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Mitchell Ho, Ph.D.

Mitchell Ho, Ph.D.

  • Center for Cancer Research
  • National Cancer Institute
Senior Investigator
Head, Antibody Therapy Section
Director, NCI CCR Antibody Engineering Program

RESEARCH SUMMARY

Dr. Ho has pioneered studies on the development of cell surface glypicans as new cancer therapeutic targets, with a focus on the generation of antibody engineering-based immunotherapies. His area of research ranges from the investigation of molecular and cellular mechanisms by which glypicans such as GPC1, GPC2, and GPC3 regulate Wnt and Yap signaling to the design of antibody and T cell-based therapeutics. His laboratory established mammalian cell display technology and built shark and camel single-domain antibody phage libraries as new high-throughput protein engineering tools to advance drug discovery. The immune therapeutics, including CAR-T cells, created in his laboratory, are being tested at clinical stages for treating liver cancers, pediatric cancers, mesothelioma, and other cancers. Dr. Ho is also the Director of the NCI CCR Antibody Engineering Program.

Areas of Expertise

Publications

Selected Recent Publications

Camel nanobody-based B7-H3 CAR-T cells show high efficacy against large solid tumours

Li D, Wang R, Liang T, Ren H, Park C, Tai CH, Ni W, Zhou J, Mackay S, Edmondson E, Khan J, Croix BS, Ho M.
Nat Commun. 14(1): 5920, 2023.
Full-Text Article
[ Journal Article ]

The IgG4 hinge with CD28 transmembrane domain improves VHH-based CAR T cells targeting a membrane-distal epitope of GPC1 in pancreatic cancer

Li N, Quan A, Li D, Pan J, Ren H, Hoeltzel G, de Val N, Ashworth D, Ni W, Zhou J, Mackay S, Hewitt SM, Cachau R, Ho M.
Nat Commun. 14(1): 1986, 2023.
Full-Text Article
[ Journal Article ]

Dromedary camel nanobodies broadly neutralize SARS-CoV-2 variants

Hong J, Kwon HJ, Cachau R, Chen CZ, Butay KJ, Duan Z, Li D, Ren H, Liang T, Zhu J, Dandey VP, Martin NP, Esposito D, Ortega-Rodriguez U, Xu M, Borgnia MJ, Xie H, Ho M.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 119(18): e2201433119, 2022.
Full-Text Article
[ Journal Article ]

CAR T cells targeting tumor-associated exons of glypican 2 regress neuroblastoma in mice

Li N, Torres MB, Spetz MR, Wang R, Peng L, Tian M, Dower CM, Nguyen R, Sun M, Tai CH, de Val N, Cachau R, Wu X, Hewitt SM, Kaplan RN, Khan J, St Croix B, Thiele CJ, Ho M.
Cell Rep Med. 2(6): 100297, 2021.
Full-Text Article
[ Journal Article ]

Persistent Polyfunctional Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells That Target Glypican 3 Eliminate Orthotopic Hepatocellular Carcinomas in Mice

Li D, Li N, Zhang YF, Fu H, Feng M, Schneider D, Su L, Wu X, Zhou J, Mackay S, Kramer J, Duan Z, Yang H, Kolluri A, Hummer AM, Torres MB, Zhu H, Hall MD, Luo X, Chen J, Wang Q, Abate-Daga D, Dropulic B, Hewitt SM, Orentas RJ, Greten TF, Ho M.
Gastroenterology. 158(8): 2250-2265, 2020.
Full-Text Article
[ Journal Article ]

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News

Camel nanobodies, CAR T cells, and solid tumors (NCI Cancer Currents Blog, September 27, 2023)

Received NIH Director's Challenge Innovation Award to develop nanobodies for use as cancer imaging agents (NIH IRP Intramural Blog, 09/19/2022)

Dr. Mitchell Ho and Jessica Hong Oral History (Office of NIH History & Stetten Museum, 05/10/2022)

IRP Pushes Forward in Fight Against Pandemic Virus (NIH IRP Intramural Blog, 02/14/2022)

Nanobodies inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 binding to ACE (NIH/FDA COVID-19 Research Workshop, 10/2020)

Received Intramural Targeted Anti-COVID-19 (ITAC) Awards for the project "Development of Neutralizing Nanobodies Against SARS-CoV-2" (NIH OIR, 09/29/2020)

Serendipitous Collaboration Leads to Potential Therapy for Liver Cancer (NCI at Frederick Poster, 08/17/2020)

Pandemic Brings All Hands on Deck  (NIH IRP Intramural Blog, 06/16/2020)