Chunhong Ma  Ph.D

Professor of Immunology

Director of Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education at Shandong University

Vice dean of Shandong University Cheeloo College of Medicine

Dr. Ma is the winner of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, National special support program for high-level personnel recruitment, Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University, Fok Ying Tung Education Foundation, and the Outstanding Youth fund of Shandong Province. She is the Vice Dean of Cheeloo College of Medicine, Director of Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education at Shandong University. Dr. Ma’s interests are focused on studying immune microenvironment and gene regulation in liver diseases. Some data have been published in Gut, Gastroenterology, J Hepatol, JEM, STTT, Cell Mol Immunol, Cell Death Differ, Oncogene, J Immunol, etc, which has been awarded the first prize of natural science award of Ministry of Education. She is also the reviewer for Cell Report, Liver international, Cancer Biology Therapy and other journals.

Educational Background &Professional Experience:

1987-1991  B.S., Dept. of Biology, Shandong Normal University, China

1991-1994  M.S., Dept. of Biology, Huazhong Normal University, China

1999-2002  Ph.D., Shandong University School of Medicine, China

1994-2000  Lecture, Assistant Professor, Departments of Microbiology & Immunology, Shandong Medical University

2001-2003  Associate Professor, Departments of Immunology, Shandong University School of Medicine

2004-2005  Visiting Scholar, Departments of Microbiology & Immunology and Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of Kentucky Medical Center

2003-      Professor, Departments of Immunology, Shandong University School of Medicine

2006-2016    Vice Dean, Shandong University School of Medicine Professor, Shandong University School of Medicine

2017.6-    Director of Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education at Shandong University.

2018.2-    Vice Dean, Shandong University Cheeloo College of Medicine

Awards and Honors:

2003  Young Teacher Award in the Higher Education Institutions of China,  Fok Ying-Tong Education Foundation 

2009  Distinguished Young Scholar,  Shandong Provincial Nature Science Foundation

2010  New Century Excellent Talents in University of Ministry of Education of China

2014  National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars2016  Gainer of The national youth talent support program

Research Interests:

Dr. Ma has extensive experience working with immune regulation and gene regulation in liver diseases, including hepatitis B, NAFLD and liver cancer. The current research focuses on the following:

1)      HBV-host interaction: Aim to identify the key host factors interacting with cccDNA and regulating HBV replication and HBV immune evasion.

2)      Immune microenvironment in liver diseases, including chronic hepatitis B, liver cancer and NAFLD

3)      The action of Tim (T cell immunoglobulin domain and mucin domain containing molecule)-3 and ZHX2 (zinc fingers and hemeobox 2) in innate and adaptive immunity.

The major academic achievements in recent years include:

·         Identification of Tim-3 as the key negative regulator which mediates conventional NK (cNK) cells and liver resident NK (LrNK) cells suppression in chronic hepatitis B HCC and promotes alternative activation of tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) in HCC (J Hepatol. 2010; Gut 2015; Cancer Res 2020).

·         Identification of ZHX2 as a tumor suppressor in HCC and a key immune regulator which limits NK cells terminal maturation and promotes macrophages glycolysis (Gastroenterology 2012; Cell Death Differ. 2020; J Immunol.2020; JEM 2021).

·         Mapping HBV cccDNA-interacting proteins and identifying novel host factors which restrict HBV replication. Revealing RNA adenosine deaminase ADAR1 as a novel host factor which mediates HBV pgRNA edition and promotes HBV evasion from hepatocytes type I IFN responses (Adv Sci 2022; Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2022, Cell Mol Immunol. 2021).

Selected Publications

1.        Tan S, Guo X, Li M, Wang T, Wang Z, Li C, Wu Z, Li N, Gao L, Liang X, Ma C*. Transcription factor Zhx2 restricts NK cell maturation and suppresses their antitumor immunity.J Exp Med. 2021 Sep 6;218(9):e20210009. doi: 10.1084/jem.20210009.

2.        Wang L, Sun Y, Song X, Wang Z, Zhang Y, Zhao Y, Peng X, Zhang X, Li C, Gao C, Li N, Gao L, Liang X, Wu Z**, Ma C.** Hepatitis B virus evades immune recognition via RNA adenosine deaminase ADAR1-mediated viral RNA editing in hepatocytes. Cell Mol Immunol. 2021 Aug;18(8):1871-1882.

3.        Wang Z, Kong L, Tan S, Zhang Y, Song X, Wang T, Lin Q, Wu Z, Xiang P, Li C, Gao L, Liang X**, Ma C**. Zhx2 Accelerates Sepsis by Promoting Macrophage Glycolysis via Pfkfb3.J Immunol. 2020;204(8):2232-2241

4.        Tan S#, Xu Y#, Wang Z, Wang T, Du X, Song X, Guo X, Peng J, Zhang J, Liang Y, Lu J, Peng J, Gao C, Wu Z, Li C, Li N, Gao L, Liang X**, Ma C**.Tim-3 hampers tumoral surveillance of liver-resident and conventional NK cells by disrupting PI3K pathway. Cancer Res. 2020, 80(5):1130-1142.

5.        Wu Z#, Ma H#, Wang L, Song X, Zhang J, Liu W, Ge Y, Sun Y, Yu X, Wang Z, Wang J, Zhang Y, Li C, Li N, Gao L, Liang X, Yue X**, Ma C**. Tumor suppressor ZHX2 inhibits NAFLD-HCC progression via blocking LPL-mediated lipid uptake. Cell Death Differ. 2020 May;27(5):1693-1708

6.        Du X, Wu Z, Xu Y, Liu Y, Liu W, Wang T, Li C, Zhang C, Yi F, Gao L, Liang X, Ma C.* Increased Tim-3 expression alleviates liver injury by regulating macrophage activation in MCD-induced NASH mice. Cell Mol Immunol. 2018 May 7. doi: 10.1038/s41423-018-0032-0

7.        Zhang H, Song Y, Yang H, Liu Z, Gao L, Liang X**, Ma C**. Tumor cell-intrinsic Tim-3 promotes liver cancer via NF-κB/IL-6/STAT3 axis. Oncogene. 2018 May;37(18):2456-2468. doi: 10.1038/s41388-018-0140-4.

8.        Liu Y, Cheng Y, Xu Y, Wang Z, Du X, Li C, Peng J, Gao L, Liang X, Ma C. * Increased expression of programmed cell death protein 1 on NK cells inhibits NK-cell-mediated anti-tumor function and indicates poor prognosis in digestive cancers. Oncogene. 2017 Nov 2;36(44):6143-6153.

9.       Yan W, Liu X, Ma H, Zhang H, Song X, Gao L, Liang X, Ma C.* Tim-3 fosters HCC development by enhancing TGF-β-mediated alternative activation of macrophages.Gut. 2015 Oct;64(10):1593-604.

10.    Zhang Z, Liang X, Gao L, Ma H, Liu X, Pan Y, Yan W, Shan H, Wang Z, Chen YH**, Ma C**.TIPE1 induces apoptosis by negatively regulating Rac1 activation in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Oncogene. 2015 May 14;34(20):2566-74.

11.    Luan F, Liu P, Ma H, Yue X, Liu J, Gao L, Liang X, Ma C*.Reduced nucleic ZHX2 involves in oncogenic activation of glypican 3 in human hepatocellular carcinoma. Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2014 Sep 6;55C:129-135.

12.     Zhuang X, Zhang X, Xia X, Zhang C, Liang X, Gao L, Zhang X, Ma C.* Ectopic Expression of TIM-3 in Lung Cancers. Am J Clin Pathol. 2012 Jun;137(6):978-85.

13.    Yue X, Zhang Z, Liang X, Gao L, Zhang X, Zhao D, Liu X, Ma H, Guo M, Spear BT, Gong Y, Ma C.* Zinc Fingers and Homeoboxes 2 Inhibits Cell Proliferation and Represses Cyclin A and Cyclin E expression. Gastroenterology. 2012 Jun;142(7):1559-1570.e2.

14.    Hou N, Zhao D, Liu Y, Gao L, Liang X, Liu X, Gai X, Zhang X, Zhu F, Ni M, Zhang Y, Sun W, Ma C. *. Increased expression of T cell immunoglobulin- and mucin-domain-containing molecule-3 on NK cells in atherogenesis. Atherosclerosis. 2012 May;222(1):67-73.

15.    Ju Y, Hou N, Meng J, Wang X, Zhang X, Zhao D, Liu Y, Zhu F, Zhang L, Sun W, Liang X, Gao L, Ma C*, T cell immunoglobulin- and mucin-domain-containing molecule-3 (Tim-3) mediates natural killer cell suppression in chronic hepatitis B. J Hepatol. 2010 Mar;52(3):322-9.

16.    Luan F, Liu H, Gao L, Liu J, Sun Z, Ju Y, Hou N, Guo C, Liang X, Zhang L, Sun W, Ma C. *，Hepatitis B virus protein preS2 potentially promotes HCC development via its transcriptional activation of hTERT. Gut. 2009 Nov;58(11):1528-37.