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Jianming Xie, PhD

Jianming Xie, PhD

Associate Professor, Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Sciences

College of Pharmacy

jxie@westernu.edu

Phone: 5240

  • Education

    07/2006 – 11/2014
    Postdoc (Immunology)
    Stanford University

    08/2001 – 05/2006
    Ph.D. (Chemical Biology)
    The Scripps Research Institute

    09/1997 – 06/2000
    M.S. (Organic Chemistry)
    Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, China

    09/1992 – 06/1997
    B.S. (Chemistry)
    Fudan University, China

  • Professional Experience

    12/2014 – 01/2023
    Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences,
    University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California

  • Academic Interests

    Immunology, Chemical Biology, Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Immune Cell Engineering, Cancer Immunotherapy, HIV Therapy
  • Courses
    • PHRM 5401 Immunology
    • PHRM 5423 Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics III
  • Research Interest

    Our laboratory is interested in engineering T cells and natural killer (NK) cells with novel chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) to target cancer and HIV. We particularly want to enhance the specificity, sensitivity, and versatility of CAR-T/NK cell therapy. Recently, we developed an inhibitory CAR (iCAR) that can enable T cells and NK cells to “recognize” the absence of HLA-DR on the surface of target cells. Since the loss or downregulation of HLA-DR and other HLA molecules is found in many cancer patients (presumably a mechanism of cancer immune escape), our approach can potentially enhance the anti-cancer specificity of CAR-T and CAR-NK cells in those patients. We have also developed a universal CAR-T and CAR-NK cell, which recognizes the small molecule 2,4-dinitrophenyl (DNP) and can subsequently be redirected to target various epitopes of HIV-1 gp160 using DNP-conjugated antibodies as adaptor molecules. Since numerous anti-gp160 antibodies with different specificities are readily available, our modular approach can significantly expand the epitope coverage of CAR-T and CAR-NK cells, which may help to overcome the extraordinary diversity and mutability of HIV-1. In the long term, we hope our research efforts can lead to novel immuno-biotechnologies that can make a difference in the fight against cancer and HIV.
  • Research Grant

    R21 AI155117
    Xie (PI)
    07/13/20–06/30/23
    A universal CAR-NK cell targeting various epitopes of HIV-1

    The Ming Hsieh Institute
    Xie (PI)
    08/01/21–06/30/23
    Developing novel chimeric antigen receptor T cells for treating post-transplant relapse of acute leukemia

  • Organizations

    Member, American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT)
  • Publications

    Rong L, Lim RM, Yin X, Tan L, Yang JH, Xie J. (2022). Site-specific dinitrophenylation of single-chain antibody fragments for redirecting a universal CAR-T cell against cancer antigens. Journal of Molecular Biology 434(8): 167513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.2022.167513

    Fei F, Rong L, Jiang N, Wayne AS, Xie J. (2022). Targeting HLA-DR loss in hematologic malignancies with an inhibitory chimeric antigen receptor. Molecular Therapy 30(3): 1215-1226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymthe.2021.11.013

    Dai Z, Zhang XN, Cheng Q, Fei F, Hou T, Li J, Abdolvahabi A, Watanabe J, Pei H, Smbatyan G, Xie J, Lenz HJ, Louie SG, Zhang Y. (2021). Site-specific antibody-drug conjugates with variable drug-to-antibody-ratios for AML therapy. J Control Release 336: 433-442.

    Peng K, Safonova Y, Shugay M, Popejoy AB, Rodriguez OL, Breden F, Brodin P, Burkhardt AM, Bustamante C, Cao-Lormeau VM, Corcoran MM, Duffy D, Fuentes-Guajardo M, Fujita R, Greiff V, Jönsson VD, Liu X, Quintana-Murci L, Rossetti M, Xie J, Yaari G, Zhang W, Abedalthagafi MS, Adekoya KO, Ahmed RA, Chang WC, Gray C, Nakamura Y, Lees WD, Khatri P, Alachkar H, Scheepers C, Watson CT, Karlsson Hedestam GB, Mangul S. (2021). Diversity in immunogenomics: the value and the challenge. Nature Methods 18(6): 588-591.

    Lim RM, Rong L, Zhen A, Xie J. (2020) A universal CAR-NK cell targeting various epitopes of HIV-1 gp160. ACS Chemical Biology 15(8): 2299-2310. https://doi.org/10.1021/acschembio.0c00537

    Qin H, Dong Z, Wang X, Cheng WA, Wen F, Xue W, Sun H, Walter M, Wei G, Smith DL, Sun X, Fei F, Xie J, Panagopoulou TI, Chen CW, Song JY, Aldoss I, Kayembe C, Sarno L, Muschen M, Inghirami GG, Forman SJ, Kwak LW. (2019) CAR T cells targeting BAFF-R can overcome CD19 antigen loss in B cell malignancies. Science Translational Medicine 11(511): eaaw9414.

    Xie J, Tato CM, Davis MM. (2013). How the immune system talks to itself: The varied role of synapses. Immunological Reviews 251(1): 65-79.

    Xie J, Huppa JB, Newell EW, Huang J, Ebert PJR, Li Q-J, Davis MM. (2012). Photocrosslinkable pMHC monomers stain T cells specifically and cause ligand-bound TCRs to be ‘preferentially’ transported to the cSMAC. Nature Immunology 13(7): 674-680. https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.2344

    Xie J, Liu W, Schultz PG. (2007). A genetically encoded bidentate, metal-chelating amino acid in E. coli. Angew Chem. Int. Ed. 46(48): 9239-9242.

    Xie J, Supekova L, Schultz PG. (2007). A genetically encoded metabolically stable analogue of phosphotyrosine in E. coli. ACS Chem. Biol. 2(7): 474-478.

    Xie J, Schultz PG. (2006). A chemical tool for proteins – an expanded genetic code. Nature Reviews Mol. Cell. Biol. 7(10): 775-782.

    Xie J, Wang L, Wu N, Brock A, Spraggon A, Schultz PG. (2004). The site-specific incorporation of p-iodo-L-phenylalanine into proteins for structure determination. Nature Biotechnology 22(10): 1297-1301. https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt1013