Xiuli Wang, Ph.D.

626-256-4673
Xiuli Wang, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation
Research Area
  • CAR T Cell Therapy
  • Immunotherapy
Research Teams
Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation
Xiuli Wang, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at City of Hope, received her Ph.D. at the University of Oslo in Norway in 1999 and her M.D. at Inner Mongolia Medical University in China in 1983.
 
She received her postdoctoral training at USC at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in the department of immunology/bone marrow transplantation. She joined Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope in 2006, becoming an associate research professor in 2013 and a full research professor in 2017.
 
Her research interests include immunotherapy, vaccines and CAR T cell therapy in multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and acute lymphoid leukemia. She recently secured a $3.8 million grant from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine to explore using CAR T cell therapy to kill HIV.

Location

Education & Experience

Degrees

  • 1999, University of Oslo, Norway, Ph.D. Mentor: Dr. Haakon Benestad

  • 1989, Harbin Medical University, China, M.S. Mentor: Dr. Baoyuan Hong

  • 1983, Inner Mongolia Medical University, China, M.D.

Fellowship

  • 1999 - 2004, Postdoctoral Fellow (Research Scholar), USC at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Department of Immunology/BMT, Mentors: Dr. Jan Notal and Dr. Gay Crooks

Professional Experience

  • 2017-present, Professor, Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Duarte, CA

  • 2013-2017, Associate Research Professor, Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Duarte, CA

  • 2006-2013, Assistant Research Professor, Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Duarte, CA

  • 2004-2006, Assistant Research Professor, USC at Children’s Hospital, Department of Immunology/BMT, Los Angeles, CA

Research

The Xiuli Wang lab interests include immunotherapy, vaccines and CAR T cell therapy in multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, acute lymphoid leukemia, and HIV.
Dr. Wang is a principal investigator and provides scientific oversight on immunotherapy research programs for the development of CAR T cell therapy for the treatment of hematological malignancies, such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia, lymphoma (including primary and secondary nervous CNS lymphoma) and multiple myeloma. 

Dr. Wang has a long-standing interest in improving the efficacy and safety of adoptively transferred CAR T cells in patients by optimizing cell population for manufacturing, CAR design and developing CMV specific bispecific CAR T cell platform.

Publications

Selected Publications (peer-reviewed)

To view a full of list of Xiuli Wang's publications, please click to view NCBI publications.

  1. Wang X, Dong Z, Awuah D, Chang WC, Cheng WA, Vyas V, Cha S, Anderson A, Zhang T, Wang Z, Szymura S, Kuang B, Clark MC, Aldoss I, Forman SJ, Kwak LW, Hong Qin H CD19/BAFF-R dual targeted CAR T cells for treatment of mixed antigen-negative variants of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Leukemia (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-021-01477-x 
  2. Wang X, Urak R, Walter M, Guan M, Han T, Vyas V, Chien SH, Gittins B, Clark MC, Mokhtari S, Cardoso A, Diamond DJ, Zaia J, Forman SJ, and Nakamura R Large-Scale Manufacturing and Characterization of CMV-CD19CAR T Cells J Immunother Cancer 2022;10:e003461. doi:10.1136/jitc-2021-003461
  3. Guan M, Lim L, Holguin L, Han T, Vyas V, Urak R, Miller A, Browning DL, Echavarria L, Li S,  Li S, Chang WC, Scott T, Yazaki P, Morris KV, Cardoso AA, Blanchard MS, Verche VL, Forman SJ, Zaia JA, Burnett JC, Wang X Pre-clinical data supporting immunotherapy for HIV using CMV-HIV-specific CAR T cells with CMV vaccine Molecular Therapy: Methods & Clinical Development 2022; 25:344-359
  4.  Goldberg L, Haas ER, Vyas V, Urak R,  Forman SJ, Wang X  Single-cell analysis by mass cytometry reveals CD19 CAR T cell spatiotemporal plasticity in patients Oncoimmunology 2022 Feb 18;11(1):2040772. doi: 10.1080/2162402X.2022.2040772.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omtm.2022.04.007
  5.   Wang Z, Zhang C, Warden CD, Liu Z, Yuan YC, Guo C, Wang C, Wang J, Wu X, Ermel R, Vonderfecht SL, Wang X, Brown C, Forman S, Yang Y, You MJ, Chen  WY Loss of SIRT1 inhibits hematopoietic stem cell aging and age-dependent mixed phenotype acute leukemia COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY | (2022) 5:396 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-03340-w
  6. Wang Z, McWilliams-Koeppen HP, Reza H, Ostberg JR, Chen W, Wang X, Huynh C, Vyas V, Chang WC, Starr R, Wagner JR, Aguilar B, Yang X, Wu X, Wang J, Chen W, Koelker-Wolfe E, Seet CS, Montel-Hagen A, Crooks GM, Forman SJ, Brown CE. 3D-organoid culture supports differentiation of human CAR+ iPSCs into highly functional CAR T cells Cell Stem Cell. 2022 Apr 7;29(4):515-527.e8. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2022.02.009. Epub 2022 Mar 11.PMID: 35278370
  7. Aldoss I, Khaled  SK, Wang X, Palmer  J, Wang Y, Wagner JR, Clark MC, Simpson J, Paul J, Vyas V, Chien  SH, Stein A, Pullarkat V, Salhotra A, Malki MMA, Thomas SH, Budde LE, Marcucci G, Brown CE, Forman SJ Favorable Activity and Safety Profile of Memory-Enriched CD19-Targeted Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapy in Adults with high-risk Relapsed/Refractory ALL Clin Cancer Res 2022 ; CCR-22-2038. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-22-2038
  8. Yamaguchi Y, Gibson J, Ou K, Lopez L, Ng RH, Leggett N, Jonsson VD, Zarif JC, Lee PP, Wang X, Martinez C, Dorff TB, Forman SJ, Priceman SJ. PD-L1 blockade restores CAR T cell activity through IFNg-regulation of CD163+ macrophages. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer. 2022. PMID: 35738799.
  9. Siddiqi T, Wang X, M. Blanchard S, Wagner J, Popplewell L, Budde LE, Tracey T, Clark MC, Lim L, Vyas V, Brown C, Forman SJ CD19 directed CAR T cell therapy for treatment of primary CNS lymphoma Blood Advances 2021 September https://doi.org/10.1182/bloodadvances.2020004106
  10. Wang X, Diamond DJ, Forman SJ, Nakamura R Development of CMV‑CD19 bi‑specifc CAR T cells with post‑infusion in vivo boost using an anti‑CMV vaccine International Journal of Hematology volume 114, pages544–553 (2021) doi.org/10.1007/s12185-021-03215-6.
  11. Adhikarla V, Awuah D, Brummer AB, Caserta E, Krishnan A, Pichiorri F, Minnix M, Shively JE, Wong JYC, Wang X, and Rockne RC A Mathematical Modeling Approach for Targeted Radionuclide and Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Combination Therapy Cancers 2021, 13, 5171. doi.org/10.3390/cancers13205171
  12. Urak RZ, Soemardy C, Ray R, Li S, Shevchenko G, Scott T, Lim L, Wang X, Morris KV Conditionally Replicating Vectors Mobilize Chimeric Antigen Receptors against HIV Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev 2020 doi: 10.1016/j.omtm.2020.09.014. eCollection 2020 Dec 11.
  13. Dong Z , Cheng WA , Smith DL,  Huang B , Zhang T , Chang WC, Wang X, Forman SJ ,  Kwak LW, Qin H Antitumor efficacy of BAFF-R targeting CAR T cells manufactured under clinic-ready conditions Cancer Immunol Immunothe 2020 May 25 doi: 10.1007/s00262-020-02614
  14. Eugenia Zah, Eunwoo Nam, Vinya Bhuvan, Uyen Tran, Brenda Y. Ji, Stanley B. Gosliner, Xiuli Wang, Christine E. Brown, Yvonne Y. Chen Systematically optimized BCMA/CS1 bispecific CAR-T cells robustly control heterogeneous multiple myeloma  Nat Commun 2020 May 8;11(1):2283 doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-16160-5.PMCID: PMC7210316
  15. Viola D, Dona A, Caserta E, Troadec E, Besi F, McDonald T, Ghoda L, Gunes EG, Sanchez JF, Khalife J, Martella M, Karanes C, Htut M, Wang X, Rosenzweig M, Chowdhury A, Sborov D, Miles RR, Yazaki PJ, Ebner T, Hofmeister CC, Forman SJ, Rosen ST, Marcucci G, Shively  J, Keats JJ, Krishnan A, Pichiorri F  Daratumumab induces mechanisms of immune activation through CD38+ NK cell targeting. Leukemia. 2020 Apr 16. doi: 10.1038/s41375-020-0810-4. [Epub ahead of print PMID: 32296125 DOI: 10.1038/s41375-020-0810-4
  16. Wang X, Huynh C, Urak R, Weng L, Walter M, Lim L, Vyas V, Chang W, Aguilar B, Brito A, Sarkissian A, Bandara AN, Yang L, Wang J, Wu X , Zhang J, Qin H , Kwak LW, Budde EL, Thomas SH, Popplewell L, Siddiqi T, Brown CE, Forman SJ The cerebroventricular environment reprograms CAR T cells for potent activity against both CNS and systemic lymphoma Cancer Immunology Research 2020
  17. Su YL, Wang X, Mann M, Adamus T, Moreira D, Zhang Z, Ouyang C, Swiderski S, Baltimore D, Forman SJ, Li L, Marcucci G, Boldin M, and Kortylewski M  Myeloid Cell-Selective miR-146a Mimic Inhibits NF-B-Driven Inflammation and Tumorigenic Effects in Vivo Blood 2020 Jan 16;135(3):167-180.
  18. Qin H Dong Z,  Wang X, Cheng WA, Wen F, Xue W, Sun H, Walter M, Wei G, Smith L, Sun X, Fei F, Xie J, Panagopoulou TI, Chen C, Song JY, Aldoss I, Kayembe C, Sarno L, Müschen M, Inghirami GG, Forman SJ, Larry Kwak  LW Sensitivity of antigen loss relapsed B-cell malignancies to chimeric antigen receptor T cells targeting BAFF-R Science Translational Medicine 2019 Sep 25;11(511)
  19. Alizadeh D,  Wong RA,  Yang X,  Wang D,  Pecoraro JR,  Kuo C,  Aguilar B,  Qi Y,  Ann DK,  Starr R, Urak R,  Wang X,  Forman SJ and  Brown CE IL15 Enhances CAR-T Cell Antitumor Activity by Reducing mTORC1 Activity and Preserving Their Stem Cell Memory Phenotype DOI: 10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-18-0466
  20. Li YJ, Du L, Aldana-Masangkay G1, Wang X, Urak R, Forman SJ, Rosen ST, Chen Y. Regulation of miR-34b/c-targeted gene expression program by SUMOylation. Nucleic Acids Res. 2018 Jun 9. DOI: 10.1093/nar/gky484. [Epub ahead of print]
  21. Rosenzweig M, Urak R, Walter M, Lim L, Sanchez JF, Krishnan A, Forman S, Wang X. Preclinical Data Supports Leveraging CS1 Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell Therapy for Systemic Light Chain Amyloidosis (AL). Cytotherapy 2017 Jul;19(7):861-866.
  22. Wang X, Urak R, Walter M, Weng L, Lim L, Huynh C, Wong C-L W, Chang W-C, Thomas S, Sanchez JF, Yang L, Brown CE, Htut M, Krishnan A, Forman SJ. Lenalidomide enhances the function of CS1 chimeric antigen receptor redirected T cells against multiple myeloma. Clinical Cancer Research. 2018 24:106-119. 
  23. Urak R, Walter M, Lim L, Wong C-L W, Budde LE, Thomas S, Forman SJ, Wang X. Ex vivo Akt inhibition promotes the generation of potent CD19CAR T cells for adoptive immunotherapy. Journal of Immunotherapy of Cancer. 2017 Mar 21;5:26. DOI: 10.1186/s40425-017-0227-4. 
  24. Brown CE, Alizadeh D, Starr R, Weng L, Wagner JR, Naranjo A, Ostberg JR, Blanchard MS, Kilpatrick J, Simpson J, Kurien A, Priceman SJ, Wang X, Harshbarger TL, D'Apuzzo M, Ressler JA, Jensen MC, Barish ME, Chen M, Portnow J, Forman SJ, Badie B. Regression of Glioblastoma after Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy. N Engl J Med. 2016 Dec 29;375(26):2561-9. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1610497. PMID: 28029927.
  25. Wang X, Popplewell LL, Wagner JR, Naranjo A, Blanchard MS, Mott MR, Norris AP, Wong CW, Urak RZ, Chang WC, Khaled SK, Siddiqi T, Budde LE, Xu J, Chang B, Gidwaney N, Thomas SH, Cooper LJ, Riddell SR, Brown CE, Jensen MC, Forman SJ. Phase I studies of central-memory-derived CD19 CAR T cell therapy following autologous HSCT in patients with B-cell NHL. Blood. 2016 Jun 16;127(24):2980-90. DOI: 10.1182/blood-2015-12-686725. Epub 2016 Apr 26. PMID:27118452.
  26. Wang X, Wong CW, Urak R, Taus E, Aguilar B, Chang WC, Mardiros A, Budde LE, Brown CE, Berger C, Forman SJ, Jensen MC. Comparison of naïve and central memory derived CD8+ effector cell engraftment fitness and function following adoptive transfer. Oncoimmunology. 2015 Aug 20;5(1):e1072671. eCollection 2016. PMID: 26942092.
  27. Wang X, Wong CW, Urak R, Mardiros A, Budde LE, Chang WC, Thomas SH, Brown CE, Rosa C, Diamond DJ, Jensen MC, Nakamura R, Zaia J, Forman SJ. CMVpp65 vaccine enhances the antitumor efficacy of adoptively transferred CD19-redirected CMV-specific T cells. Clin Cancer Res. 21(13):2993-3002, 2015. PMID:25838392.
  28. Jonnalagadda M, Mardiros A, Urak R, Wang X, Hoffman LJ, Bernanke A, Chang WC, Bretzlaff W, Starr R, Priceman S, Ostberg JR, Forman SJ, Brown CE. Chimeric Antigen Receptors With Mutated IgG4 Fc Spacer Avoid Fc Receptor Binding and Improve T Cell Persistence and Antitumor Efficacy. Mol Ther. 23(4):757-68, 2015. PMCID:PMC4395772.
  29. Mardiros A, Dos Santos C, McDonald T, Brown CE, Wang X, Budde LE, Hoffman L, Aguilar B, Chang WC, Bretzlaff W, Chang B, Jonnalagadda M, Starr R, Ostberg JR, Jensen MC, Bhatia R, Forman SJ. T cells expressing CD123-specific chimeric antigen receptors exhibit specific cytolytic effector functions and anti-tumor effects against human acute myeloid leukemia. Blood. 122(18):3138-48, 2013. PMCID: PMC3814731.
  30. Mardiros A, Brown CE, Budde LE, Wang X, Forman SJ. Acute myeloid leukemia therapeutics: CARs in the driver's seat. Oncoimmunology. 2013. 2(12):e27214. PMCID:PMC3916356.
  31. Hunter MR, Prosser ME, Mahadev V, Wang X, Aguilar B, Brown CE, Forman SJ, Jensen MC. Chimeric c cytokine receptors confer cytokine independent engraftment of human T lymphocytes. Mol Immunol. 56(1-2):1-11, 2013. PMID:23628622.
  32. Wang X, Naranjo A, Brown CE, Bautista C, Wong W, Chang WC, Aguilar B,  Ostberg JR, Riddell SR, Forman SJ, Jensen MC. Phenotypic and functional attributes of lentivirus modified CD19-specific CD8+ central memory T cells manufactured at clinical scale. J Immunother. 35(9):689-701, 2012. PMCID:PMC3525345.
  33. Wang X, Chang WC, Wong W, Colcher D, Sherman M, Ostberg JR, Forman SJ, Riddell SR, Jensen MC. A transgene encoded cell surface polypeptide for selection, in vivo tracking, and ablation of engineered cells. Blood. 118(5):1255-63, 2011. PMCID:PMC3152493.
  34. Wang X, Berger C, W. Wong W, Forman SJ, Riddell SR, Jensen MC. Engraftment of human central memory-derived effector CD8+ T cells in immunodeficient mice. Blood. 117(6):1888-98, 2011. PMCID:PMC3056638.
  35. Abdel-Azim H, Zhu Y, Hollis R, Wang X, Ge S, Hao QL, Smbatyan G, Kohn DB, Rosol M, Crooks GM. Expansion of multipotent and lymphoid-committed human progenitors through intracellular dimerization of Mpl. Blood. 111:3920-1, 2008. PMCID: PMC2288719.
  36. Hao QL, George AA, Zhu J, Barsky L, Zielinska E, Wang X, Price M, Ge S, Crooks GM. Human intrathymic lineage commitment is marked by differential CD7 expression: identification of CD7- lympho-myeloid thymic progenitors. Blood. 111:1318-26, 2008. PMCID: PMC2214748.
  37. Bauer G, Dao MA, Case SS, Meyerrose T, Wirthlin L, Zhou P, Wang X, Herrbrich P, Arevalo J, Csik S, Skelton DC, Walker J, Pepper K, Kohn DB, Nolta JA. In vivo biosafety model to assess the risk of adverse events from retroviral and lentiviral vectors. Mol Ther. 2008 Jul;16(7):1308-15. PMCID: PMC3013368.
  38. Rountree CB, Wang X, Ge S, Barsky L, Zhu J, Gonzales I, Crooks GM. Bone marrow fails to differentiate into liver epithelium during murine development and regeneration. Hepatology. 45:1250-60, 2007.
  39. Ge S, Crooks GM, McNamara G, Wang X. Fluorescent Immunohistochemistry and In Situ Hybridization Analysis of Mouse Pancreas Using Low Power Antigen  Retrieval Technique. J Histochem Cytochem. 54:843-7, 2006.
  40. Wang X, Ge S, Bhushan A and Crooks G. Formation of pancreatic duct cells from bone marrow cells after neonatal bone marrow transplantation. Stem Cells. 24:307-14, 2006.
  41. Hollis RP, Nightingale SJ, Wang X, Pepper KA, Yu XJ, Barsky L, Crooks GM, Kohn DB. Stable gene transfer to human CD34(+) hematopoietic cells using the Sleeping Beauty transposon. Exp Hematol. 34:1333-43, 2006.
  42. Wang X, Ge S, McNamara G, Hao QL, Crooks GM, Nolta JA. Albumin expressing hepatocyte-like cells develop in the livers of immune deficient mice transplanted with highly purified human hematopoietic stem cells. Blood  101: 4201-4208, 2003. PMCID: PMC3781008.
  43. Wang X, Rosol M,  Ge S, Peterson D, McNamara G, Pollack H, Kohn DB, Nelson MD, Crooks GM. Dynamic Tracking of Human Hematopoietic Stem Cell Engraftment Using In Vivo Bioluminescence. Imaging.  Blood Plenary paper 102:3478-2482, 2003. 
  44. Meyerrose TM, Herrbrich P, Wang X, Dao MA, Nolta JA. Pluripotent human stem cell analysis in immune deficient mice. The Pluripotential Hematopoietic Stem Cell, Eurekah Press, 2003.
  45. Wang X, Dao MA, Kuo I, Nolta JA. Phenotypic comparison of extrathymic human bone marrow - derived T cells with thymic selected T cells recovered from different tissues. Clinical Immunity 100: 339-348, 2001.
  46. Tsark EC, Dao MA, Wang X, Weinberg K, Nolta JA IL-7 enhances the responsiveness of human T cells that develop in the bone marrow of athymic mice. Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950). 2001; 166(1):170-81.
  47. Wang X, Dao MA, Kuo I, Nolta JA. Phenotypic comparison of extrathymic human bone-marrow-derived T cells with thymic-selected T cells recovered from different tissues. Clinical immunology (Orlando, Fla.). 2001; 100(3):339-48.
  48. Tsark E, Dao MA, Wang X, Nolta JA. IL-7 enhances the responsiveness of human T cells that develop in the bone marrow of athymic mice. Journal of Immunology  166: 170-181, 2000.
  49. Wang X, Brekken KB, Siebke EM, Stokke G, Sørlid HK, Benestad HB. Granulocytopoiesis versus cytokine activities in peritoneal diffusion chamber cultures in the mouse. European journal of haematology. 2000; 64(2):93-103.
  50. Wang X, Strøm-Gundersen I, Fjerdingstad H, Benestad HB. Ectopic haematopoiesis in the mouse: roles of stroma and cytokines in granulocytopoiesis in in vivo diffusion chamber cultures. European journal of haematology. 1999; 63(5):313-24.
  51. Wang X, Fjerdingstad H, Strøm-Gundersen I, Benestad HB. Maturation rate of mouse neutrophilic granulocytes: acceleration by retardation of proliferation, but no detectable influence from G-CSF or stromal cells. Stem cells (Dayton, Ohio). 1999; 17(5):253-64.
  52. Benestad HB, Sørensen T, Iranpour KM, Liestøl K, Yogesan K, Strøm-Gundersen I, Wang X, Løvhaug D. Digital image analysis of hematopoietic colonies in vitro..Experimental hematology. 1998; 26(10):936-41.