Yongxing Wang, PhD
Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Division of Internal Medicine
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Assistant Professor, Department of Pulmonary Medicine-Research, Division of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Assistant Professor, Department of Pulmonary-Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Research Interests
Under supervision of Department Chair Dr. Scott Evans, my research is focused on studies to unravel mechanisms by which stimulation of lung epithelial innate immunity protects against acute pneumonia caused by lung infections. Evans Lab utilizes concurrent aerosol treatment of toll-like receptor agonists to protect mice against each of the major classes of (bacterial, fungal and viral) pathogens caused lung infections. My goal is to identify the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the inducible resistance and, based on that, to develop new concepts for designing protective measures toward respiratory infectious diseases. With genetic and genomic analysis approaches, we have revealed how lung epithelial cells sense innate immuno-stimulants and how their sensitization generates antimicrobial responses, particularly through metabolic modulation and receptor activation. We will continue to investigate these topics. I am also interested to investigate how innate immune memory prepares host tissues and augments immune responses against later infections. Findings from these studies will provide insights for development of novel therapeutics that will benefit immuno-compromised patients.
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2009 | The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston, Houston, Texas, US, Gene & Development, Ph.D |
| 2002 | University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, US, Environmental Toxicology, M.S |
Postgraduate Training
| 2010-2014 | Postdoctoral Fellow, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas |
Experience & Service
Faculty Academic Appointments
Instructor, Department of Pulmonary Medicine-Research, Division of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, 2021 - 2025
Intramural Institutional Committee Activities
Member, Junior Faculty Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2021 - 2024
Honors & Awards
| 2023 | Cyrus Scholar Award for Outstanding Basic/Translational Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Division of Internal Medicine |
| 2013 | NIH T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship in Molecular Genetics of Cancer, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Department of Genetics |
| 2012 | The William L. Pippin Jr. Postdoctoral Fellowship in Genitourinary Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations & Talks
Local Presentations
- 2024. Metabolic induction of lung epithelial antimicrobial signaling. Invited. DoIM Research Grand Rounds. Houston, Texas, US.
National Presentations
- 2025. Phosphorothioate backbone modification of oligodeoxynucleotides induces TLR9-independent lung epithelial antimicrobial responses. Poster. Cracking the Code: Nucleic Acid Medicines Coming of Age. Boston, MA, US.
- 2025. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1α stabilization activates antimicrobial peptide expression and prevents bacterial pneumonia. Poster. 2025 American Thoracic Society 2025 International Conference. San Francisco, CA, US.
- 2025. The RNA receptor RIG-I binding synthetic oligodeoxynucleotide promotes pneumonia survival. Poster. Innate Immune Memory: Mechanisms and Consequences. Vancouver, CA.
- 2024. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1α stabilization activates antimicrobial peptide expression and prevents lung bacterial infection. Poster. 2024 American Thoracic Society 2024 International Conference. San Diego, CA, US.
- 2023. The RNA receptor RIG-I binding synthetic oligodeoxynucleotide promotes pneumonia survival. Poster. 2023 the 18th International Transgenic Technology Meeting. Houston, TX, US.
- 2023. The RNA receptor RIG-I binding synthetic oligodeoxynucleotide promotes pneumonia survival. Poster. 2023 American Thoracic Society 2023 International Conference. Washington, DC, US.
- 2022. RIG-I is a Novel Receptor for CpG Oligodeoxynucleotides. Poster. 2022 American Thoracic Society 2022 International Conference. San Francisco, CA, US.
- 2019. Phosphorothiorate Oligonucleotide-Stimulated Mitochondrial Reactive Oxygen Species Mediate Lung Epithelial Innate Resistance to Bacterial Infection. Poster. 2019 American Thoracic Society 2019 International Conference. Dallas, TX, US.
- 2018. Phosphorothiorate Oligonucleotide-Stimulated Mitochondrial Reactive Oxygen Species Mediate Lung Epithelial Innate Resistance to Bacterial Infection. Poster. 2018 American Thoracic Society 2018 International Conference. San Diego, CA, US.
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Wurster S, García JP, Wang Y, Albert ND, Bharadwaj U, Matula L, Lewis RE, Evans SE, Kontoyiannis DP. Early adjunct anti-PD-L1 improves outcomes and restores infection-induced immune paralysis in mice with invasive pulmonary mucormycosis. PNAS. e-Pub 2026.
- García JP, Bhoda K, Burch-Eapen M, Becerra RA, Carstens PR, López DC, Lizaola JF, Kulkarni VV, Wang Y, Evans SE. cJun-Assisted Loading of RelA DNA-Binding Promotes Synergistic Lung Epithelial Antimicrobial Responses. iScience. e-Pub 2026.
- Ntita M, Lin Kong CS, Hassan D, Nayak R, García JP, Wang Y, Chen J, Evans SE. Prophylactic Inhaled Pattern Recognition Receptor Agonists Reprogram Lung Epithelial Response and Prevent Type 2 Allergic Inflammation. European Journal of Immunology 56(4):e70172, 2026. e-Pub 2026.
- Wang Y, Kulkarni VV, Pantaleón García J, Ntita M, Chavez Cavazos M, Reese TC, Liu Y, Vila Ellis L, Tuvim MJ, Evans SE. Phosphorothioate backbone modification of oligodeoxynucleotides induces TLR9-independent lung epithelial antimicrobial responses. Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol, 2026. e-Pub 2026. PMID: 41738189.
- Pantaleón García J, Wurster S, Albert ND, Bharadwaj U, Bhoda K, Kulkarni VK, Ntita M, Rodríguez Carstens P, Burch-Eapen M, Covarrubias López D, Foncerrada Lizaola J, Larsen KE, Matula LM, Moghaddam SJ, Wang Y, Kontoyiannis DP, Evans SE. Immunotherapy with nebulized pattern recognition receptor agonists restores severe immune paralysis and improves outcomes in mice with influenza-associated pulmonary aspergillosis. mBio:e0406124, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40197039.
- Wang Y, Kulkarni VV, Pantaleón García J, Longmire MK, Lethier M, Cusack S, Evans SE. The RNA receptor RIG-I binding synthetic oligodeoxynucleotide promotes pneumonia survival. JCI Insight 9(21), 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 39352770.
- Chau KM, Dominic A, Davis EL, Fahim A, Li S, Zhao D, Chen K, Davis AR, Nguyen MT, Wang Y, Evans SE, Wang G, Cooke J, Abe JI, Huston DP, Le NT. TNIK regulation of Interferon signaling and endothelial cell response to virus infection. Front Cardiovasc Med 10, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38264262.
- Wang Y, Kulkarni VV, Pantaleón García J, Leiva-Juárez MM, Goldblatt DL, Gulraiz F, Vila Ellis L, Chen J, Longmire MK, Donepudi SR, Lorenzi PL, Wang H, Wong LJ, Tuvim MJ, Evans SE. Antimicrobial mitochondrial reactive oxygen species induction by lung epithelial immunometabolic modulation. PLoS Pathog 19(9), 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37695784.
- Kulkarni VV, Wang Y, Pantaleon Garcia J, Evans SE. Redox-Dependent Activation of Lung Epithelial STAT3 Is Required for Inducible Protection against Bacterial Pneumonia. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol 68(6):679-688, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 36826841.
- Wurster S, Pantaleón García J, Albert ND, Jiang Y, Bhoda K, Kulkarni VV, Wang Y, Walsh TJ, Evans SE, Kontoyiannis DP. Development of a Corticosteroid-Immunosuppressed Mouse Model to Study the Pathogenesis and Therapy of Influenza-Associated Pulmonary Aspergillosis. J Infect Dis 227(7):901-906, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 36611269.
- Wang Y, Abe JI, Chau KM, Wang Y, Vu HT, Reddy Velatooru L, Gulraiz F, Imanishi M, Samanthapudi VSK, Nguyen MTH, Ko KA, Lee LL, Thomas TN, Olmsted-Davis EA, Kotla S, Fujiwara K, Cooke JP, Zhao D, Evans SE, Le NT. MAGI1 inhibits interferon signaling to promote influenza A infection. Front Cardiovasc Med 9, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36082118.
- Pantaleón García J, Kulkarni VV, Reese TC, Wali S, Wase SJ, Zhang J, Singh R, Caetano MS, Kadara H, Moghaddam SJ, Johnson FM, Wang J, Wang Y, Evans SE. OBIF: an omics-based interaction framework to reveal molecular drivers of synergy. NAR Genom Bioinform 4(2), 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35387383.
- Ware HH, Kulkarni VV, Wang Y, Pantaleón García J, Leiva Juarez M, Kirkpatrick CT, Wali S, Syed S, Kontoyiannis AD, Sikkema WKA, Tour JM, Evans SE. Inducible lung epithelial resistance requires multisource reactive oxygen species generation to protect against bacterial infections. PLoS One 14(2), 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 30794556.
- Kirkpatrick CT, Wang Y, Leiva Juarez MM, Shivshankar P, Pantaleón García J, Plumer AK, Kulkarni VV, Ware HH, Gulraiz F, Chavez Cavasos MA, Martinez Zayas G, Wali S, Rice AP, Liu H, Tour JM, Sikkema WKA, Cruz Solbes AS, Youker KA, Tuvim MJ, Dickey BF, Evans SE. Inducible Lung Epithelial Resistance Requires Multisource Reactive Oxygen Species Generation To Protect against Viral Infections. mBio 9(3):e00696-18, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29764948.
- Phan L, Chou PC, Velazquez-Torres G, Samudio I, Parreno K, Huang Y, Tseng C, Vu T, Gully C, Su CH, Wang E, Chen J, Choi HH, Fuentes-Mattei E, Shin JH, Shiang C, Grabiner B, Blonska M, Skerl S, Shao Y, Cody D, Delacerda J, Kingsley C, Webb D, Carlock C, Zhou Z, Hsieh YC, Lee J, Elliott A, Ramirez M, Bankson J, Hazle J, Wang Y, Li L, Weng S, Rizk N, Wen YY, Lin X, Wang H, Wang H, Zhang A, Xia X, Wu Y, Habra M, Yang W, Pusztai L, Yeung SC, Lee MH. The cell cycle regulator 14-3-3σ opposes and reverses cancer metabolic reprogramming. Nat Communication 6:7530, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26179207.
- Wang Y, Suh YA, Fuller MY, Jackson JG, Xiong S, Terzian T, Quintás-Cardama A, Bankson JA, El-Naggar AK, Lozano G. Restoring expression of wild-type p53 suppresses tumor growth but does not cause tumor regression in mice with a p53 missense mutation. J Clin Invest 121(3):893-904, 2011. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 21285512.
- Xiong S, Pant V, Suh YA, Van Pelt CS, Wang Y, Valentin-Vega YA, Post SM, Lozano G. Spontaneous tumorigenesis in mice overexpressing the p53-negative regulator Mdm4. Cancer Res 70(18):7148-54, 2010. e-Pub 2010. PMID: 20736370.
- Terzian T, Wang Y, Van Pelt CS, Box NF, Travis EL, Lozano G. Haploinsufficiency of Mdm2 and Mdm4 in tumorigenesis and development. Mol Cell Biol 27(15):5479-85, 2007. e-Pub 2007. PMID: 17526734.
Review Articles
- Lin PP, Wang Y, Lozano G. Mesenchymal Stem Cells and the Origin of Ewing's Sarcoma. Sarcoma, 2010. e-Pub 2010. PMID: 20953407.
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified July 22, 2026