Stephen Hammes
University of Rochester, NY·Medicine & Clinical Research
Men and women differ in how their immune systems behave and in how often they develop autoimmune disease, and sex hormones are thought to be part of the reason. Exactly how estrogen reshapes immunity is still unclear.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Microbiology & Immunology
Physiology
- Topics
lymphangioleiomyomatosis
tuberous sclerosis
estrogen
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2028
What they work on
- Determine how estradiol, acting through the estrogen receptor ERα, increases neutrophil production in the mouse bone marrow.
- Examine how estradiol and neutrophils, including neutrophil elastase, act locally in the TSC2-null mouse uterus to drive LAM-like growth.
- Test whether estradiol-induced GPNMB, a LAM blood biomarker, promotes TSC2-null tumor growth by suppressing T cells.
More about the research
This project approaches the question through lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), a rare and devastating lung disease seen almost only in women. In LAM, small clusters of smooth muscle cells carrying mutations in a tuberous sclerosis (TSC) gene grow in the lungs and create cysts. The disease worsens with puberty, pregnancy and birth-control pills and stabilizes after menopause, making it a natural model of estrogen-driven disease.
Why it matters
Patients with LAM, a rare lung disease of women, could benefit from new treatment targets such as neutrophil elastase and GPNMB, and from GPNMB as a blood test marker. Because estrogen's effects on neutrophils and T cells are general, the findings may also inform other cancers, infections and autoimmune diseases that differ between the sexes.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Brendan Dougherty
University of Minnesota, MN·Neuroscience
Test whether spinal estrogen receptor signaling is necessary for respiratory neuroplasticity in female and male rats, using nerve recordings of breathing output with estrogen receptor drugs and siRNA gene knockdown.
Addolorata Pisconti
Stony Brook University, NY·Biology
Define how the muscle stem cell niche, including its cells, extracellular matrix and soluble factors, is remodeled after injury in mice lacking each neutrophil serine protease or all three combined.
Zhen Yue Jiang
Boston University, MA·Physiology
Test whether neutrophil elastase (NE) drives vascular leakage, inflammation and fibrosis by activating PAR2 and ENaC signaling in vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells, using cell culture and mouse studies.
The school
University of Rochester: 38 labs on PI Pages, $492M a year on research, 308 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.