A/Prof. Lu Jinhua
Associate Professor
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
Tel: +65-6516-3277
Email: miclujh@nus.edu.sg

What are your present research interests?

Our research revolves around chronic inflammatory conditions evolving from decades of work on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) serendipitously to inflammatory aging and cancer conditions including the origin of antinuclear autoantibodies, the application of a glycine/arginine-rich (GAR) motif derived from a nuclear autoantigen for cancer vaccine development, an artificial antigen-presenting cell platform for cancer antigen/adjuvant discovery, application of CAR-T, TCR-T, NK cells and hepatic T cells in cancer immunotherapy, targeting the IL-1 facility of cytokines against suppressive tumor microenvironment (TME), and C1q as a biomarker in exercise and aging, etc. Some of these studies are collaborative work. The strength of this laboratory includes dendritic cells, IL-1 cytokines, hepatocellular carcinoma mouse model, cancer immunotherapy, etc.

Do you have a distinctive viewpoint to your research?

Chronic inflammation leads to many modern time disease which can be corrected through life style change.

What do you see as your future research directions?

Find adjuvants to disrupt chronic, sterile inflammation.

Does your laboratory have a particularly strong research expertise?

1) Dendritic cells, CAR-T, hepatic T cells
2) aAPC technology, cancer antigens, and vaccine adjuvants
3) Mouse hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) model for preclinical studies
4) Chronic inflammation and immunosuppression mediated by the IL-1 family of cytokines

Recent Publications

1. Cai Y, Wee SYK, Chen J, Teo BHD, Ng YLC, Leong KP, Lu J. Broad Susceptibility of Nucleolar Proteins and Autoantigens to Complement C1 Protease Degradation. J Immunol. 2017; 199:3981-3990. (IF = 4.4)
2. Wu S, Teo BHD, Wee SYK, Chen J, Lu J. The GAR/RGG motif defines a family of nuclear alarmins. Cell Death Dis 2021; 12:477 (IF = 8.1)
3. Yoong SQ, Lu J, Xing H, Gyanwali B, Tan YQ, Wu XV. The prognostic utility of CSF neurogranin in predicting future cognitive decline in the Alzheimer’s disease continuum: A systematic review and meta-analysis with narrative synthesis. Ageing Res Rev. 2021 Dec;72:101491 (IF = 13.1).
4. Lin D, Mei Y, Lei L, Hanafi ZB, Jin Z, Liu Y, Song Y, Zhang Y, Hu B, Liu C, Lu J, Liu H. Immune suppressive function of IL-1α release in the tumor microenvironment regulated by calpain 1. Oncoimmunology 2022; 11:2088467 (IF = 8.1)
5. Wu S, Chen J, Teo BHD, Wee SYK, Wong MHM, Cui J, Chen J, Leong KP, Lu J. The axis of complement C1 and nucleolus in antinuclear autoimmunity. Front Immunol. 2023;14:1196544 (IF = 5.7)
6. Binte Hanafi Z, Mei Y, Teo HY, Zhu Y, Yong Lionel CC, Chiu JW, Lu J, Liu H. Calpain 2 regulates IL-1α secretion and inhibits tumor development via modulating calpain 1 expression in the tumor microenvironment. Oncoimmunology. 2025 Dec;14(1):2451444 (IF = 8.1).
7. Chen D, Tam WWS, Zhang J, Lu J, Wu VX. Association between the inflammageing biomarkers and clinical outcomes amongst the community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Ageing Res Rev. 2025 Aug;110:102811 (I= 13.1).