The team led by Dr. Yizhuo Zhang from Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, China, has won the First-Class Science and Technology Award of the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association (CACA) in 2025.
Project Title: Establishment and Mechanistic Study of Novel Therapeutic Strategies for Pediatric Tumors
Project Members: Yizhuo Zhang, Suying Lu, Tong Xiang, Yi Que, Mengjia Song, Feifei Sun, Juan Wang, Yu Zhang, Mengzhen Li, Juntao Huang
Pediatric solid tumors impose a heavy healthcare burden in China and rank as the second leading cause of death among children. Treatment faces multiple challenges, including low survival rates in high-risk patients and bottlenecks in conventional chemotherapy.
Against this backdrop, the team led by Dr. Yizhuo Zhang from the Department of Pediatric Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, has achieved innovative breakthroughs:
1. Developed novel immunotherapeutic and targeted strategies for pediatric tumors:
- Conducted the first clinical trial of a domestically developed PD-1 antibody for pediatric tumors, demonstrating favorable safety and significant efficacy in some rare solid tumors
- Achieved outstanding patient enrollment in international multicenter studies of first-generation TRK inhibitors, and elaborated the drug resistance mechanism of TRK inhibitors in pediatric tumors for the first time globally
- Led Phase I/II clinical studies of a domestically developed second-generation TRK inhibitor in children and adolescents, accelerating the approval of new drugs and advancing the precision diagnosis and treatment of pediatric tumors in China.
2. Elucidated the mechanisms of immunotherapy resistance in pediatric tumors and established novel targeted-immunotherapy combination regimens:
- Discovered for the first time that the CLCF1/CNTFR signaling axis is a new mechanism mediating immune evasion in adolescent liver cancer, and proposed that the NET-TMCO6 axis is a promising new target to overcome immunotherapy resistance in liver tumors
- Pioneered the world’s first prospective clinical study of PD-1 antibody combined with TKI inhibitors and chemotherapy for pediatric hepatoblastoma
- Identified the potent anti-tumor efficacy of PD-L1⁺ NK cells and successfully translated this finding into practice by launching a Phase I study of GD-2 monoclonal antibody combined with umbilical cord blood-derived NK cells for neuroblastoma (‘the king of childhood cancers’), providing a new cellular therapy strategy for this disease.
In recent years, Dr. Zhang’s team has published over 60 papers in journals including Annals of Oncology, Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy (STTT), Cancer Research, and Hepatology, and obtained 3 authorized invention patents.
They hosted the 2022 SIOP Asia Congress and have consecutively organized 17 sessions of the Frontiers in Pediatric Oncology Forum in China. Their research findings have been promoted and applied in more than 20 provinces across China, attracting overseas patients from multiple countries to seek medical treatment in China, benefiting both Chinese and foreign patients.
Beyond clinical research, the team has conveyed the warmth of medicine through multiple initiatives, such as producing the microfilm Warriors, establishing ward schools, and providing public welfare fund support.
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