Dr Zhian Chen

Senior Research Fellow

Frazer Institute

zhian.chen@uq.edu.au

Researcher biography

I am a Senior Research Fellow, NHMRC Emerging Leader Fellow, and Group Leader at UQ Frazer Institute. I was awarded my PhD in late 2017 by Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University. Under the UQ Health Research Accelerator (HERA) program, I lead a team to investigate T and B cell responses that profoundly regulate vaccine responses, viral clearance, and anti-tumour immunity.

My research program employs combinatorial methodologies of Biochemistry and Immunology to uncover new molecular mechanisms controlling T-cell-mediated immunity:

1. The action of T cells is required in antibody responses for suppressing viral infection or tumour growth and to confer protection upon vaccination. In particular, follicular helper T (Tfh) cells, a specialised subset of CD4+ T cells, essentially instruct the B cells to produce long-lived antibody protection. The knowledge of Tfh cells has fundamentally enabled vaccine development and therapy design for autoimmune diseases.

2. T-cell-derived cytokines play pivotal roles in both humoral and cellular immunity. Particularly, interleukin-21 (IL-21) is essential for supporting germinal centre (GC) reaction, where the B cell memory and long-lived antibody responses are generated. Besides, IL-21 is also the only known cytokine to maintain the functionalities of CD8+ T cells in the context of chronic infections or cancers by preventing a loss-of-function program termed 'exhaustion'.

This research program has generated multiple cutting-edge discoveries in the field, producing publications as 1st or joint 1st authors in top-tier journals including Nature Immunology, Science Immunology, and Nature Communications.

Publications

Book Chapter (1)

Journal Articles (18)

Book Chapter

Chen, Zhian, Liang, Kaili, Deng, Jun and Yu, Di (2022). Therapeutic modulation of T follicular helper cells by low-dose IL-2 treatment. T-follicular helper cells: methods and protocols. (pp. 255-265) New York, NY, United States: Humana Press. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1736-6_21

Journal Articles

Nettelfield, Sam and Chen, Zhian (2024). Unraveling the origins of pathogenic CXCL13⁺ helper T cells in systemic lupus erythematosus. Immunology and Cell Biology, 102 (9), 757-759. doi: 10.1111/imcb.12818

Yao, Yin, Chen, Zhian, Zhang, Hao, Chen, Cailing, Zeng, Ming, Yunis, Joseph, Wei, Yunbo, Wan, Yanmin, Wang, Naiqi, Zhou, Mingzhe, Qiu, Chao, Zeng, Qunxiong, Ong, Hong Sheng, Wang, Hao, Makota, Fadzai Victor, Yang, Yang, Yang, Zhaohui, Wang, Nan, Deng, Jun, Shen, Chao, Xia, Yan, Yuan, Lin, Lian, Zhaoqin, Deng, Yike, Guo, Cuilian, Huang, Ao, Zhou, Pengcheng, Shi, Haibo, Zhang, Weitian ... Yu, Di (2024). Author Correction: Selenium–GPX4 axis protects follicular helper T cells from ferroptosis. Nature Immunology, 25 (9), 1764-1764. doi: 10.1038/s41590-024-01949-z

Patrick, Ralph, Naval-Sanchez, Marina, Deshpande, Nikita, Huang, Yifei, Zhang, Jingyu, Chen, Xiaoli, Yang, Ying, Tiwari, Kanupriya, Esmaeili, Mohammadhossein, Tran, Minh, Mohamed, Amin R., Wang, Binxu, Xia, Di, Ma, Jun, Bayliss, Jacqueline, Wong, Kahlia, Hun, Michael L., Sun, Xuan, Cao, Benjamin, Cottle, Denny L., Catterall, Tara, Barzilai-Tutsch, Hila, Troskie, Robin-Lee, Chen, Zhian, Wise, Andrea F., Saini, Sheetal, Soe, Ye Mon, Kumari, Snehlata, Sweet, Matthew J. ... Nefzger, Christian M. (2024). The activity of early-life gene regulatory elements is hijacked in aging through pervasive AP-1-linked chromatin opening. Cell Metabolism, 36 (8), 1858-1881.e23. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2024.06.006

Chen, Zhian, Cui, Yanfang, Yao, Yin, Liu, Bo, Yunis, Joseph, Gao, Xin, Wang, Naiqi, Cañete, Pablo F., Tuong, Zewen Kelvin, Sun, Hongjian, Wang, Hao, Yang, Siling, Wang, Runli, Leong, Yew Ann, Simon Davis, David, Qin, Jiahuan, Liang, Kaili, Deng, Jun, Wang, Conan K., Huang, Yen-Hua, Roco, Jonathan A., Nettelfield, Sam, Zhu, Huaming, Xu, Huajun, Yu, Zhijia, Craik, David, Liu, Zheng, Qi, Hai, Parish, Christopher and Yu, Di (2023). Heparan sulfate regulates IL-21 bioavailability and signal strength that control germinal center B cell selection and differentiation. Science immunology, 8 (80) eadd1728, 1-17. doi: 10.1126/sciimmunol.add1728

Chen, Zhian, Wang, Naiqi, Yao, Yin and Yu, Di (2022). Context-dependent regulation of follicular helper T cell survival. Trends in Immunology, 43 (4), 309-321. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2022.02.002

Antczak, Magdalena, Cañete, Pablo F., Chen, Zhian, Belle, Clémence and Yu, Di (2022). Evolution of γ chain cytokines: mechanisms, methods and applications. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, 20, 4746-4755. doi: 10.1016/j.csbj.2022.08.050

Chen, Zhian, Gao, Xin and Yu, Di (2022). Longevity of vaccine protection: immunological mechanism, assessment methods, and improving strategy. View, 3 (1) 20200103, 20200103. doi: 10.1002/viw.20200103

Yao, Yin, Chen, Zhian, Zhang, Hao, Chen, Cailing, Zeng, Ming, Yunis, Joseph, Wei, Yunbo, Wan, Yanmin, Wang, Naiqi, Zhou, Mingzhe, Qiu, Chao, Zeng, Qunxiong, Ong, Hong Sheng, Wang, Hao, Makota, Fadzai Victor, Yang, Yang, Yang, Zhaohui, Wang, Nan, Deng, Jun, Shen, Chao, Xia, Yan, Yuan, Lin, Lian, Zhaoqin, Deng, Yike, Guo, Cuilian, Huang, Ao, Zhou, Pengcheng, Shi, Haibo, Zhang, Weitian ... Yu, Di (2021). Author Correction: Selenium–GPX4 axis protects follicular helper T cells from ferroptosis. Nature Immunology, 22 (12), 1599-1599. doi: 10.1038/s41590-021-01063-4

Qin, Jiahuan, Huang, Xia, Wang, Naiqi, Zhou, Pengcheng, Zhang, Hao, Chen, Zhian, Liang, Kaili, Gong, Dongcheng, Zeng, Qunxiong, Niu, Peng, Chen, Anping, Yuan, Lin, Yang, Zhaohui, Su, Linchong, Shen, Nan, Deng, Jun and Yu, Di (2021). Supranutritional selenium suppresses ROS‐induced generation of RANKL‐expressing osteoclastogenic CD4 + T cells and ameliorates rheumatoid arthritis. Clinical & Translational Immunology, 10 (9) e1338, e1338. doi: 10.1002/cti2.1338

Yao, Yin, Chen, Zhian, Zhang, Hao, Chen, Cailing, Zeng, Ming, Yunis, Joseph, Wei, Yunbo, Wan, Yanmin, Wang, Naiqi, Zhou, Mingzhe, Qiu, Chao, Zeng, Qunxiong, Ong, Hong Sheng, Wang, Hao, Makota, Fadzai Victor, Yang, Yang, Yang, Zhaohui, Wang, Nan, Deng, Jun, Shen, Chao, Xia, Yan, Yuan, Lin, Lian, Zhaoqin, Deng, Yike, Guo, Cuilian, Huang, Ao, Zhou, Pengcheng, Shi, Haibo, Zhang, Weitian ... Yu, Di (2021). Selenium–GPX4 axis protects follicular helper T cells from ferroptosis. Nature Immunology, 22 (9), 1127-1139. doi: 10.1038/s41590-021-00996-0

Liang, Kaili, He, Jing, Wei, Yunbo, Zeng, Qunxiong, Gong, Dongcheng, Qin, Jiahuan, Ding, Huihua, Chen, Zhian, Zhou, Ping, Niu, Peng, Chen, Qian, Ding, Chenguang, Lu, Liangjing, Chen, Xiao-Xiang, Li, Zhanguo, Shen, Nan, Yu, Di and Deng, Jun (2021). Sustained low-dose interleukin-2 therapy alleviates pathogenic humoral immunity via elevating the Tfr/Tfh ratio in lupus. Clinical and Translational Immunology, 10 (6) e1293, e1293. doi: 10.1002/cti2.1293

Deng, Jun, Chen, Qian, Chen, Zhian, Liang, Kaili, Gao, Xin, Wang, Xiaohui, Makota, Fadzai V., Ong, Hong Sheng, Wan, Yanmin, Luo, Kaiming, Gong, Dongcheng, Yu, Xiang, Camuglia, Sarina, Zeng, Qunxiong, Zhou, Tao, Xue, Feng, He, Jing, Wei, Yunbo, Xiao, Fan, Ma, Jianyang, Hill, Danika L., Pierson, Wim, Nguyen, Thi H. O., Zhou, Haibo, Wang, Yan, Shen, Wei, Sun, Lingyun, Li, Zhanguo, Xia, Qiang ... Yu, Di (2021). The metabolic hormone leptin promotes the function of TFH cells and supports vaccine responses. Nature Communications, 12 (1) 3073, 3073. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-23220-x

Xie, Min, Yunis, Joseph, Yao, Yin, Shi, Jing, Yang, Yang, Zhou, Pengcheng, Liang, Kaili, Wan, Yanmin, Mehdi, Ahmed, Chen, Zhian, Wang, Naiqi, Xu, Shuyun, Zhou, Min, Yu, Muqing, Wang, Ke, Tao, Yu, Zhou, Ying, Li, Xiaochen, Liu, Xiansheng, Yu, Xiao, Wei, Yunbo, Liu, Zheng, Sprent, Jonathan and Yu, Di (2021). High levels of soluble CD25 in COVID‐19 severity suggest a divergence between anti‐viral and pro‐inflammatory T‐cell responses. Clinical & Translational Immunology, 10 (2) e1251, e1251. doi: 10.1002/cti2.1251

Yao, Yin, Wang, Nan, Chen, Cai-Ling, Pan, Li, Wang, Zhi-Chao, Yunis, Joseph, Chen, Zhi-An, Zhang, Yu, Hu, Si-Tao, Xu, Xiao-Yan, Zhu, Rong-Fei, Yu, Di and Liu, Zheng (2020). CD23 expression on switched memory B cells bridges T-B cell interaction in allergic rhinitis. Allergy, 75 (10), 1-14. doi: 10.1111/all.14288

Gao, Xin, Wang, Hao, Chen, Zhian, Zhou, Pengcheng and Yu, Di (2019). An optimized method to differentiate mouse follicular helper T cells in vitro. Cellular and Molecular Immunology, 17 (7), 779-781. doi: 10.1038/s41423-019-0329-7

Deng, Jun, Fan, Chaofan, Gao, Xin, Zeng, Qunxiong, Guo, Ruru, Wei, Yunbo, Chen, Zhian, Chen, Yanan, Gong, Dongcheng, Feng, Jia, Xia, Yan, Xiang, Shifei, Gong, Shushi, Yuan, Lin, Shen, Wei, Shen, Wenyan, Lin, Lin, Jiang, Ting, He, Dongyi, Lu, Liangjing, Chen, Xiaoxiang and Yu, Di (2019). Corrigendum: signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 hyperactivation associates with follicular helper t cell differentiation and disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (Front. Immunol., (2018), 9, 10.3389/ﬁmmu.2018.01226). Frontiers in Immunology, 10 (AUG) 2008. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.02008

Deng, Jun, Fan, Chaofan, Gao, Xin, Zeng, Qunxiong, Guo, Ruru, Wei, Yunbo, Chen, Zhian, Chen, Yanan, Gong, Dongcheng, Feng, Jia, Xia, Yan, Xiang, Shifei, Gong, Shushi, Yuan, Lin, Shen, Wei, Shen, Wenyan, Lin, Lin, Jiang, Ting, He, Dongyi, Lu, Liangjing, Chen, Xiaoxiang and Yu, Di (2018). Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 hyperactivation associates with follicular helper T cell differentiation and disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis. Frontiers in Immunology, 9 (JUN) 1226, 1-11. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.01226

Chen, Zhian, Cui, Yanfang, Leong, Yew Ann, Beddoe, Travis and Yu, Di (2013). Efficient production of recombinant IL-21 proteins for pre-clinical studies by a two-step dilution refolding method. International Immunopharmacology, 16 (3), 376-381. doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2013.02.017