Huocong Huang, M.D., Ph.D. Titles and Appointments Assistant Professor School Medical School Department Surgery | Immunology Graduate Programs Cancer Biology Biography 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 focused on the signaling transduction and protein interaction of collagen-induced cell plasticity. He then joined UT Southwestern Medical Center for postdoctoral training, studying the function of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and extracellular matrix in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. His group was the first to report the origin and function of antigen-presenting CAFs (apCAFs). Dr. Huang’s current research is focused on understanding the origin, immune-regulating function and signaling of fibroblast in physiological or pathological conditions including cancer, immune-related diseases and aging. Education Graduate School Uni of Nebraska-Med Ctr (2016), Philosophy Research Interest Cancer-associated Fibroblast Cell Biology Fibrosis Signal Transduction Tumor Microenvironment Publications Featured Publications Single-cell resolution spatial analysis of antigen-presenting cancer-associated fibroblast niches. Chen X, Zhou Z, Xie L, Qiao K, Jia Y, Liu S, Yazgan Z, Rossi F, Liu Y, Zhang B, Polanco PM, Zeh HJ, Kim AC, Huang H, Cancer Cell 2025 Sep Tumor cell-intrinsic epigenetic SETpoint of cancer-associated fibroblasts. Chen X, Huang H, Cancer Cell 2024 Apr 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 Paracrine regulation of pancreatic cancer cell response to chemotherapy by GLI2-Collagen I signaling. Vera RE, Fernadez-Barrena MG, Falero JM, Kwon JY, Garza RA, Sigafoos AN, Ross MD, Toruner MD, Toruner M, Tolosa EJ, Almada LL, Huang H, Brekken RA, Fernandez-Zapico ME, J Biol Chem 2025 May 110311 SMAD4 Deficiency Promotes Pancreatic Cancer Progression and Confers Susceptibility to TGFβ Inhibition. Murimwa GZ, Williams NE, Alzhanova D, Mohammadi A, Westcott JM, Beato F, Dai R, Nivelo L, Rossi F, Fleming HK, Tassielli AF, Yazgan Z, Toombs JE, Fleming JB, Singhi AD, Ethun CG, Huang H, Brekken RA, Cancer Res 2025 May The Current State of Tumor Microenvironment-Specific Therapies for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Chandra R, Ehab J, Hauptmann E, Gunturu NS, Karalis JD, Kent DO, Heid CA, Reznik SI, Sarkaria IS, Huang H, Brekken RA, Minna JD, Cancers (Basel) 2025 May 17 11 A molecular pathway for cancer cachexia-induced muscle atrophy revealed at single-nucleus resolution. Zhang Y, Dos Santos M, Huang H, Chen K, Iyengar P, Infante R, Polanco PM, Brekken RA, Cai C, Caijgas A, Cano Hernandez K, Xu L, Bassel-Duby R, Liu N, Olson EN, Cell Rep 2024 Aug 43 8 114587 Diagnostic and Prognostic Markers for Pancreatitis and Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. Kantheti HS, Hale MA, Pal Choudhuri S, Huang H, Wang XD, Zolghadri Y, Innamorati G, Manikonda SPR, Reddy N, Reddy S, Kollipara RK, Lumani V, Girard L, Bezrukov Y, Demenkov P, MacDonald RJ, Brekken RA, Yu Y, Wilkie TM, Int J Mol Sci 2024 Jun 25 12 FOXP1 and KLF2 reciprocally regulate checkpoints of stem-like to effector transition in CAR T cells. Zhu Z, Lou G, Teng XL, Wang H, Luo Y, Shi W, Yihunie K, Hao S, DeGolier K, Liao C, Huang H, Zhang Q, Fry T, Wang T, Yao C, Wu T, Nat Immunol 2023 Nov TWIST2-mediated chromatin remodeling promotes fusion-negative rhabdomyosarcoma. Shah AM, Guo L, Morales MG, Jaichander P, Chen K, Huang H, Cano Hernandez K, Xu L, Bassel-Duby R, Olson EN, Liu N, Sci Adv 2023 Apr 9 17 eade8184 Results 1-10 of 35 1 2 3 4 Next Last Books 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 Honors & Awards American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant (2025) Henry C. Pitot Memorial Keynote Lecture Speaker, American Society for Matrix Biology (2022) 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) Professional Associations/Affiliations American Association for Cancer Research (2018) American Society for Cell Biology (2014) International Society for Stem Cell Research (2021)
