Yongfeng Cai, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate

Email

yongfeng.cai@bcm.edu

Positions

Postdoctoral Associate: Ophthalmology
Baylor College of Medicine

Education

PhD from Peking University: 01/2024 - Beijing, China

BS from Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine: 06/2017 - Guangzhou, China

Honors & Awards

Postdoctoral Fellowship Award: American Heart Associate (01/2026 - 12/2027)

Honorable Mention Award: The 39th SCBA TX Chapter Annual Symposium Committee (05/2026)

BrightFocus Foundation Travel Award: ARVO (05/2026)

MIT Outstanding Poster Competition finalist: ARVO (05/2026)

Travel Award: ACRE/CNAHA (11/2025)

Dean's Award: Baylor College of Medicine (03/2026)

Websites

Google scholar

Bibliography in PubMed

Selected Publications

Cai Y, Zhou Y, Yang Q, Xu J, Da Q, Ma Q, Zhao D, Lu T, Kim HW, Fulton D, Jiang X, Weintraub NL, Dong K, Xu S, Hong M, Liu Z, Huo Y.. " Blockade of endothelial adenosine receptor 2 A suppresses atherosclerosis in vivo through inhibiting CREB-ALK5-mediated endothelial to mesenchymal transition. " Pharmacol Res. 2024 May ;
Pubmed PMID: 38522762.
Ma Q, Yang Q, Xu J, Zhang X, Kim D, Liu Z, Da Q, Mao X, Zhou Y, Cai Y, Pareek V, Kim HW, Wu G, Dong Z, Song WL, Gan L, Zhang C, Hong M, Benkovic SJ, Weintraub NL, Fulton D Jr, Asara JM, Ben-Sahra I, Huo Y.. " ATIC-Associated De Novo Purine Synthesis Is Critically Involved in Proliferative Arterial Disease " Circulation. 2022 Nov ;
Pubmed PMID: 36073366.
Zhang M, Wang C, Wang R, Xu J, Wang Z, Yan J, Cai Y, Li L, Huo Y, Dong S.. " Adenosine kinase promotes post-infarction cardiac repair by epigenetically maintaining reparative macrophage phenotype. " J Mol Cell Cardiol.. 2023 Jan ;
Pubmed PMID: 36473288.
Xu J, Liu Z, Yang Q, Ma Q, Zhou Y, Cai Y, Zhao D, Zhao G, Lu T, Ouyang K, Hong M, Kim HW, Shi H, Zhang J, Fulton D, Miller C, Malhotra R, Weintraub NL, Huo Y.. " Adenosine kinase inhibition protects mice from abdominal aortic aneurysm via epigenetic modulation of VSMC inflammation. " Cardiovasc Res.. 2024 Sep 2;
Pubmed PMID: 38722818.
Zhou Y, Zhao D, Ma Q, Xu J, Cai Y, Yang Q, Da Q, Sheridan K, Zhang C, Miller CL, Malhotra R, Xu S, Hong M, Huo Y.. " Endothelial adenosine receptor 2A loss alleviates diabetic vascular calcification by blocking CREB1-SNAI1-driven EndMT. " Pharmacol Res. 2025 Oct ;
Pubmed PMID: 41067595.
Li H, Zheng J, Xu Q, Yang Y, Zhou J, Guo X, Cai Y, Cai JJ, Xie L, Awika J, Han X, Li Q, Kennedy L, Francis H, Glaser S, Huo Y, Alpini G, Wu C.. " Hepatocyte Adenosine Kinase Promotes Excessive Fat Deposition and Liver Inflammation. " Gastroenterology. 2023 Jan ;
Pubmed PMID: 36181835.
Yang Q, Cai Y, Ma Q, Xiong A, Xu P, Zhang Z, Xu J, Zhou Y, Liu Z, Zhao D, Asara J, Li W, Shi H, Caldwell RB, Sodhi A, Huo Y.. " Inactivation of adenosine receptor 2A suppresses endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition and inhibits subretinal fibrosis in mice. " Sci Transl Med. 2024 Mar ;
Pubmed PMID: 38446902.
Yang Q, Huo E, Cai Y, Zhang Z, Dong C, Asara JM, Shi H, Wei Q.. " Myeloid PFKFB3-mediated glycolysis promotes kidney fibrosis. " Front Immunol. 2023 ;
Pubmed PMID: 38035106.
Da Q#, Cai Y#, Ma Q, Yang Q, Cao Y, Zhou Y, Zhao D, Liu Z, Xu J, Quan J, Zhang L, Wang R, Jiang X, Liu X, Ouyang K, Han Z, Liu J, Wang T, Zhang C, Weintraub NL, Fulton DJR, Zhao J, Hong M, Li Z, Huo Y.. " PFKFB3 activates CAD to enhance de novo pyrimidine synthesis for cell growth. " Cell Rep. 2025 Aug ;
Pubmed PMID: 40742808.
Yang Q, Huo E, Cai Y, Zhang Z, Dong C, Asara JM, Wei Q.. " PFKFB3-Mediated Glycolysis Boosts Fibroblast Activation and Subsequent Kidney Fibrosis. " Cells. 2023 Aug ;
Pubmed PMID: 37626891.
Yang Q, Cai Y, Ma Q, Huo Y.. " Primary Mouse Choroidal Endothelial Cell Culture. " Bio Protoc.. 2025 Jun ;
Pubmed PMID: 40620805.
Ma Q, Cai Y, Zhang Z, Zhao D, Zhao Y, Xu P, Lu T, Zhang W, Yang Q, Zhou Y, Sudhahar V, Fukai T, Jo H, Xu Y, Huo Y.. " Purine metabolic adaptation protects the endothelium from disturbed flow-induced DNA damage and atherosclerosis " Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2026 May ;
Pubmed PMID: 42060719.
Ma Q, Yang Q, Xu J, Sellers HG, Brown ZL, Liu Z, Bordan Z, Shi X, Zhao D, Cai Y, Pareek V, Zhang C, Wu G, Dong Z, Verin AD, Gan L, Du Q, Benkovic SJ, Xu S, Asara JM, Ben-Sahra I, Barman S, Su Y, Fulton DJR, Huo Y.. " Purine synthesis suppression reduces the development and progression of pulmonary hypertension in rodent models. " Eur Heart J. 2023 Apr ;
Pubmed PMID: 36721994.
Ma Q, Cai Y, Yang Q, Zhang W, Xu S, Huo Y.. " Reprogrammed glucose metabolism in vascular smooth muscle cells and its implications for vascular diseases " Pharmacol Res. 2025 Nov ;
Pubmed PMID: 41093256.
Liu Z, Shi H, Xu J, Yang Q, Ma Q, Mao X, Xu Z, Zhou Y, Da Q, Cai Y, Fulton DJ, Dong Z, Sodhi A, Caldwell RB, Huo Y.. " Single-cell transcriptome analyses reveal microglia types associated with proliferative retinopathy. " JCI Insight. 2022 Dec ;
Pubmed PMID: 36264636.
Liu Z, Mao X, Yang Q, Zhang X, Xu J, Ma Q, Zhou Y, Da Q, Cai Y, Sopeyin A, Dong Z, Hong M, Caldwell RB, Sodhi A, Huo Y.. " Suppression of myeloid PFKFB3-driven glycolysis protects mice from choroidal neovascularization " Br J Pharmacol. 2022 Nov ;
Pubmed PMID: 35830274.
Zhou Y, Zhao D, Ma Q, Lee S, Roh K, Cai Y, Xu J, Yang Q, Da Q, Liu Z, Ouyang K, Chantemele EJB, Hong M, Miller CL, Malhotra R, Zhang C, Xu S, Huo Y.. " Targeting adenosine 2A receptor signaling suppresses vascular calcification by restraining smooth muscle osteogenic differentiation. " Pharmacol Res. 2025 Nov ;
Pubmed PMID: 41201506.

Memberships

ARVO: membership (01/2023 - 01/2027)

American Heart Associate: membership (01/2023 - 12/2027)

Funding

Postdoctoral Fellowship Award ##26POST1569382: (01/01/2026 - 12/31/2027); Grant funding from American Heart Association