Alan Chiang

I am a clinician-scientist practising in the field of paediatric haematology and oncology. My research interest in Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) biology dated back to my PhD studies at the Department of Pathology of The University of Hong Kong where I was delineating the pathogenic role of EBV in an intriguing EBV-associated malignancy affecting the Chinese population, nasal NK/T cell lymphoma (NL). My work on defining the tumour cell characteristics at the DNA, RNA and protein level and the uniform presence of EBV in the tumour cells had contributed to the WHO classification of this malignancy as a distinct clinicopathologic entity and the prototypic NK cell lymphoma. Studies on EBV gene expression and immune evasion of this tumour revealed that EBV latent genes are downregulated into a latency II pattern and the HLA class I pathway is largely maintained in NL but tumour resistance to cytotoxic T cells might be partly mediated by expression of immunomodulatory cytokines such as interleukin 10 in the tumour microenvironment. The research work was extended to the analysis of EBV carriage in normal healthy individuals, which revealed that coinfection of multiple strains of EBV was unexpectedly prevalent whilst particular viral strains characterized by a 30-bp deletion in the LMP gene might be preferentially selected in NL. The Chiang lab focuses on the understanding of host-virus interactions in primary and persistent EBV infection and on the elucidation of pathogenic mechanisms of EBV in lymphoid and epithelial cancers. Research programs include: (i) Role of adaptive and innate immune responses in the control of EBV: longitudinal study of viral loads, humoral and CD8+ T cell responses in primary EBV infection in Chinese children and development of novel assays in polychromatic flow cytometry to dissect such immune responses; (ii) Sequence analysis of EBV strains in EBV infection subjects and EBV-positive malignancies: development of novel assays in characterizing EBV strains to study distribution and inter-change of EBV strains among different body compartments and to discover pathogenic viral strains in malignancies; (iii) Novel therapeutic strategies for EBV-positive lymphoid and epithelial cancers: discovering action of different compounds in inducing lytic cycle of EBV in cancer cells and dissecting mechanistic pathways of viral lytic induction.

Research Grants

• Prospective study of virologic and immunologic parameters of primary Epstein-Barr virus infection in Chinese children. RGC-CERG, 2003
• Prospective study of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) strains in primary EBV infection. CRCG, 2004
• Biology of Epstein-Barr virus in health and in disease. Private donation, 2005
• Longitudinal study of Epstein-Barr virus specific antibody responses in childhood infectious mononucleosis. CRCG, 2005
• Longitudinal study of phenotypic changes and functionality of Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)-specific CD8+ T cell responses in symptomatic and asymptomatic EBV infection. RGC-CERG 2007
• Activation of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in EBV-associated malignancy. CRCG, 2007
• Sequence analysis of Epstein-Barr virus strains in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. RGC-GRF 2008
• Mechanistic studies of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) lytic cycle induction in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Area of Excellence Grant, 2010-2012

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) The University of Hong Kong (1994 — 1998)
• Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) The University of Manchester (1985 — 1988)
• Bachelor of Science (BSc) University of St. Andrews (1982 — 1985)

Companies

• Clinical Associate Professor The University of Hong Kong (2010)
• Clinical Assistant Professor The University of Hong Kong (2000 — 2010)
• Resident Medical Officer Kwong Wah Hospital (1989 — 1990)

Awards

• Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fellowship 1994-1996
• Croucher Foundation Scholarship, 1994-1997
• Young Investigators' Award, Hong Kong International Cancer Congress, 1995
• Best free paper presentation, HKSI/FIMSA Advanced Course and Conference: From Basic to Applied Immunology, 1998
• Dr. KP Stephen Chang Gold Medal, 1998
• Li Ka Shing Prize, 1997-1999 for best PhD thesis