Xin Zhou, Ph.D.
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatrics
About Dr. Xin Zhou
Dr. Zhou is a developmental bone biologist. Her research interests are the transcriptional control of osteoblast differentiation and the origins of osteoblasts. Her work in Dr. Benoit de Crombrugghe’s lab led to the discovery of Osterix (Osx, Sp7), a master transcription factor essential for osteoblast differentiation and bone formation, both during embryonic development and post-natal bone growth and homeostasis. Her recent work using cre/reporter lineage tracing mouse models revealed that mature chondrocytes are a major source of osteoblasts in endochondral bone formation during development and postnatal growth. This finding has advance our current understanding of endochondral bone formation process with implications for the control of bone homeostasis and the interpretation of the underlying pathological changes of bone diseases. Currently, she is working on elucidating the underlying mechanism of chondrocytes to osteoblasts trans-differentiation and exploring the potential signaling pathways regulating this process.
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Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics - Research, Division of Pediatrics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2008 | University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, Texas, US, PhD in Environmental Science/Toxicology |
| 1987 | Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institute of Biological Science, CAS, Shanghai, CN, MS in Molecular Biology |
| 1984 | Nanjing University, Nanjing, CN, BS in Biochemistry |
Experience & Service
Faculty Academic Appointments
Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, 2014 - 2019
Honors & Awards
| 2017 | International Association for Dental Research (IADR) and American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) William J. Gies Award in the Biological Research Award |
| 2015 | Selected presenter |
| 2013 - 2014 | Rolanette and Berdon Lawrence Bone Disease Program Award, Rolanette and Berdon Lawrence Bone Disease Program of Texas |
| 2012 | American Society for Bone and Mineral Research Award 2012 Young Investigator Travel Grant, ASBMR |
| 2009 | Gordon Research Conference on Bones and Teeth |
| 2008 | American Society for Bone and Mineral Research Award selected presenter |
| 2007 | MD Anderson Performance Award, The University of Texas Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2004 | Dr. Jack Killian Scholarship Award, School of Public Health |
| 2003 | G & D Program Research Poster Achievement Award |
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations & Talks
International Presentations
- 2015. Chondrocytes Transdifferentiate into Osteoblasts in Endochondral Bone during Development, Postnatal Growth and Fracture Healing in Mice. Invited. Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the “Total synthesis of crystalline bovine insulin” - Forefront of Life Science Forum - Alumni Academic Conference. Shanghai, CN.
- 2012. Collagen 10 - Expressing Mature Chondrocytes Have the Capacity to Become Osteoblasts In Vivo. Invited. Cold Spring Harbor Asia - Bone and Cartilage: From Development to Human Diseases. Suzhou, CN.
Formal Peers
- 2017. Bmp and Canonical Wnt Signaling Are Required at Separate Stages of Mature Chondrocytes to Osteoblasts Differentiation in Endochondral Bone Formation. Invited. Shanghai, CN.
- 2009. Multiple functions of Osterix are required for bone growth and homeostasis in postnatal mice. Invited. Houston, TX, US.
Grant & Contract Support
| Date: | 2025 - 2026 |
| Title: | Mapping Osteosarcoma Development and Lung Tropism: Genetic Profiling and Microenvironmental Dynamics |
| Funding Source: | The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| Role: | PI |
| Date: | 2013 - 2014 |
| Title: | Mature chondrocytes are a major source of osteoblasts in endochondral bone formation |
| Funding Source: | Rolanette and Berdon Lawrence bone disease program |
| Role: | PI |
| ID: | 144300-80-112169-21 |
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Zhou X. Growth Plate Chondrocytes Give Rise to Osteosarcoma with Early Dissemination and Conserved Genomic Deletions. PNAS. e-Pub 2026.
- Xiong S, Zhang Y, Zhou X, Pant V, Mirani A, Gencel-Augusto J, Chau G, You MJ, Lozano G. Dependence on Mdm2 for Mdm4 inhibition of p53 activity. Cancer Lett:217622, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40081463.
- Zhou X, Beilter A, Xu Z, Gao R, Xiong X, Paulucci-Holthauzen A, Lozano G, de Crombrugghe B, Gorlick R. Wnt/ß-catenin-mediated p53 suppression is indispensable for osteogenesis of mesenchymal progenitor cells. Cell Death Dis 12(6):521, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34021120.
- Lin SC, Lee YC, Yu G, Cheng CJ, Zhou X, Chu K, Murshed M, Le NT, Baseler L, Abe JI, Fujiwara K, deCrombrugghe B, Logothetis CJ, Gallick GE, Yu-Lee LY, Maity SN, Lin SH. Endothelial-to-Osteoblast Conversion Generates Osteoblastic Metastasis of Prostate Cancer. Dev Cell 41(5):467-480.e3, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28586644.
- He D, Marie C, Zhao C, Kim B, Wang J, Deng Y, Clavairoly A, Frah M, Wang H, He X, Hmidan H, Jones BV, Witte D, Zalc B, Zhou X, Choo DI, Martin DM, Parras C, Lu QR. Chd7 cooperates with Sox10 and regulates the onset of CNS myelination and remyelination. Nat Neurosci 19(5):678-89, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 26928066.
- Jing Y, Zhou X, Han X, Jing J, von der Mark K, Wang J, de Crombrugghe B, Hinton RJ, Feng JQ. Chondrocytes Directly Transform into Bone Cells in Mandibular Condyle Growth. J Dent Res 94(12):1668-1675, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26341973.
- Park J, Gebhardt M, Golovchenko S, Branguli FP, Hattori T, Hartmann C, Zhou X, deCrombrugghe B, Stock M, Schneider H, der Mark AKV. Dual pathways to endochondral osteoblasts. Biol Open 4(5):608-21, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 25882555.
- Zhou X, von der Mark K, Henry S, Norton W, Adams H, de Crombrugghe B. Chondrocytes Transdifferentiate into Osteoblasts in Endochondral Bone during Development, Postnatal Growth and Fracture Healing in Mice. PLoS Genet 10(12):e1004820, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 25474590.
- Coskun S, Chao H, Vasavada H, Heydari K, Gonzales N, Zhou X, de Crombrugghe B, Hirschi KK. Development of the fetal bone marrow niche and regulation of HSC quiescence and homing ability therein by emerging osteolineage cells. Cell Rep 9(2):581-590, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 25310984.
- Zhou X, Zhang Z, Feng JQ, Dusevich VM, Sinha K, Zhang H, Darnay BG, de Crombrugghe B. Multiple functions of Osterix are required for bone growth and homeostasis in postnatal mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107(29):12919-24, 2010. e-Pub 2010. PMID: 20615976.
- Zhang C, Cho K, Huang Y, Lyons JP, Zhou X, Sinha K, McCrea PD, de Crombrugghe B. Inhibition of Wnt signaling by the osteoblast-specific transcription factor Osterix. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 105(19):6936-41, 2008. e-Pub 2008. PMID: 18458345.
- Nakashima K, Zhou X, Kunkel G, Zhang Z, Deng JM, Behringer RR, de Crombrugghe B. The novel zinc finger-containing transcription factor osterix is required for osteoblast differentiation and bone formation. Cell 108(1):17-29, 2002. e-Pub 2002. PMID: 11792318.
- Huang W, Zhou X, Lefebvre V, de Crombrugghe B. Phosphorylation of SOX9 by cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase A enhances SOX9's ability to transactivate a Col2a1 chondrocyte-specific enhancer. Mol Cell Biol 20(11):4149-58, 2000. e-Pub 2000. PMID: 10805756.
- Lefebvre V, Zhou G, Mukhopadhyay K, Smith CN, Zhang Z, Eberspaecher H, Zhou X, Sinha S, Maity SN, de Crombrugghe B. An 18-base-pair sequence in the mouse proalpha1(II) collagen gene is sufficient for expression in cartilage and binds nuclear proteins that are selectively expressed in chondrocytes. Mol Cell Biol 16(8):4512-23, 1996. e-Pub 1996. PMID: 8754852.
- Hasegawa T, Zhou X, Garrett LA, Ruteshouser EC, Maity SN, de Crombrugghe B. Evidence for three major transcription activation elements in the proximal mouse proalpha2(I) collagen promoter. Nucleic Acids Res 24(16):3253-60, 1996. e-Pub 1996. PMID: 8774909.
- Zhao GQ, Zhao S, Zhou X, Eberspaecher H, Solursh M, de Crombrugghe B. rDlx, a novel distal-less-like homeoprotein is expressed in developing cartilages and discrete neuronal tissues. Dev Biol 164(1):37-51, 1994. e-Pub 1994. PMID: 7913069.
- Zhao GQ, Zhou X, Eberspaecher H, Solursh M, de Crombrugghe B. Cartilage homeoprotein 1, a homeoprotein selectively expressed in chondrocytes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 90(18):8633-7, 1993. e-Pub 1993. PMID: 7690966.
- Zhao GQ, Zhao Q, Zhou X, Mattei MG, de Crombrugghe B. TFEC, a basic helix-loop-helix protein, forms heterodimers with TFE3 and inhibits TFE3-dependent transcription activation. Mol Cell Biol 13(8):4505-12, 1993. e-Pub 1993. PMID: 8336698.
- Legerski R, Zhou X, Dresback J, Eberspaecher H, McKinney S, Segarini P, de Crombrugghe B. Molecular cloning and characterization of a novel rat activin receptor. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 183(2):672-9, 1992. e-Pub 1992. PMID: 1312838.
- Wang Y, Zhang Z, Longo C, Zhang W, Wang Q, Najjar A, Tian X, Segura RNL, Roth M, Gill Jonathan, Harrison D, Xu Z, Yi Y, Zhou X, Jusu S, Stearns T, Neuhauser S, Bult C, Wang J, Lazar A, Gorlick R. Identification of CADM1 as an Immunotherapeutic Target and Evaluation of a Novel CADM1-Targeting Antibody-Drug Conjugate in Preclinical Osteosarcoma Models. Mol Cancer Ther. PMID: 41517891.
Review Articles
- Samsa WE, Zhou X, Zhou G. Signaling pathways regulating cartilage growth plate formation and activity. Semin Cell Dev Biol 62:3-15, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 27418125.
Other Articles
- Huang W, Zhou X, Lefebvre V, de Crombrugghe B Phosphorylation of SOX9 by Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinase A Enhances SOX9's Ability To Transactivate aCol2a1 Chondrocyte-Specific Enhancer. Mol Cell Biol 20(20):7838, 2000.
Book Chapters
- von der Mark K, Zhou X. Cell Fate of Growth Plate Chondrocytes in Endochondral Ossification: Cell Death or Reprogramming into Osteogenic Lineage?. In: Cartilage. Springer International Publishing, 115-142, 2016.
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified May 19, 2026