Xian Chang Li

Xian Chang Li, MD, PhD

Max and Lillie Frosch Centennial Chair in Transplant Research, Immunobiology & Transplant Science Center
Professor of Transplant Immunology in Surgery, Academic Institute
Full Member, Research Institute
Director, Immunobiology & Transplant Science Center
Houston Methodist
Weill Cornell Medical College


Biography

Dr. Xian C. Li is professor of immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University in New York and director of the Immunobiology & Transplant Science Center at Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston Texas. He also serves as the vice chair of research in the department of surgery and holds the Max Lillie Frosch Centennial Chair in transplant research at Houston Methodist. Dr. Li has an excellent academic credential; he completed his medical training in China and then joined the Multi-organ Transplant Program in London Health Science Center at University of Western Ontario in Canada, where Dr. Li further obtained his PhD degree in pathology. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School in Boston Massachusetts where he held faculty appointments at Harvard till 2013. Before moving to Houston Methodist, Dr. Li was an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Deputy Director of the Transplant Research Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Dr. Li has a long track record of excellence in transplant research. He has published extensively in areas of immunology and transplantation, with over 170 original research papers, review articles and book chapters published, and some of the papers are published in high impact journals, which include Science, Nature Medicine, Nature Immunology, Immunity, Cell Reports, Nature Communications, J Exp Med, J Clin Invest, Nature Reviews, PNAS, Blood, Immunol Reviews, Trends in Immunology, etc. Dr. Li has made substantial contributions to the transplant community. He has been an organizer, chair, and speaker of numerous scientific meetings and he is routinely invited to speak about his research at leading institutions nationally and internationally. He has received many awards in recognition of his contributions to transplant research, which include American Society of Transplantation (AST) Young Investigator Award, AST/Wyeth Basic Science Investigator Award, and AST/Wyeth Achievement Award.

Dr. Li is an active member of multiple professional societies. He has served as a committee member of the AST Basic Science Advisory council, co-chair of AST composite tissue transplantation committee, chair of AST Grant Executive Committee, chair of American Transplant Congress (ATC) joint executive planning committee, and chair of ATC 2018 in Seattle. Dr. Li is currently a standing member of American Association of Immunologists (AAI) and the transplant society (TTS), a member of Faculty 1000 in immunology. He is also an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), an honorary society for physician scientists in the United States. He has been a standing member of the Cellular and Molecular Immunology (CMI), and Transplantation, Tolerance and Tumor immunology (TTT) study sections at the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense (DOD) and Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) grant review panels. He has also served as an associate editor for the Journal of Immunology and Cell Mol Immunol. He is now an editorial board member for the journal of Transplantation, American Journal of Transplantation.

Description of Research

Dr. Xian C. Li’s research is focused on uncovering the fundamental mechanisms of transplant rejection and transplant tolerance, the goal of his team is to develop new and innovative protocols that allow the immune system to be therapeutically reprogrammed, such that the transplant patients could accept organ transplants without taking life-long immunosuppression drugs.

Areas Of Expertise

Immunology Allograft rejection Transplant Regulatory cell function Tolerance induction
Education & Training

Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Toronto
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Harvard University
MD, Qingdao Medical School, Qingdao, China
Research Fellowship, University of Western Ontario
PhD, Western University, London, Canada
Patents

Volatile Organic Gases as Bioindicators for Transplant Rejection

Patent Number: US20150031582 A1, Jan 29 2015

Publications

Single-center Outcomes After Liver Transplantation With SARS-CoV-2–Positive Donors: An Argument for Increased Utilization
Connor, AA, Adelman, MW, Mobley, CM, Moaddab, M, Erhardt, AJ, Hsu, DE, Brombosz, EW, Sanghvi, M, Lee Cheah, Y, Simon, CJ, Hobeika, MJ, Saharia, AS, Victor, DW, Kodali, S, Basra, T, Graviss, EA, Nguyen, DT, Elsaiey, A, Moore, LW, Nigo, M, Drews, AL, Grimes, KA, Arias, CA, Li, XC, Gaber, AO & Ghobrial, RM 2024, , Transplantation Direct, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. E1590. https://doi.org/10.1097/TXD.0000000000001590

The transcription factor IRF4 determines the anti-tumor immunity of CD8+ T cells
Yan, H, Dai, Y, Zhang, X, Zhang, H, Xiao, X, Fu, J, Zou, D, Yu, A, Jiang, T, Li, XC, Zhao, Z & Chen, W 2023, , iScience, vol. 26, no. 11, 108087. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.108087

Continuous Expression of Interferon Regulatory Factor 4 Sustains CD8+ T Cell Immunity against Tumor
Yu, A, Fu, J, Yin, Z, Yan, H, Xiao, X, Zou, D, Zhang, X, Zu, X, Li, XC & Chen, W 2023, , Research, vol. 6, 0271. https://doi.org/10.34133/research.0271

Automation of Banff rules for precision diagnosis
Mengel, M & Li, XC 2023, , American Journal of Transplantation, vol. 23, no. 9, pp. 1284-1285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajt.2023.07.005

Local progenitor-like T cells sustain graft-versus-host disease
Wang, J & Li, XC 2023, , American Journal of Transplantation, vol. 23, no. 7, pp. 871-872. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajt.2023.05.008

Gasdermin D-mediated pyroptosis is regulated by AMPK-mediated phosphorylation in tumor cells
Chu, X, Xiao, X, Wang, G, Uosef, A, Lou, X, Arnold, P, Wang, Y, Kong, G, Wen, M, Minze, LJ & Li, XC 2023, , Cell Death and Disease, vol. 14, no. 7, 469. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41419-023-06013-6

Natural killer cells are under new Nogo control
Cao, R & Li, XC 2023, , American Journal of Transplantation, vol. 23, no. 6, pp. 700-701. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajt.2023.04.011

T cells: Surviving a decade of cell proliferation in vivo
Chen, W & Li, XC 2023, , American Journal of Transplantation, vol. 23, no. 5, pp. 593-594. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajt.2023.03.024

TRIM56 coiled-coil domain structure provides insights into its E3 ligase functions
Lou, X, Ma, B, Zhuang, Y, Xiao, X, Minze, LJ, Xing, J, Zhang, Z & Li, XC 2023, , Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, vol. 21, pp. 2801-2808. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2023.04.022

Graft-resident donor macrophages functionally regulate transplant outcomes
Su, X & Li, XC 2023, , American Journal of Transplantation, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 455-456. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajt.2023.02.018

Targeting the lymph nodes to promote transplant survival
Krummey, SM & Li, XC 2023, , American Journal of Transplantation, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 307-308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajt.2023.01.012

Interleukin-2 and PD-1 synergistically modify T cell exhaustion programs
Cravedi, P & Li, XC 2023, , American Journal of Transplantation, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 161-162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajt.2023.01.002

Multiple human B cell subsets give rise to regulatory B cells
Krummey, SM & Li, XC 2023, , American Journal of Transplantation, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 3-4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajt.2022.11.010

Innate immune cell dysfunction and systemic inflammation in children with chronic liver diseases undergoing transplantation
Mysore, KR, Kannanganat, S, Schraw, JM, Lupo, PJ, Goss, JA, Setchell, KDR, Kheradmand, F, Li, XC & Shneider, BL 2023, , American Journal of Transplantation, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 26-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajt.2022.09.004

A structural perspective of liver X receptors
Gustafsson, JÅ, Li, XC, Suh, JH & Lou, X 2023, . in G Litwack (ed.), Hormone Receptors: Structures and Functions. Vitamins and Hormones, vol. 123, Academic Press, pp. 231-247. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.vh.2023.01.008

T-Cell Costimulatory Molecules
Sun, Q & Li, XC 2023, . in Rodent Transplant Medicine: Second Edition. Springer Singapore, pp. 11-36. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-6111-3_2

An agent-based model of cardiac allograft vasculopathy: toward a better understanding of chronic rejection dynamics
Serafini, E, Corti, A, Gallo, D, Chiastra, C, Li, XC & Casarin, S 2023, , Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, vol. 11, 1190409, pp. 1190409. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2023.1190409

Implantable niche with local immunosuppression for islet allotransplantation achieves type 1 diabetes reversal in rats
Paez-Mayorga, J, Campa-Carranza, JN, Capuani, S, Hernandez, N, Liu, H-C, Chua, CYX, Pons-Faudoa, FP, Malgir, G, Alvarez, B, Niles, JA, Argueta, LB, Shelton, KA, Kezar, S, Nehete, PN, Berman, DM, Willman, MA, Li, XC, Ricordi, C, Nichols, JE, Gaber, AO, Kenyon, NS & Grattoni, A 2022, , Nature Communications, vol. 13, no. 1, 7951. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35629-z, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35629-z

Ox40-Cre-mediated deletion of BRD4 reveals an unexpected phenotype of hair follicle stem cells in alopecia
Wen, M, Ying, Y, Xiao, X, Arnold, PR, Wang, G, Chu, X, Ghobrial, RM & Li, XC 2022, , JCI insight, vol. 7, no. 23, e164534. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.164534

RASA2 a new gatekeeper for TCR signaling
Connor, A & Li, XC 2022, , American Journal of Transplantation, vol. 22, no. 12, pp. 2715. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajt.16684