Assistant Professor, Oncology
Departments of Cell Stress Biology and Urologic Oncology
Roswell Park Cancer Institute

Dr. Wang earned his PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Beijing Normal University, China and completed his post-doctoral training in the Department of Immunology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI).  Dr. Wang joined the staff of RPCI in 2002 and is currently an Assistant Member in the Departments of Cell Stress Biology and Urologic Oncology.  He is also a member of the Prostate Program at RPCI.

Dr. Wang is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Association of Immunologists, and the Society for Basic Urologic Research. He has authored or co-authored over 30 journal articles, abstracts and book chapters. Dr. Wang has served as a reviewer for several journals including Cancer Research, Journal of Immunology and Vaccines.

Dr. Wang’s research interests include stress/heat shock protein (HSP) and stress response, tumor immunology and vaccine therapy. The research program in his laboratory focuses on understanding the mechanisms for the induction of effective antigen-specific immune responses and developing novel vaccine strategies for treatment of cancer. High molecular weight stress proteins or molecule chaperones, (e.g., grp170) are highly effective immunoadjuvants that can elicit potent immune responses against associated antigens. Based on their unique capabilities to shuttle antigens and to stimulate innate immune cells, such as antigen presenting cells (APCs), several chaperone-based vaccine approaches are being evaluated in preclinical models. Dr. Wang’s laboratory recently showed that genetic modification of poorly immunogenic tumor cells by transfection with a secretable ER chaperone grp170 significantly enhanced immunogenicity of the tumor.  Current work in his laboratory involves the use of immunostimulatory grp170 in combination with tumor-targeted therapies, e.g., chemotherapy, for generation of long term protective immunity against prostate cancer.

Another active area of his research is the immune regulatory roles of scavenger receptors in innate and adaptive immunity.  Several scavenger receptors, including SR-A, have been recently identified as putative receptors on APCs for HSPs.  However, contributions of these individual receptors to the HSP-elicited anti-tumor immunity have not been well defined.  During studies of SR-A, a prototype scavenger receptor of this family, Dr. Wang’s laboratory made an unexpected discovery that lack of SR-A significantly enhances vaccine activities against poorly immunogenic tumors, suggesting that SR-A is a previously unrecognized immune inhibitory receptor.  Using molecular, cellular and immunological approaches, Dr. Wang’s laboratory, in collaboration with Dr. Subjeck, is dissecting the mechanisms by which SR-A suppresses immune activation and/or promotes tolerance.  These studies will provide the rationale for designing SR-A targeted novel therapies to further improve cancer vaccine potency.  

Selected Publications:

• Wang, XY, Kazim L, Repasky EA, Subjeck JR. (2001). Characterization of hsp110 and grp170 as cancer vaccines and the effect of fever-range hyperthermia on vaccine activity. Journal of Immunology 166, 490-497.
• Wang XY, Chen X., Manjili MH, Repasky EA, Henderson R and Subjeck, JR. (2003). Targeted immunotherapy of melanoma using in vitro reconstituted chaperone complex of heat shock protein 110 with melanoma antigen gp100. Cancer Research 63: 2553-2560.
• Wang XY, Arnouk H, Repasky EA, Kazim AL and Subjeck JR. (2006). Extracellular targeting of ER chaperone grp170 enhances tumor immunity to a poorly immunogenic melanoma. Journal of Immunology 177:1543-1551.
• Wang XY, Facciponte JG, Subjeck JR (2005). Molecular chaperones and cancer immunotherapy.  “Molecular Chaperones in Health and Disease”. Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology. (Ed. Matthias Gaestel, published by Springer-Verlag). P305-329.
• Wang XY, Facciponte JG, Chen X, Subjeck JR and Repasky EA. (2007). Scavenger receptor-A negatively regulates tumor immunity. Cancer Research 67 (in press).