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Oxford is delighted to welcome this acclaimed scientist to the Ludwig Oxford community.

Headshot of cancer researcher Lieping Chen

We are proud to announce that renowned immunologist Lieping Chen is joining the Oxford Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Nuffield Department of Medicine, as a Visiting Professor of Cancer Immunotherapy. Chen, who is the United Technologies Chair in Cancer Research, a Professor of Immunobiology, Medicine and Dermatology, and co-director of the Cancer Immunology Program at Yale Cancer Center, Yale University School of Medicine, USA, is an international leader in basic T cell biology and cancer immunotherapy. His visiting professorship at Oxford opens new opportunities for collaboration and expansion in this crucial field.

Cancer immunotherapy is now poised to become a standard treatment for cancer, alongside surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and targeted therapy. Chen has contributed enormously to this exciting development through his seminal work on the PD-1/PD-L1 immune suppressive pathway. The concept of turning a patient’s own immune system against a tumour was proposed decades ago, but it has only recently become a reality. The most effective immunotherapy approach to date involves the blockade of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway.

Chen discovered PD-L1 (originally termed B7-H1) as a member of the B7 family of ligands that have immune suppressive functions. He also demonstrated that human tumours express high levels of PD-L1, and that forced expression of PD-L1 in murine tumours confers resistance to immune elimination. Further, he showed that anti-PD-L1 antibodies could block the interaction of PD-L1 with its receptor (PD-1) to undermine this immune resistance. This revealed the importance of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway in tumour immune resistance and put this pathway on the map as a target for cancer therapy.

Chen has continued to contribute to the clinical targeting of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway. He developed an immunohistochemistry assay for PD-L1 detection in human cancer tissues and collaboratively demonstrated that PD-L1 expression in tumours predicts a greater response to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy. He also helped to initiate and organise the first-in-human clinical trial of a therapy targeting PD-1/PD-L1 pathway.

Chen has received several awards and honours in recognition of his outstanding scientific achievements, including the William B. Coley Award (2014), AAI-Steinman Award (2016), Warren Alpert Foundation Prize (2017), Giants of Cancer Care (2018) and Richard V. Smalley Award (2020). He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences USA and a Fellow of the AACR Academy, American Association for Cancer Research.