Xin Cai, M.D., Ph.D. Titles and Appointments Assistant Professor School Medical School Department Radiation Oncology Graduate Programs Cancer Biology, Cell and Molecular Biology You have reached the Academic Profile. For more information on the doctor and patient care, please visit the clinical profile. Biography Xin Cai M.D. Ph.D is an Assistant Professor and Physician-Scientist in the Department of Radiation Oncology. His lab studies cancer metabolism and signal tranduction. Xin earned both his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Harvard University majoring in Chemistry and Physics, followed by the M.D./Ph.D. training at UT Southwestern Medical Center through the Medical Scientist Training Program. He completed his Radiation Oncology residency at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he also completed a postdoc fellowship studying cancer metabolism. Xin has earned many awards and honors, including the HHMI Predoctoral Fellowship, ABR Holman Research Pathway Fellow, and NIH/NCI K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award. Xin returned to UTSW as faculty in 2023. In addition to being the principal investigator of the Cai Lab, he also sees patients as part of the central nervous system (CNS) disease-oriented team in the Radiation Oncology clinic. Education Postdoctoral Fellowship Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center 2021, Radiation Oncology Other Post Graduate Training Harvard University (2009) Graduate School Harvard University (2009), Chemistry Medical School UT Southwestern Medical School (2016) Internship Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (2017), Radiation Oncology Residency Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (2021), Radiation Oncology Research Interest Metabolism, signal transduction, mitochondria function, cell growth and proliferation, cancer Publications Comparative Outcomes of Standard Radiation Therapy and 5-Fraction Adaptive Stereotactic Radiation Therapy in Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma: A Propensity Score–Matched Analysis Dohopolski M, Schmitt LG, De Vis JB, Mostardeiro TR, Anand S, Youssef M, Noch E, Maher EA, Sun M, Patel TR, Patel AR, Barnett SL, Lee M, Iakovenko V, Chiu T, Su FC, Pompos A, Lin M, Cai X, Timmerman R, Dan T, Wardak Z Advances in Radiation Oncology 2025 Aug 10 Exploratory Evaluation of Personalized Ultrafractionated Stereotactic Adaptive Radiation Therapy (PULSAR) With Central Nervous System-Active Drugs in Brain Metastases Treatment Dohopolski M, Schmitt LG, Anand S, Zhang H, Stojadinovic S, Youssef M, Shaikh N, Patel T, Patel A, Barnett S, Lee DS, Ahn C, Lee MJ, Timmerman R, Peng H, Cai X, Dan T, Wardak Z International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics 2025 Jul 122 611-620 Cellular ATP demand creates metabolically distinct subpopulations of mitochondria Ryu KW, Fung TS, Baker DC, Saoi M, Park J, Febres-Aldana CA, Aly RG, Cui R, Sharma A, Fu Y, Jones OL, Cai X, Pasolli HA, Cross JR, Rudin CM, Thompson CB Nature 2024 Nov 635 746-754 Lactate activates the mitochondrial electron transport chain independently of its metabolism Cai X, Ng CP, Jones O, Fung TS, Ryu KW, Li D, Thompson CB Molecular cell 2023 Nov 83 3904-3920.e7 A tissue injury sensing and repair pathway distinct from host pathogen defense Liu S, Hur YH, Cai X, Cong Q, Yang Y, Xu C, Bilate AM, Gonzales KA, Parigi SM, Cowley CJ, Hurwitz B, Luo JD, Tseng T, Gur-Cohen S, Sribour M, Omelchenko T, Levorse J, Pasolli HA, Thompson CB, Mucida D, Fuchs E Cell 2023 May 186 2127-2143.e22 Fibroblast pyruvate carboxylase is required for collagen production in the tumour microenvironment Schwörer S, Pavlova NN, Cimino FV, King B, Cai X, Sizemore GM, Thompson CB Nature Metabolism 2021 Nov 3 1484-1499 Proton Radiotherapy for Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Cancers with Palliative Quad Shot Ma J, Lok BH, Zong J, Gutiontov SI, Cai X, Bell AC, Shcherba M, Xiao H, Sherman EJ, Tsai CJ, Riaz N, McBride SM, Cahlon O, Lee NY International Journal of Particle Therapy 2018 Jul 4 10-19 Prion-like polymerization in immunity and inflammation Cai X, Xu H, Chen ZJ Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology 2017 Apr 9 Phosphorylation of innate immune adaptor proteins MAVS, STING, and TRIF induces IRF3 activation Liu S, Cai X, Wu J, Cong Q, Chen X, Li T, Du F, Ren J, Wu YT, Grishin NV, Chen ZJ Science 2015 Mar 347 TLR3 deficiency in herpes simplex encephalitis: High allelic heterogeneity and recurrence risk Lim HK, Seppänen M, Hautala T, Ciancanelli MJ, Itan Y, Lafaille FG, Dell W, Lorenzo L, Byun M, Pauwels E, Rönnelid Y, Cai X, Boucherit S, Jouanguy E, Paetau A, Lebon P, Rozenberg F, Tardieu M, Abel L, Yildiran A, Vergison A, Roivainen R, Etzioni A, Tienari PJ, Casanova JL, Zhang SY Neurology 2014 Nov 83 1888-1897 Results 1-10 of 13 1 2 Next Last Honors & Awards ABR Holman Research Pathway Fellow Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Predoctoral Fellowship NIH/NCI K99/R00 Pathway to Early Independence Award Professional Associations/Affiliations American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) (2016) New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) (2016) Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) (2016)
