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 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 Targeting TGF?R2-mutant tumors exposes vulnerabilities to stromal TGF? 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 Up-regulation of N-cadherin by Collagen I-activated Discoidin Domain Receptor 1 in Pancreatic Cancer Requires the Adaptor Molecule Shc1. Huang H, Svoboda RA, Lazenby AJ, Saowapa J, Chaika N, Ding K, Wheelock MJ, Johnson KR J. Biol. Chem. 2016 Sep 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 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 Targeting TNF-a producing macrophages activate antitumor immunity in pancreatic cancer through IL33 signaling. Dixit A, Sarver AL, Zettervall J, Huang H, Zheng K, Brekken RA, Provenzano P, JCI Insight 2022 Oct 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 Results 1-10 of 30 1 2 3 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)
