Zhitao Ying

Dr. Zhitao Ying


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

14Years (2013-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

View All Publications
31 December 2020 in Cancer Medicine
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
ZYZhitao Ying
Zhitao Ying
HYHaiyan Yang
Haiyan Yang
YGYe Guo
Ye Guo
WLWenyu Li
Wenyu Li
DZDehui Zou
Dehui Zou
JZJun Zhu
Jun Zhu
Background: Despite numerous chimeric antigen receptor T‐cell (CAR‐T) trials conducted in China, no CAR‐T has been registered in the country. Furthermore, China law and regulations restrict the export of patient material for CAR‐T manufacture abroad. Relma‐cel (JWCAR029), an anti‐CD19 product produced with a commercial‐ready process in China, was evaluated in the first prospective, single‐arm, multicenter, pivotal study of CAR‐T therapy conducted under Chinese IND to support an NMPA‐accepted BLA submission in relapsed/refractory (r/r) LBCL (NCT04089215).Methods: Patients were randomized to receive either 100 × 106 (low dose, n = 27) or 150 × 106 (high dose, n = 32) CAR+ T‐cells as a single infusion following lymphodepleting chemotherapy (fludarabine 25 mg/m2 and cyclophosphamide 250 mg/m2 daily × 3), and then, monitored for efficacy and safety outcomes and pharmacokinetics. The primary endpoint was ORR at 3 months, as assessed by the investigators. Secondary endpoints included DOR, PFS, OS, and adverse event frequency/severity and cell expansion kinetics.Results: As of the data cutoff on 17 June 2020, 68 patients were enrolled, and 59 were treated. Among the 58 efficacy‐evaluable patients, the primary endpoint of 3 month ORR was 60.3% (95% CI, 46.6–73.0), excluding the null hypothesis rate of 20%. Any grade and severe grade CRS occurred in 47.5% and 5.1%, respectively, and any grade and severe grade neurotoxicity events occurred in 20.3% and 5.1%.Conclusions: Relma‐cel met the primary endpoint analysis and demonstrated a high rate of durable responses and low rate of CAR‐T‐associated toxicities in patients with r/r LBCL in a multicenter trial supporting regulatory submission in China.

1 July 2013 in Journal of Hematology & Oncology
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
NLNingjing Lin
Ningjing Lin
YSYuqin Song
Yuqin Song
WZWen Zheng
Wen Zheng
MTMeifeng Tu
Meifeng Tu
YXYan Xie
Yan Xie
JZJun Zhu
Jun Zhu
Purpose: To explore the efficacy and safety of L-asparaginase in newly-diagnosed extranodal nature killer (NK)/T –cell lymphoma (ENKTL), we conducted a prospective phase II study of L-asparaginase, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin and dexamethasone (CHOP-L) regimen in combination with radiotherapy.Patients and methods: Patients with newly diagnosed ENKTL and an ECOG performance status of 0 to 2 were eligible for enrollment. Treatment included 6–8 cycles of CHOP-L (cyclophosphamide, 750 mg/m2 day 1; vincristine, 1.4 mg/m2 day 1 (maximal dose 2 mg), doxorubicin 50 mg/m2 day 1; dexamethasone 10 mg days 1–8; L-asparaginase 6000 u/m2 days 2–8). Radiotherapy was scheduled after 4–6 cycles of CHOP-L regimen, depending on stage and primary anatomic site. The primary endpoint was complete response (CR) rate.Results: A total of 38 eligible patients were enrolled. The median age was 40.5 years (range, 15 to 71 years). Their clinical characteristics were male to female ratio, 24:14; Ann Arbor stage I, 20; II, 11; III, 3; IV, 4. CR and overall response rates were 81.6% (95% CI, 69.3% to 93.9%) and 84.2%, respectively. With a median follow-up of 25 months, the 2-year overall survival, progression-free survival and disease-free survival rates were 80.1% (95%CI, 73.3% to 86.9%), 81% (95%CI, 74.5% to 87.5%) and 93.6% (95%CI, 89.3% to 97.9%), respectively. The major adverse events were myelosuppression, liver dysfunction, and digestive tract toxicities. Grade 3 to 4 leukopenia and neutropenia were 76.3% and 84.2%, respectively. No treatment-related death was observed.Conclusion: CHOP-L chemotherapy in combination with radiotherapy is a safe and highly effective treatment for newly diagnosed ENKTL.

14 February 2019 in Cancer Cell International
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
YLYalu Liu
Yalu Liu
XWxiaogan wang
xiaogan wang
LDLijuan Deng
Lijuan Deng
LPLingyan Ping
Lingyan Ping
YSYunfei Shi
Yunfei Shi
JZJun Zhu
Jun Zhu
Angioimmunoblastic T cell lymphoma (AITL) is a distinct subtype of peripheral T cell lymphoma and associated with poor outcomes. The activation status of T cell receptor (TCR) signaling has recently become a focus of attention in terms of the therapeutic targets. However, the molecular pathogenesis mechanisms and novel therapeutic targets are largely unknown. Antibodies specific to phosphorylated ZAP70, ITK and PLCγ1 were used to identify the activation status of intracellular proteins involved in TCR signaling in AITL patients. Malignant T cell lymphoma cells were transduced with a lentiviral construct containing ITK shRNA for cellular and functional assays. The antitumor effects of the selective ITK inhibitor BMS-509744 were determined in vitro and in vivo. Immunohistochemistry staining showed that more than half of the AITL patients (n = 38) exhibited continuously activated intracellular TCR signaling pathway. Patients positive for phosphorylated ITK showed a lower rate of complete response (20% vs. 75%, P = 0.004) and a shorter progression-free survival (5.17 months vs. 25.1 months, P = 0.022) than patients negative for phosphorylated ITK. Genetic and pharmacological cellular ITK inhibition significantly compromised the proliferation, invasion and migration of malignant T cells. The selective ITK inhibitor BMS-509744 also induced the pro-apoptotic effects and G2/M phase cell cycle arrest in vitro and in vivo. Finally, inhibition of ITK synergistically enhanced the antitumor effect of vincristine and doxorubicin on malignant T cell lymphoma cell lines. Our findings suggest that ITK may be a novel candidate therapeutic target for the treatment of patients with ITK-expressing malignant T-cell lymphomas.

18 February 2019 in Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
YHYizi He
Yizi He
JLJiao Li
Jiao Li
NDNing Ding
Ning Ding
XWxiaogan wang
xiaogan wang
LDLijuan Deng
Lijuan Deng
JZJun Zhu
Jun Zhu
Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common form of lymphoma. Although durable remissions can be achieved in more than half of these patients, DLBCL remains a significant clinical challenge, with approximately 30% of patients not being cured. BCR-associated kinases (SYK, BTK, and PI3K) inhibitors have exhibited encouraging pre-clinical and clinical effects, as reported by many researchers. Early studies demonstrated that protein kinase C-β (PKCβ) inhibitors alter phosphorylation level the Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK), which leads to enhanced BTK signaling. Here, for the first time, we investigate whether the combination of PKCβ inhibitor enzastaurin and BTK inhibitor ibrutinib has synergistic anti-tumor effects in DLBCL. In vitro cell proliferation was analyzed using Cell Titer-Glo Luminescent Cell Viability Assay. Induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest were measured by flow cytometry. Western Blotting analysis was used to detect the essential regulatory enzymes in related signaling pathways. RNA-seq was conducted to evaluate the whole transcriptome changes brought by co-treatment with low doses of enzastaurin and ibrutinib. The synergistic anti-tumor effects of enzastaurin and ibrutinib were also evaluated in vivo. Combination of enzastaurin and ibrutinib produced a lasting synergistic effect on the survival and proliferation of DLBCL cells, including reduction of proliferation, promoting apoptosis, inducting G1 phase arrest, preventing cell invasion and migration, and down-regulating activation of downstream signaling. More importantly, whole-transcriptome changes results showed that combination therapy worked synergistically to regulate whole-transcriptome expression compared with enzastaurin and ibrutinib alone. Co-treatment with low doses of enzastaurin and ibrutinib could effectively downregulate BCR, NF-κB, JAK and MAPK related signaling pathway. Furthermore, the mRNA expression analysis further indicated that co-treatment significantly decreased the mRNA levels of NOTCH1. The combination effect in inhibiting proliferation of DLBCL cells probably was realized through suppression of NOTCH1 expression. Finally, the anti-tumor activity of co-treatment also was demonstrated in vivo. Combination of enzastaurin and ibrutinib had synergistic anti-tumor effects in DLBCL, independent of molecular subtype. These results provided a sound foundation for an attractive therapeutic treatment, and the simultaneous suppression of BTK and PKCβ might be a new treatment strategy for DLBCL.

7 January 2026 in npj Digital Medicine
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
QLQicai Liu
Qicai Liu
ZHZhichao Hu
Zhichao Hu
THTao Huang
Tao Huang
YNYupeng Niu
Yupeng Niu
XZXinche Zhang
Xinche Zhang
GQGuangliang Qiang
Guangliang Qiang
Multidisciplinary tumor boards (MDTs) are central to cancer care but remain constrained by scarce experts and variable decision quality. EvoMDT employs a self-evolution loop that updates prompts, consensus weights, and retrieval scope based on expert feedback and outcome signals, improving robustness without sacrificing traceability. This matters clinically because MDT workloads and evidence shift over time, requiring adaptive yet auditable decision support. Agents perform domain-specific inference over lesion-level clinical data with structured knowledge retrieval; a consensus protocol resolves conflicts and generates traceable, evidence-linked recommendations. Evaluation spanned six public oncology QA benchmarks and four real-world datasets (breast, liver, lung, lymphoma), followed by single-blind physician assessment. Quantitative metrics (ROUGE, BERTScore) and automated safety checks assessed factuality and guideline concordance, while clinicians rated clinical appropriateness and usability. EvoMDT outperformed frontier Large Language Models (LLMs) baselines (e.g., Llama-3-70B, Claude-3, Med-PaLM 2), improving guideline concordance and semantic alignment with expert plans (BERTScore 0.62–0.68) and reducing safety violations. In physician review, EvoMDT achieved decision quality comparable to human MDTs while shortening response time by 30–40%. These results position EvoMDT as an interpretable, evidence-traceable framework that operationalizes AI reasoning for multidisciplinary oncology practice and offers a scalable foundation for trustworthy, lesion-level precision cancer care.

10 November 2017 in BMC Cancer
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
YLYalu Liu
Yalu Liu
XWxiaogan wang
xiaogan wang
NDNing Ding
Ning Ding
LMLan Mi
Lan Mi
LPLingyan Ping
Lingyan Ping
JZJun Zhu
Jun Zhu
TP53 Arg72Pro (SNP rs1042522) is associated with risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common subtype of NHL. However, the relationship between this SNP and prognosis of DLBCL in Asians is unknown. Genotyping of TP53 Arg72Pro was done in 425 Chinese DLBCL patients. Two hundred and eighty-nine patients were treated with R-CHOP, and 136 patients received CHOP or CHOP-like as frontline regimen. Three hundred and ninety-six patients were assessable for the efficacy. Patients with Arg/Arg and Arg/Pro at codon 72 of TP53 had a higher complete response rate (61% vs. 44%, P = 0.007) than those with Pro/Pro. In the subgroup treated with CHOP or CHOP-like therapy, patients with Arg/Arg and Arg/Pro showed a higher 5-year overall survival (OS) rate than those with Pro/Pro (68.8% vs. 23.2%, P = 0.001). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed TP53 Arg72 as a favorable prognostic factor in this group. However, the combination of rituximab with CHOP significantly increased the 5-year OS rate of patients with Pro/Pro to 63%. This study revealed TP53 Arg72 as a favorable prognostic factor for Chinese DLBCL patients treated with CHOP or CHOP-like as frontline therapy.