Xian Chang Li
Transplant immunologist who studies how the immune system rejects or tolerates transplants, and how drugs such as mTOR inhibitors act on immune cells.
Houston Methodist · Director, Immunobiology & Transplant Science Center; Professor of Transplant Immunology in Surgery
Portrait: Houston Methodist
Xian Chang Li is a physician-scientist at Houston Methodist. His profile lists him as director of the Immunobiology and Transplant Science Center and vice chair of research in the Department of Surgery, and describes his research as the mechanisms of transplant rejection and tolerance.
The 2026 study in the Atlas deals with a known side effect. Transplant patients who take mTOR inhibitors such as sirolimus sometimes develop a lung problem resembling pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, in which the lungs fill with surfactant. Li's team asked whether mTOR is needed by alveolar macrophages, the lung cells that clear surfactant.
In mice, deleting mTOR in myeloid cells, or treating with temsirolimus, caused alveolar macrophages to die off, take up less material and fill with fat, producing PAP-like lung changes. This gives one cell-level explanation for the side effect. It is an animal study.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | A | Survival and Homeostasis of Alveolar Macrophages in Vivo Depend on mTOR Signaling HEN2026 In mice, genetic deletion of mTOR or temsirolimus treatment depleted alveolar macrophages and caused PAP-like lung pathology; Li was senior author. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 1
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Xian Chang Li.
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- Samson Hennessy-Strahs Researcher who moved from studying heart pumps and blood vessels at Penn to transplant immunology in Houston, and first author of a study showing that the lung's cleaning macrophages need mTOR to survive
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