Liang Qiao, M.D.
Professor

M.D. University of Lausanne, Switzerland

Immunologist

Mucosal Immunity and Vaccine Development

Mucosa is constantly exposed to environmental antigens including pathogens and unharmful antigens, such as foods. It is not fully clear how the mucosa-associated lymphoid tissues remain tolerant of unharmful antigens but are able to mount an effective immune response against pathogens. Understanding of the immune system's regulatory mechanisms will greatly help us elucidate the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and develop mucosal vaccines to prevent and to treat mucosa-transmitted viral and bacterial infections, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and human papillomavirus (HPV), as well as mucosal tumors. The projects in my laboratory are:

• Mechanisms of  mucosal T cell tolerance to unharmful foreign antigens

• Mechanisms of induction of mucosal immune responses by pathogens

• Development of mucosal (oral) vaccines against HPV and HIV

• Development of vaccines against mucosal tumors, such as colonic and cervical cancers

• Mechanisms of tumor resistance to immunotherapy

Selected Publications

Shah S and L. Qiao 2008. Resting B cells expand a CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Treg population via TGF-beta3. Eur J Immunol. 2008 Sep;38(9):2488-98.

Huang, Y., Shah, S. and L. Qiao 2007. Tumor resistance to CD8(+) T cell-based therapeutic vaccination. Arch Immunol Ther Exp (Warsz).  Jul-Aug;55(4):205-17. Epub 2007 Jul 23.

Fayad R, MI Brand, D. Stone, A. Keshavarzian and L. Qiao. 2006. Apoptosis resistance in ulcerative colitis: high expression of decoy receptors by lamina propria T cells.  Eur J Immunol. 36(8):2215-22. 

Huang, Y., N. Obholzer, R. Fayad, and L. Qiao. 2005. Turning on/off tumor-specific CTL response during progressive tumor growth. Journal of Immunology, 175:3110-6.

Huang, Y., R. Fayad, Smock, A., Ullrich, A.M. and L. Qiao. 2005. Induction of mucosal and systemic immune responses against human carcinoembryonic antigen by an oral vaccine. Cancer Research, 65:6990-9.

Zhang, H., R. Fayad, X. Wang, D. Quinn, and L. Qiao. 2004. HIV-1 Gag-specific Immunity after Oral immunization with Papillomavirus Pseudoviruses Encoding Gag. Journal of Virology, 78:10249-10257.

Fayad, R., H. Zhang, D. Quinn, Y. Huang, and L. Qiao. 2004. Oral Administration with Papillomavirus Pseudovirus Encoding IL-2 Fully Restores Mucosal and Systemic Immune Responses to Vaccinations in Aged Mice. Journal of Immunology, 173:2692-2698.

Zhang, H., Y. Huang, R. Fayad, G.T. Spear, and L. Qiao. 2004. Induction of Mucosal and Systemic Neutralizing Antibodies against HIV-1 by Oral Immunization with Bovine Papillomavirus-HIV-1 gp41 Chimeric Virus-like Particles. Journal of Virology, 78:8342-8348.

Bu, P., A. Keshavarzian, D. Stone, J. Liu, P. Le, S. Fisher, and L. Qiao. 2001. Apoptosis: One of the mechanisms that maintains unresponsiveness of the intestinal mucosal immune system. Journal of Immunology, 166:6399-6403.

Shi, W., J. Liu, Y. Huang, and L. Qiao. 2001. Papillomavirus pseudovirus: A novel vaccine to induce mucosal and systemic cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses. Journal of Virology. 75:10139-10148.

Schreckerberger, C., P,. Sethupathi, A. Kanjanahaluethai, J. Zhou, M. Muller, L. Gissmann and L. Qiao. 2000. Induction of an HPV6b L1-specific mucosal IgA response by DNA immunization. Vaccine, 19:227-233. .

Contreras, D., P. Krammer, R.K. Potkul, P. Bu, J. Rossi, A. Kaufmann, L. Gissmann, and L. Qiao. 2000. Cervical cancer cells induce apoptosis of CTL. Journal of Immunotherapy, 23:67-73.

Shi, W,  P. Bu, J. Liu, A. Polack, S. Fisher, and L. Qiao. 1999. HPV16 E7 DNA vaccine: Mutation in the ORF of E7 enhances specific CTL generation and anti-tumor activity. J. Virol. 73:7877-7881.