The survival rate for bladder cancer—one of the most common cancers in the U.S. and among the costliest to treat—has not improved over the past three decades. Xingxing Zang, Ph.D., has received a five-year, $2.7 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to identify and develop novel immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) drugs for treating bladder cancer. ICIs are monoclonal antibodies that prevent tumor cells from suppressing attacks by immune cells. Dr. Zang has already identified a novel therapeutic target: the previously unrecognized immunosuppressive pathway in which the HHLA2 on bladder-cancer cells binds to the receptor KIR3DL3 on T cells and natural killer cells. He and his colleagues will study the function of the KIR3DL3/HHLA2 pathway in bladder cancer and develop ICIs to interrupt the pathway. In July 2022, Dr. Zang received two additional grants: a three-year $1.2 million NCI grant and a three-year $1.2 million grant from the Department of Defense, both supporting research on new ICIs for treating cancer.

Dr. Zang is professor of microbiology & immunology, of oncology, of medicine, of urology, and is the Louis Goldstein Swan Chair in Cancer Research at Einstein. (1R01CA262132-01A1)