Prof. WONG Chun Kwok

Professor Wong is currently Professor in Department of Chemical Pathology, Director of Institute of Chinese Medicine and Assistant Director of State Key Laboratory of Research on Bioactivities and Clinical Applications of Medicinal Plants, CUHK. He obtained his PhD degree in Immunology from the Department of Biochemistry, CUHK in 1993. This was followed by postdoctoral appointments at the Centre for Biochemical and Biophysical Science and Medicine of the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School (1994-1996), and the Pulmonary and Critical Care Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA (1996-1997). He was appointed postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Chemical Pathology, CUHK from August 1997 to June 2000, Scientific Officer in July 2000, Associate Professor in February 2001, and Professor in August 2009.

Professor Wong is involved in teaching medical students (including Chinese Medicine students) and students of School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and MSc course, School of Life Sciences. Currently, Professor Wong is supervising six full-time PhD students. He also serves as Honorary Scientific Officer (Medical) in the diagnostic clinical chemistry laboratory at Prince of Wales Hospital.

Professor Wong was the former President of Hong Kong Society for Immunology and Hong Kong Society of Flow Cytometry, current Treasurer of the Hong Kong Society for Immunology and Fellow of Royal Society of Biology (FRSB), UK.

His immunology research includes

(1) the elucidation of cytokine and chemokine network and intracellular signal transductions of immune effector cells including eosinophils, lymphocytes, mast cells, basophils and dendritic cells in inflammatory diseases, with recent emphasizing in pattern recognition receptors mediated innate immunity and immunoregulatory cytokines,

(2) the immunopathological mechanisms of allergic diseases, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases and diabetes mellitus, with interdepartmental collaboration and

(3) the immunomodulatory, anti-tumor and anti-allergic activities of traditional Chinese medicine. High-throughput immunoassay, flow cytometry, mass cytometry, single cell RNA-sequencing, proteomic method and transgenic murine model have been applied in above studies.

He has published over 295 refereed papers in international journals and book chapters (Web of Science Core Collection, H-index = 56).

  1. Dong J, Wong CK (correspondence author), Cai Z, Jiao D, Chu M and Lam CWK. Amelioration of allergic airway inflammation in mice by regulatory IL-35 through dampening inflammatory dendritic cells. Allergy 2015; 70: 921-932.
  2. Jiao D, Wong CK (correspondence author), Qiu HN, Dong J, Cai Z, Chu M, Hon KL, Tsang MSM, Lam CWK. NOD2 and TLR2 ligands trigger the activation of basophils and eosinophils by interacting with dermal fibroblasts in atopic dermatitis-like skin inflammation. Cell Mol Immunol 2016; 13: 535-550.
  3. Zhu J, Dong J, Ji L, Jiang P, Leung TF, Liu D, Ng LG, Tsang MS, Jiao D, Lam CWK, Wong CK (correspondence author). Anti-allergic inflammatory activity of interleukin-37 is mediated by novel signaling cascades in human eosinophils. Front Immunol 2018; 9:1445.
  4. Sun X, Hou T, Cheung EC, Iu TN, Tam VW, Chu IM, Tsang MS, Chan PK, Lam CW, Wong CK (correspondence author). Anti-inflammatory Mechanisms of the Novel Cytokine Interleukin-38 in Allergic Asthma. Cell Mol Immunol 2020; 17:631-646.
  5. Hou T, Tsang MSM, Chu IMT, Kan LL, Hon KL, Leung TF, Lam CWK and Wong CK (correspondence Author). Skewed Inflammation is associated with aberrant interleukin-37 signaling pathway in atopic dermatitis. Allergy 2021; 76: 2102-2114.
  6. Cai Z, Zhang S, Wu P , Ren Q, Wei P, Hong M, Feng Y, Wong CK (correspondence author), Tang H, Zeng H. A novel potential target of IL-35 regulated JAK/STAT signaling pathway in lupus nephritis. Clin Transl Med 2021; 11:e309.
  7. Gao X, Chan PKS, Lui GCY, Hui DSC, Chu IMT, Sun X, Tsang MSM, Chan BCL, Lam CWK and Wong CK (correspondence author). Interleukin-38 ameliorates Poly(I:C) induced lung inflammation: therapeutic implications in respiratory viral infections. Cell Death & Disease 2021; 12:53.
  8. Lui G, Wong CK (Equal first author), Chan M, Chong KC, Wong R, Chu I, Zhang M, Li T, Hui D, Lee N, Chan P. Host inflammatory response is the major marker of severe respiratory syncytial virus infection in older adults. J. Infection. 2021; 83:686-692.
  9. Gao X, Leung TF, Wong GW, Ko WH, Cai M, He EJ, Chu IMT, Tsang MS, Chan BC, Ling J, Fan X, Lu L, Lam CW and Wong CK (correspondence author). Meteorin-β/Meteorin like/IL-41 attenuates airway inflammation in house dust mite-induced allergic asthma Cell Mol Immunol 2022; 19:245-259.
  10. Gao X, Chan PK, Wong KC, Ng RW, Yeung AC, Lui GC, Ling L, Hui DS, Huang D, Wong CK (correspondence author). Characterization of METRNβ as a novel biomarker of Coronavirus disease 2019 severity and prognosis. Front Immunol. 2023;14:1111920.