SciLifeLab Fellow
Uppsala University

Research interests

The research group aims to overcome resistance mechanisms against the PD-1/PD-L1 blockade therapy in cancer patients by elucidating the negative immune regulatory network using CRISPR/Cas9 precise genome editing (PGE) technology. The group has a special interest on rare cancer types where immunotherapy is less explored, e.g. childhood solid cancers. Prior to the appointment, Yumeng spent a few years at the Oncology R&D headquarter at AstraZeneca in Cambridge, United Kingdom, where he identified and led early drug discovery projects for novel cancer immunotherapy targets. He started his research career in cancer immunology in 2009 with Dr. Karl-Erik Hellström at the University of Washington (USA) and trained as a PhD candidate at the Karolinska Institute (Sweden) under the supervision of Prof. Rolf Kiessling. Yumeng was born and raised in Xi’an, China, where he obtained his undergraduate degree in Life Sciences.

Group members

Yumeng Mao, PhD, group leader
Irineos Papakyriacou, Master’s thesis student

Recruitment for post-doctoral fellows, research scientists, PhD candidates and project students are ongoing. Please direct your inquiries to yumeng.mao@igp.uu.se.

Key publications

Our published research

1. Mao Y., van Hoef V., Zhang X., Wennerberg E., Lorent J., Witt K., Sanz L.M., Liang S., Murray S.M., Larsson O., Kiessling R., Lundqvist R., IL-15 activates mTOR and primes stress-activated gene-expression leading to prolonged anti-tumor capacity of NK cells, Blood 128(11), July 2016.
2. Mao Y.,# Eissler N., Blanc K.L., Johnsen J.I., Kogner P., Kiessling R.,# Targeting suppressive myeloid cells potentiates checkpoint inhibitors to control spontaneous neuroblastoma, Clinical Cancer Research, 22(15), March 2016. #: corresponding authors.
3. Mao Y., Sarhan D., Steven A., Seliger B., Kiessling R., Lundqvist A., Inhibition of tumor-derived prostaglandin-E2 blocks the induction of myeloid-derived suppressor cells and recovers natural killer cell activity, Clinical Cancer Research, 2014 Aug 1;20(15):4096-106.
4. Eissler N.,* Mao Y.,* Brodin D., Reuterswaerd P., Svahn HA, Johnsen JI, Kiessling R., Kogner P., Regulation of myeloid cells by activated T cells determines the efficacy of PD-1 blockade, OncoImmunology 2016 VOL. 5, NO. 12. *: contributed equally.
5. Mao Y., Poschke I., Wennerberg E., Pico de Coaña Y., Hansson J., Masucci G., Lundqvist A., Kiessling R., Melanoma-educated CD14⁺ cells acquire a myeloid-derived suppressor cell phenotype and are potent inhibitors of T cells via COX-2/PGE₂-dependent mechanisms, Cancer Research 73 (13): 3877-87, 2013.

Our opinions

• Mao Y., What industry can teach academia, Science 365 (6459), 1342,
• O’Donovan D., Mao Y., Mele D., The Next Generation of Pattern Recognition Receptor Agonists: Improving Response Rates in Cancer Immunotherapy, Current Medicinal Chemistry, accepted, 2019
• Mao Y., Poschke I., Kiessling R., Tumor induced immune suppression: role of inflammatory mediators released by myelomonocytic cells, Intern. Med., 276(2):154-70., 2014.
• Mao Y., Poschke I., Kiessling R., Cyclooxygenase-2: Steering force of myeloid-derived suppressor cells in cancer? OncoImmunology 2 (8), 2013.

The complete publication list can be found at https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yx76OvsAAAAJ&hl=en

Contact

yumeng.mao@igp.uu.se