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Jianxun (Jim) Song, PhD

Jianxun Song
Jianxun Song, PhD

R.L. Bricker Endowed Professor

Contact

Microbial Pathogenesis & Immunology
8447 Riverside Pkwy
Medical Research & Education Building II (MREB II), Room 3344
Bryan, TX 77807-3260
jus35@tamu.edu
Phone: 979.436.0633
Fax: 979.436.9038
Lab Website

Education and Training

  • The Third Military Medical University, PhD, 1998
  • La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, Postdoc, 2004

Research Interests

  • We study the immune system, the body’s own set of superheroes. We are trying to understand how these superhero cells work, how they recognize bad guys (like viruses and bacteria), and how they become even better at defending the body. It’s like figuring out the secret recipe for making the body’s defenders stronger and smarter.
  • Our work spans across four pivotal projects that delve into the intricacies of T-cell immunity, metabolic reprogramming, and immunomodulatory targets, with direct implications for enhancing cancer immunotherapy and addressing autoimmune disorders.
  • Pioneering T-Cell Immunity and Metabolic Regulation: Focuses on elucidating the role of nucleus accumbens-associated protein-1 (NAC1) in modulating T-cell-mediated immunity and metabolic pathways. The team's findings highlight NAC1's critical functions in regulating T-cell activity, immune tolerance, and disease progression, offering novel insights into enhancing T cell-based therapies across various diseases, including cancers, infectious, and autoimmune disorders.
  • Targeting Immunomodulatory Pathways: Delves into the role of eukaryotic elongation factor-2 kinase (eEF2K) in metabolic reprogramming and immune regulation. The team investigates how targeting eEF2K can modulate the balance of immune cell subsets, specifically T helper 17 (Th17) cells and regulatory T cells (Tregs), presenting a promising strategy for reinforcing immunotherapy in autoimmune disorders and pro-inflammatory diseases.
  • Innovative Strategies for Cancer Immunotherapy: Explores the use of engineered Brucella melitensis mutants to improve the tumor microenvironment (TME) and enhance adoptive cell transfer (ACT)-based immunotherapy for melanoma. Their work on engineered BmΔvjbR strain demonstrates exciting potential in augmenting immune responses against tumors, paving the way for innovative immunomodulatory approaches in cancer treatment
  • Advancing Immunotherapy for Autoimmune Disorders: Develops a metabolically recombinant strain of live attenuated Brucella melitensis vaccine (BmΔvjbR::tnaA) to modulate the pro-inflammatory microenvironment (IME) and enhance immunotherapies, particularly based on ACT of Tregs. The team aims to establish this strain as a novel immunomodulatory platform for improving the efficacy of immunotherapy in autoimmune disorders such as type 1 diabetes (T1D), multiple sclerosis (MS) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Representative Publications

  • Haque M, Sandhu P, Ravi S, Kurapati S and Song J (2017). Immunotherapy in autoimmune diabetes. Autoimmunity - Immunopathogenesis and Immune-based Therapy for Selected Autoimmune Disorders. InTech Europe.
  • Haque M, Sandhu P and Song J (2016). Stem cell-derived regulatory T cells for therapeutic use. Pluripotent Stem Cells. InTech Europe.
  • Song J (2015). Frontiers in Cancer Immunotherapy - Mechanisms of cancer immunity, engineering immune-based therapies and developing clinical trials. Bentham Science Publishers. ISBN: 978-1-68108-049-9 (http://ebooks.benthamscience.com/book/9781681080482/).
  • Lei F, Haque R, Xiong X and Song J (2014). Generation of antigen-specific T lymphocytes from induced pluripotent stem cells for adoptive immunotherapy. Stem Cells and Cancer Stem Cells, Volume 10. Springer Science, Dordrecht.

Representative Publications

  • Song J (2024). T Cell Metabolism and Cancer Immunotherapy. Breaking Tolerance to Antibody-Mediated Immunotherapy. Elsevier Science, ISBN: 0443138273, 9780443138270
  • Ngule C, Shi R, Ren X, Jia H, Oyelami F, Li D, Park Y, Kim J, Hemati H, Zhang Y, Xiong X, Shinkle A, Vanderford NL, Bachert B, Zhou BP, Wang J, Song J*, Liu X*, Yang JM*. NAC1 promotes stemness and regulates myeloid-derived cell status in triple-negative breast cancer. Mol Cancer. 2024 Sep 10;23(188). (*: Corresponding author).
  • Cabello A, Wells K, Peng, Feng HQ, Wang J, Meyer DF, Noroy C, Zhao ES, Zhang H, Li X , Chang H, Gomez G , Mao Y, Patrick KL, Watson RO, Russell WK, Yu A , Zhong J, Guo F, Li M, Zhou M, Qian X, Kobayashi KS, Song J, Panthee S, Mechref Y, Ficht TA, Qing QM, de Figueiredo P. Brucella driven host N-glycome remodeling controls infection. Cell Host Microbe 2024 Apr 10;32(4):588-605.e9.
  • Wang L, Song J. Role of T Cells in Microbial Pathogenesis. Pathogens. 2023 Nov 6;12(11):1321.
  • Peng HY, Wang L, Das JK, Kumar A, Ren Y, Ballard DJ, Ren X, Xiong X, de Figueiredo P, Yang JM, Song J. Control of CD4+ T cells to restrain inflammatory diseases via eukaryotic elongation factor-2 kinase. Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2023 Oct 24; 8, 415.
  • Wang L, Peng HY, Das JK, Kumar A, Ren Y, Ballard DJ, Xiong X, Yang W, Ren X, de Figueiredo P, Yang JM, Song J. NAC1 confines virus-specific memory formation of CD4+ T cells through the ROCK1-mediated pathway. J Med Virol. 2023 Jul;95(7):e28957
  • Das JK, Guo F, Hunt C, Steinmeyer S, Plocica JA, Kobayashi KS, Ding Y, Jayaraman A, Ficht TA, Alaniz RC, de Figueiredo P, Song J. A metabolically engineered bacterium controls autoimmunity and inflammation by remodeling the pro-inflammatory microenvironment. Gut Microbes. 2022 Jan-Dec;14(1):2143222.
  • Ren Y, Kumar A, Das JK, Peng HY, Wang L, Balllard D, Xiong X, Ren X, Zhang Y, Yang JM, Song J. Tumorous expression of NAC1 restrains antitumor immunity through the LDHA-mediated immune evasion. J Immunother Cancer. 2022 Sep;10(9):e004856. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2022-004856.
  • Chockalingam K, Kumar A, Song J, Chen Z. Chicken-derived CD20 antibodies with potent B-cell depletion activity. Br J Haematol. 2022 Aug 30. doi: 10.1111/bjh.18438.
  • Yang JM, Ren Y, Kumar A, Xiong X, Das JK, Peng HY, Wang L, Ren X, Zhang Y, Ji C, Cheng Y, Zhang L, Alaniz RC, de Figueiredo P, Fang D, Zhou H, Liu X, Wang J, Song J. NAC1 modulates autoimmunity by suppressing regulatory T cell-mediated tolerance. Sci Adv. 2022 Jul;8(26):eabo0183. 
  • Das JK, Ren Y, Kumar A, Peng H-Y, Wang L, Xiong X, Alaniz RC, de Figueiredo P, Ren X, Liu X, Ryazonov AG, Yang J-M, and Song J. Elongation factor-2 kinase is a critical determinant of the fate and antitumor immunity of CD8+ T cells. Sci Adv. 2022 Feb; 8(5): eabl9783.
  • Guo F, Das JK, Kobayashi KS, Qin Q-M, Ficht TA, Alaniz RC, Song J*, de Figueiredo P*. A live attenuated bacterium limits cancer resistance to CAR-T therapy by remodeling the tumor microenvironment. J Immunother Cancer. 2022 Jan;10(1):e003760 (*: Corresponding author).
  • Haque M, Xiong X, Lei F, Das JK, Song J.  An optimized protocol for the generation of HBV viral antigen-specific T lymphocytes from pluripotent stem cells. STAR Protoc. 2021 Jan 12;2(1):100264.
  • Haque M, Lei F, Xiong X, Ren Y, Kumar A, Das JK, Ren X, Fang D, de Figueiredo P, Yang JM, Song J. Stem cell-derived viral antigen-specific T cells suppress HBV replication through production of IFN-γ and TNF-⍺. iScience. 2020 Jul 1;23(7):101333.
  • Haque M, Lei F, Xiong X, Das JK, Ren X, Fang D, Salek-Ardakani S, Yang JM, Song J. Stem cell-derived tissue-associated regulatory T cells suppress the activity of pathogenic cells in autoimmune diabetes. JCI Insight. 2019 Feb 19. pii: 126471. PMID:3077793.