Moonkyoung Um, Ph.D.
Scientist
erythropoietin
Email: um at bbri.org

Research Summary
Roles of cytokine signaling in neurodegenerative diseases and a therapeutic strategy for treatment of these diseases
Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease are devastating progressive neurodegenerative disorders. The molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of these diseases are not understood. Nevertheless, cytokine signaling has been suggested to be one crucial factor that affects the onset and severity of these diseases. The major interest of my laboratory is to determine the role of hormonal signaling in preventing neuronal degeneration during the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. In particular, we are investigating the neuroprotection conferred by the hematopoietic cytokine erythropoietin in Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease using neuronal cells, in vitro cultured primary neurons and in vivo mouse systems, and elucidating the molecular mechanism underlying this activity. These studies will allow us to understand how neurons are protected by cytokines under the distressing pathological conditions of neurodegenerative diseases. Another important aspect of our studies is of clinical significance, as it will provide a scientific basis for the therapeutic application of erythropoietin in neurodegenerative diseases and for developing therapeutic strategies for their treatments.

Selected Publications
Um M, Gross AW, Lodish HF. A "classical" homodimeric erythropoietin receptor is essential for the antiapoptotic effects of erythropoietin on differentiated neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y and pheochromocytoma PC-12 cells. Cell Signal. 2007;19(3):634-45.

Um M, Lodish HF. Antiapoptotic effects of erythropoietin in differentiated neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells require activation of both the STAT5 and AKT signaling pathways. J Biol Chem. 2006;281(9):5648-56.

Elliott S, Busse L, Bass MB, Lu H, Sarosi I, Sinclair AM, Spahr C, Um M, Van G, Begley CG. Anti-Epo receptor antibodies do not predict Epo receptor expression. Blood. 2006;107(5):1892-5. Erratum in: Blood. 2006;107(9):3454.

PubMed:
Click here for a list of publications (searches the National Library of Medicine's PubMed database.)