Huocong Huang, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Dr. Huocong Huang received his medical degree from Sun Yat-sen University and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from University of Nebraska Medical Center. His graduate research was mentored by Dr. Keith R. Johnson, focusing on the signaling transduction and protein interaction of collagen-induced cell plasticity. He then joined Dr. Rolf Brekken’s laboratory at UT Southwestern Medical Center for postdoctoral training. His postdoctoral research studied the function of cancer-associated fibroblasts and extracellular matrix in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. He also examined the therapeutic potential of these stromal targets using animal models. Dr. Huang’s current research is focused on understanding the heterogeneity, origin and function of fibroblasts in physiological or pathological conditions including cancer, fibrosis, wound healing and aging.  

Graduate School

Uni of Nebraska-Med Ctr (2016), Philosophy

• Cancer-associated Fibroblast
• Cell Biology
• Fibrosis
• Mesothelial Cell
• Signal Transduction
• Tumor Microenvironment

Featured Publications

Mesothelial cell-derived antigen-presenting cancer-associated fibroblasts induce expansion of regulatory T cells in pancreatic cancer.

Huang H, Wang Z, Zhang Y, Pradhan RN, Ganguly D, Chandra R, Murimwa G, Wright S, Gu X, Maddipati R, Müller S, Turley SJ, Brekken RA, Cancer Cell 2022 Apr

Targeting TGFßR2-mutant tumors exposes vulnerabilities to stromal TGFß blockade in pancreatic cancer.

Huang H, Zhang Y, Gallegos V, Sorrelle N, Zaid MM, Toombs J, Du W, Wright S, Hagopian M, Wang Z, Hosein AN, Sathe AA, Xing C, Koay EJ, Driscoll KE, Brekken RA, EMBO Mol Med 2019 Oct e10515

Cellular heterogeneity during mouse pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma progression at single-cell resolution.

Hosein AN, Huang H, Wang Z, Parmar K, Du W, Huang J, Maitra A, Olson E, Verma U, Brekken RA, JCI Insight 2019 Jul 5

Cell Competition Shapes Metastatic Latency and Relapse.

Kim K, Huang H, Parida PK, He L, Marquez-Palencia M, Reese TC, Kapur P, Brugarolas J, Brekken RA, Malladi S, Cancer Discov 2022 Sep

VEGFR2 activity on myeloid cells mediates immune suppression in the tumor microenvironment.

Zhang Y, Huang H, Coleman M, Ziemys A, Gopal P, Kazmi SM, Brekken RA, JCI Insight 2021 Oct

AXL inhibitor TP-0903 reduces metastasis and therapy resistance in pancreatic cancer.

Zhang Y, Arner EN, Rizvi A, Toombs JE, Huang H, Warner SL, Foulks JM, Brekken RA, Mol Cancer Ther 2021 Oct

Location matters: Profiling diffuse type gastric cancer at the single cell level.

Huang H, Brekken RA, Clin Cancer Res 2021 Sep

Ddr1-induced neutrophil extracellular traps drive pancreatic cancer metastasis.

Deng J, Kang Y, Cheng CC, Li X, Dai B, Katz MH, Men T, Kim MP, Koay E, Huang H, Brekken RA, Fleming JB, JCI Insight 2021 Jul

AXL Is a Key Factor for Cell Plasticity and Promotes Metastasis in Pancreatic Cancer.

Du W, Phinney NZ, Huang H, Wang Z, Westcott J, Toombs JE, Zhang Y, Beg MS, Wilkie TM, Lorens JB, Brekken RA, Mol Cancer Res 2021 Apr

Concerted cell and in vivo screen for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) chemotherapeutics.

Layeghi-Ghalehsoukhteh S, Pal Choudhuri S, Ocal O, Zolghadri Y, Pashkov V, Niederstrasser H, Posner BA, Kantheti HS, Azevedo-Pouly AC, Huang H, Girard L, MacDonald RJ, Brekken RA, Wilkie TM, Sci Rep 2020 11 10 1 20662

 Featured Books

Collagen Signaling in Cancer. In Protein Kinase Inhibitors as Sensitizing Agents for Chemotherapy

Huang H, Kovacs ME, Aguilera KY, Brekken RA (2018). Cambridge, Massachusetts, Academic Press

• Center for Organogenesis Research and Trauma (CORT) Award, UTSW
  (2021)
• K99/R00 Award, NIH/NCI
  (2021)
• Best Presentation Award, Cancer Biology Program Retreat, UTSW
  (2019)
• Best Poster Award, 8th International Meeting on Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition
  (2017)

• International Society for Stem Cell Research (2021)
• American Association for Cancer Research (2018)
• American Society for Cell Biology (2014)