Dr. Wei Cao

Regular Member

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Department of Immunology

Research Interests:

• Plasmacytoid dendritic cells
• Dendritic cells
• Innate immune responses
• Immune regulation
• Type I IFN
• Signaling receptor complex
• Signal transduction
• Human Immunology
• Autoimmune diseases

The research in the laboratory focuses on 1) the immune function played by surface receptors associated with dendritic cells and 2) host-derived factors driving autoimmunity. A strong interest of our lab is in human plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), a special dendritic cell subset. pDC's play a critical role in anti-viral innate immune responses by secreting large quantities of IFNα/β; yet uncontrolled pDC activation and IFN production are associated with autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE) and psoriasis. We have researched several pDC specific surface receptors and demonstrated an important molecular mechanism initiated by pDC receptors to regulate pDCs' innate immunity. The current research aims to reveal the biology of pDCs through investigating receptor-ligand interaction and dissecting the implicated signaling pathways. Separately, we are interested in the biology of a class of aberrant endogenous proteins that are capable of interacting with nucleic acids and initiating activation of intracellular innate immune receptors. These molecules may play an role to promote autoimmune reactions of the host.

Depending on the student's interests, a tutorial in my laboratory would provide experience with isolation of primary immune cells from human peripheral blood, fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), molecular cloning for gene expression and functional analysis, DNA transduction into different cell types, quantitative real-time PCR analysis, producing and purification of recombinant proteins, analyzing secreted cytokines/proteins by ELISA...

Selected Publications:

Cao W, Rosen DB, Ito T, Bover L, Bao M, Watanabe G, Zhang L, Lanier LL, Liu Y-J (2006) Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell-Specific Receptor ILT7/FcεRIγ Inhibits Toll-Like Receptor-Induced Interferon Production. J Exp Med. 203:1399-1405.

Cao W, Liu YJ (2007) Innate immune functions of plasmacytoid dendritic cells. Curr Opin Immunol. 18:1-17.

Cao W, Zhang L, Rosen DB, Bover L, Watanabe G, Bao M, Lanier LL, Liu Y-J (2007) BDCA2 and FcεRIγ Complex Signals through a Novel BCR-like Pathway in Human Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells. PLoS Biology 5: e248.

Gilliet M, Cao W, and Liu Y-J. (2008) Plasmacytoid dendritic cells: sensing nucleic acids in viral infection and autoimmune diseases. Nat Rev Imm 8: 594-606.

Cao W. (2009) Molecular Characterization of Human Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells. J Clin Immunol. 29:257-64.

Cao W, Bover L, Cho M, Wen X, Hanabuchi S, Bao M, Rosen DB, Wang Y-H, Shaw JL, Du Q, Li C, Arai N, Yao Z, Lanier LL & Liu Y-J (2009) Regulation of TLR7/9 Responses in Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells by BST2 and ILT7 Receptor Interaction. J. Exp. Med, 206:1603-14.

Cao W, Bover L. (2010) Signaling and ligand interaction of ILT7: receptor-mediated regulatory mechanisms for plasmacytoid dendritic cells. Immunol Rev. 234:163-76.

Additional Publications

Program Affiliation:

Immunology