2021-04-22 11:00 ~ 2021-04-22 12:00
Venue: IBC R209
Speaker: Dr. Shaw-Jenq Tsai
Current Position: Chair Professor, Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan
Host: Dr. Guang-Chao Chen
Abstract:
Endometriosis is one of the most common gynecological diseases, which severely reduces life quality and increases financial burden of affected women and their families. Unfortunately, there is no cure for this disease and the etiology remains largely unknown. According to the retrograded menstruation theory of endometriosis, shed tissues encounter chronic and persistent hypoxic stress before they can adhere to peritoneum and attract new blood vessel to grow into. Even with successful implantation to ovaries or peritoneum, the hypoxic stress remains as a critical issue because endometrial cells are used to live in the well-oxygenated environment. Numerous physiological and pathological processes such as steroidogenesis, lymphangiogenesis, glucose metabolism, cell cycle regulation, and increased drug resistance are regulated by hypoxia. We had demonstrated that levels of hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) were elevated in ectopic endometriotic stromal cells and upregulation of HIF-1α alters the expression of numerous critical genes controlling important pathophysiological processes during the development and progression of endometriosis. The imbalance of these genes leads to abnormal cell proliferation, angiogenesis, glucose metabolism switch, and even immune suppression. As a result, numerous important biological processes favor for cell survival are enriched in endometriotic cells. Our recent data have provided new and compelling evidence to demonstrate that hypoxia-mediated gene regulatory network plays critical roles in regulating the development and progression of endometriosis and targeting hypoxia-mediated gene network represents an alternative approach for the treatment of endometriosis. -Dr. Shaw-Jenq Tsai
Contact person: Ms. Nancy Liu
Tel: 02-27855696#2061
Email: liukchun@gate.sinica.edu.tw
Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica
