Biotherapy Center/Melanoma and Sarcoma Medical Oncology

Our center focuses on the development and practice of biotherapy, diagnosis and treatment of melanoma and sarcoma.

In 1994, the biotherapy laboratory was established, which passed the authentication of the Ministry of Health of China in the following year and became one of the earliest units that could carry out clinical somatic cell immunotherapy with the official approval.

Biotherapy center was established in June 2002. The Biotherapy inpatient ward was formally established at the same time.  The biotherapy laboratory and cell preparation room meeting GMP requirements were established to achieve the combination of translational research and clinical practice for biotherapy.

Prof. Yixin Zeng and Wenlin Huang had been the first two directors from 2002 to 2007. Prof. Limin Zheng took over to be the director from 2007. Prof. Jianchuan Xia had been the director since 2014.  Prof. Xing Zhang has been the director since 2020.

Melanoma and Sarcoma could occur in the whole body including head and neck, chest, abdomen and pelvic cavity, facing the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. The Melanoma Medical Unit was found in 2009 and had been the first and biggest melanoma center in South China. The Melanoma and Sarcoma Medical Oncology was then found in 2016 and has been the first and well-known melanoma and sarcoma center in China.  The Sarcoma Multidisciplinary team was founded by Prof. Xing Zhang and devoted to the effective treatment for sarcoma. Our team includes surgeons, oncologists, radiologists and pathologists and work together to make optimal therapeutic plans for each patient based on precision medicine.

We successfully hold a series of academic conferences and have close collaboration with oncologists from Hongkong, Singapore, Australia, Canada, Europe and USA.  In basic research, we focus on molecular targeted therapy and immunotherapy.  And we constantly realized the importance and devoted to the translation research from laboratory to clinical treatment in immunotherapy, melanoma therapy and sarcoma therapy.

Cancer Care
1. Cytokines, anti-PD-1, anti-PD-L1, and anti-CTLA-4 antibodies immunotherapy.
2. On a commission by the Ministry of Health, a study was conducted by us in 2013 for the setting up of the standards of adoptive cell therapy. And we are also developing new cell-based strategies to fight against cancer and some clinical trials of T cell therapy (TCR-T, CAR-T, TIL, DC-CTL) are ongoing.
3. Melanoma: Chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy.
4. Bone and soft tissue sarcoma: Chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy.

Clinical trials
We have conducted a series of clinical trials, including immunotherapy, chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy, target therapy, and target therapy combined with immunotherapy. The clinical trails for target therapy are conducted in our center, covering MDM2 inhibitor, HDAC inhibitor, recombinant human endostatin, VEGFR inhibitor, etc. We are also exploring clinical trails for specific antigens of solid tumor in immune cell therapy such as TCR-T, CAR-T, TIL, and DC-CTL immunotherapy.  As to the checkpoint immunotherapy, anti PD-1 or anti CTLA-4 antibody therapy is ongoing in sarcoma, melanoma, and other solid tumors.

Now there are 45 professionals in our center, including 5 professors and 4 associated professors.  There are 45 beds in the ward and a GMP biotherapy laboratory.

Specialists
Xing Zhang, M.D. and PhD.
Professor and director

Xiaoshi Zhang, M.D.
Professor and vice director

Jianchuan Xia, PhD.
Professor

Desheng Weng, M.D. and PhD.
Professor and vice director

Jiang Li, M.D. and PhD.
Professor

Ruiqing Peng, M.D
Associate Professor

Ya Ding, M.D
Associate Professor

Dandan Li, M.D. and PhD.
Associate Professor

Jingjing Zhao, M.D. and PhD.
Associate Professor

Xizhi Wen, M.D
Attending physician, Department of Biotherapy Center

Jingjing Li, M.D. and PhD.
Attending physician, Department of Biotherapy Center

Qiuzhong Pan, M.D. and PhD.
Attending physician, Department of Biotherapy Center

Last updated: July 2020