Nai-Kong V. Cheung
Pediatric hematologist-oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, USA
Biography
Nai-Kong V. Cheung is a pediatric oncologist and cancer researcher at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) in New York, specializing in immunologic approaches for diagnosing and treating pediatric cancers. He received his MD from Harvard Medical School, as well as his PhD in immunology. He studied suppressor T cells and B cell tolerance under the mentorship of Dr. Baruj Benacerraf, the 1980 Nobel laureate in Medicine. Upon completing pediatric training in Pediatrics and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Stanford University Medical Center, he has devoted his career to translational science, with a clinical focus on neuroblastoma, and a research focus on antibody-based therapies. Over two decades at MSK, he has developed from bench to the bedside several monoclonal antibodies, including 3F8 specific for ganglioside GD2, and 8H9 specific for B7-H3. For high risk metastatic neuroblastoma, patient survival has steadily improved as 3F8 was successfully applied to eradicate bone marrow metastases, and 8H9 to salvage CNS metastases. He has developed immunocytology and molecular methods to measure minimal residual disease in neuroblastoma, which also serve as tools to evaluate adjuvant antibody-based strategies. In recent years, he has humanized and affinity-matured these mouse antibodies to lessen treatment side effects, and to further enhance Fc-receptor dependent mechanisms. In addition, he has developed novel bispecific reagents to retarget T-cells, while exploring antibodies directed at cytoplasmic antigens.