Siyan “Stewart” Cao, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Phone: 314-747-2066
Fax: 314-747-1277

Education

Fellowship: Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO (2022)
Residency: University of California San Francisco, CA (2019)
MD: Columbia University, New York, NY (2016)
PhD: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (2013)

Biography

Dr. Cao joined the faculty of Division of Gastroenterology at Washington University in July 2022. Dr. Cao was born in Chengdu in Southwestern China. After college at Zhejiang University, China, Dr. Cao entered the PhD program in Biochemistry at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He then moved to New York where he obtained MD at Columbia University. Afterwards, he completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of California San Francisco and gastroenterology fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Cao’s research interests are in the mucosal immunity and precision medicine in inflammatory bowel disease. His clinical interests include colon cancer screening, gastrointestinal bleeding, microscopic colitis, dysphagia and gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Research Interests

My research interests are in the basic and translational medicine in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), particularly mucosal immunity, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and gut microbiome in intestinal inflammation. Using advanced cell culture and mouse models, I have characterized cellular stress pathways that play essential roles in innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) in intestinal homeostasis. I am also interested in IBD-related conditions whose etiologies are poorly understood, such as Crohn’s disease of the pouch and perianal fistulizing Crohn’s disease. Using single-cell techniques, I have revealed unique immune responses that may contribute to the pathogenesis of those conditions. Another focus of my research is to identify reliable biomarkers that predict response to IBD therapies including IL-23 antagonists.

Research Publications

Selected Publications

Siyan Cao#, Khai Nguyen, Kaiming Ma, Xiaotang Du, Xiuli Liu, Alina Ulezko Antonova, Richard P Rood, Anas Gremida, Chien-Huan Chen, Alexandra Gutierrez, Deborah C Rubin, Martin H Gregory, Mate Gergely, Guadalupe Oliva Escudero, Katherine Huang, Natalia Jaeger, Marina Cella, Rodney D Newberry, Nicholas O Davidson, Matthew A Ciorba, Parakkal Deepak, Marco Colonna#. Mucosal Single-Cell Profiling of Crohn’s-Like Disease of the Pouch Reveals Unique Pathogenesis and Therapeutic Targets. Accepted by Gastroenterology. *Co-first author; #Co-senior author.
Siyan Cao, Jose L Fachi, Alina Ulezko Antonova, Qianli Wang, Zhangying Cai, Randal J Kaufman, Matthew A Ciorba, Parakkal Deepak, Marco Colonna. IRE1a-XBP1 sustains cytokine responses of group 3 innate lymphoid cells in inflammatory bowel disease. J. Clin. Invest. 2024: 134(13):e174198.
Siyan Cao, Parakkal Deepak, Marco Colonna. Pathogenesis of Perianal Fistulizing Crohn’s Disease: current knowledge, gaps in understanding and future research directions. J. Crohn’s Colitis. 2023: 17(6):1010-1022.
Vincent Peng*, Siyan Cao*, Tihana Trsan, Jennifer K Bando, Julian Avila-Pacheco, John L Cleveland, Clary Clish, Ramnik J Xavier, Marco Colonna. Ornithine decarboxylase supports ILC3 responses in infectious and autoimmune colitis through positive regulation of IL-22 transcription. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2022: 119 (45), e2214900119. *Co-first author.
Siyan Cao, Miao Wang, Jane C Harrington, Brandy-Mengchieh Chuang, Lars Eckmann, Randal J Kaufman. Phosphorylation of eIF2α is dispensable for differentiation but required at a posttranscriptional level for Paneth cell function and intestinal homeostasis in mice. Inflamm. Bowel Dis. 2014: 20 (4), 712-722.
Siyan Cao, Ellen M Zimmermann, Brandy-Mengchieh Chuang, Benbo Song, Anosike Nwokoye, J Erby Wilkinson, Kathryn A Eaton, Randal J Kaufman. The unfolded protein response and chemical chaperones reduce protein misfolding and colitis in mice. Gastroenterology. 2013: 144 (5), 989-1000. e6.
Siyan Cao, Benbo Song, Randal J Kaufman. PKR protects colonic epithelium against colitis through the unfolded protein response and prosurvival signaling. Inflamm. Bowel Dis. 2012: 18 (9), 1735-1742.
Siyan Cao, Randal J Kaufman. Unfolded protein response. Curr. Biol. 2012: 22 (16), R622-R626.