Raymond Wong, Ph.D.

Dr. Wong received his PhD from the University of Southern California’s department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. He comes to the Pacific Mesothelioma Center from MannKind Corporation, where he served as a research scientist supporting the advancement of therapeutic cancer vaccines from pre-clinical stages to Phase I/II clinical trials. Dr. Wong has spent a decade in the research and development of novel immunotherapy strategies to improve the medical outcome of life-threatening diseases.

Education

University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

• Ph.D.- Molecular Microbiology and Immunology 2006

University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

• B.S.- Biological Sciences 2001

Publications

Smith KA, Qiu Z, Wong R, Tam VL, Tam BL, Joea DK, Quach A, Liu X, Pold M, Malyankar UM, and Bot A. Multivalent immunity targeting tumor-associated antigens by intra-lymph node DNA-prime, peptide-boost vaccination. Cancer Gene Therapy. 18:63-76, 2011.

Bot A, Qiu Z, Wong R, Obrocea M, and Smith KA. Programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) at the heart of heterologous prime-boost vaccines and regulation of CD8+ T cell immunity. Journal of Translational Medicine. 14:132, 2010.

Smith KA, Meisenburg BL, Tam VL, Pagarigan RR, Wong R, Joea DK, Lantzy L, Carrillo MA, Gross TM, Malyankar UM,Chiang CS, Da Silva DM, Kündig TM, Kast WM, Qiu Z, and Bot A. Lymph node-targeted immunotherapy mediates potent immunity resulting in regression of isolated or metastatic human papillomavirus-transformed tumors. Clinical Cancer Research. 15:6167-76, 2009.

Wong RM, Smith KA, Tam VL, Pagarigan RR, Meisenburg BL, Quach AM, Carrillo MA, Qiu Z, and Bot AI. TLR-9 signaling and TCR stimulation co-regulate CD8(+) T cell-associated PD-1 expression. Immunology Letters. 127:60-7, 2009.

Smith KA, Tam VL, Wong RM, Pagarigan RR, Meisenburg BL, Joea DK, Liu X, Sanders C, Diamond D, Kündig TM, Qiu Z, and Bot A. Enhancing DNA vaccination by sequential injection of lymph nodes with plasmid vectors and peptides. Vaccine. 27:2603-15, 2009.

Wong RM and Weber JS. Peptide and protein vaccines for cancer. In Kaufman HL and Wolchok JD (Eds.), General Principles of Tumor Immunotherapy. Chapter 8, 2007.

Wong RM, Scotland R, Lau R, Wang C, Korman J, Kast WM, and Weber J. PD-1 blockade enhances expansion and functional capacity of human melanoma antigen-specific CTLs. International Immunology. 19:1223-32, 2007.

Wong R, Lau R, Chang J, Kuus-Reichel T, Brichard V, Bruck C, and Weber J. Immune responses to a class II helper peptide epitope in patients with stage III/IV resected melanoma. Clinical Cancer Research. 10:5004-13, 2004.

Chiong B, Wong R, Lee P, Delto J, Scotland R, Lau R, and Weber J. Characterization of long-term effector-memory T-cell responses in patients with resected high-risk melanoma receiving a melanoma peptide vaccine. Journal of Immunotherapy. 27:368-79, 2004.