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Principle investigator: Priv.-Doz. Dr. med. Tung Yu Tsui
MBBS (Jinan University); MD (Medical School Hannover); Habilitation in Surgery (University of Regensburg)
Contact: Email: ttsui@uke.de, Tel: +49-40-741050822 (Office); +49-40-741055559 (Lab)
Research Description:
Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), an antioxidant gene is actively involved in the achievement of cellular homeostasis under various disease-related stimuli. It has been become an important therapeutic target in various disease models, which is mainly based on its newly identified anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory properties. In organ transplantation, we and others have been able to show the significant role of HO-1 in the protection of grafts from ischemia/reperfusion injury, acute alloimmune response and chronic allograft deterioration. Based on the findings in transplantation, the data strongly suggest that HO-1 might also be actively involved in the regulation of immune response.
Our laboratory primarily focuses on the immunoregulatory properties of HO-1 and aims to find out the direct evidence of the involvement of HO-1 in the context of T cell activation, proliferation and homeostasis. The findings obtained from a transgeneic mouse model are essential for understanding the mechanisms of HO-1 activity in immune responses and provide the basis for the use of HO-1 and its related products for the control of undesirable immune responses not only for the transplantation setting, but also for a wider spectrum of immune disorders.
Cell membrane is a part of cellular defence system that generally impermeable for biologically functional molecules, such as peptides or proteins. However, cell penetrating peptides (CPPs) are peptides that are able to pass through cell membranes and into cells. The cell penetrating property of them was firstly addressed to the trans-activator of transcription (TAT) of human immunodeficiency virus. Subsequently, several other proteins with cell penetrating capability were identified, including the Drosophila homeotic transcription factor, antennapedia and VP22 transcription factor from the herpes simplex virus type 1. Among these CPPs, the most intensively studied CPP is functional part of TAT (which accords to 47th - 57th amino acids of TAT protein) and its derivatives. Our laboratory focuses on the therapeutic potential of these peptides by using them as carrier for the delivery of protein or gene products of interest.
Current members of laboratory:
Dr. med. Victoria Koren (Postdoctoral Fellow)
Mr. Hua Li, MPhil (PhD Student)
Mr. Ziyad Abu Rahal (MD Student)
Mr Xiangtao Zheng (MD Student)
Previous members of laboratory:
Dr. med. Jian Ma (MD Student, Postdoctoral Fellow)
Dr. med. Cristina Häring (MD Student)
Dr. Jian Wu, MD (Research Fellow)
Dr. Tao Xu, MD (Research Fellow)
Dr. med. Florian Bösch (Clinical Fellow)
Mr. Chi-Keung Lau, MPhil (Research Assistant)
Mr. Yeung-Tung Siu, MPhil (Research Assistant)
Miss Mandy Vogel (Technician)
Mrs Agnes Wieczorek (Technician)
Current support:
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (TS175/1-1)
ESOT Preservation Grant 2008
Publications:
Link to Pubmed
