. Lan, Yong Lu.
Dr. Yi is one of the leading investigators in the field of immune regulation and immunotherapy in multiple myeloma, which remains an incurable disease affecting more than 16,000 American each year. His team has been working on characterizing myeloma-specific T cells and their subsets, and examining their functions in relationship to myeloma tumor cells in both in vitro and in vivo experiments, and on identifying novel myeloma-associated antigens such as DKK1 for immunotherapy. In addition, his team has been conducting clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of immunizing patients with idiotype or dendritic cell-based vaccines. His research will continue focusing on the development of effective immunotherapy strategies to cure myeloma patients in a combination with high-dose chemotherapy.
Recently, Dr. Yi’s group discovered that anti-b2-microglobulin antibodies could kill myeloma cells. His research team is thus examining whether these antibodies have therapeutic potentials to treat patients with myeloma. Furthermore, his recent studies demonstrate that C-reactive protein (CRP) protects myeloma cells from chemotherapy drug-induced apoptosis, and further work is under way to explore whether CRP can be targeted for myeloma therapy.