Speaker: Surendra Sharma, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor of Pediatrics
Deputy Director of Center of Biomedical Research Excellence
for Perinatal Biology
Women and Infants Hospital
Brown University
Providence, R. I.

website

Topic:

"Immune Regulation at the Maternal Fetal Interface: Mechanistic underpinning for preterm birth."

Dr. Surendra Sharma is Professor of Pediatrics and Deputy Director of Center of Biomedical Research Excellence for Perinatal Biology at Women and Infants Hospital—Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA. The Sharma laboratory has a multifaceted research program focused on answering the question of why some women are predisposed to pregnancy complications. In this regard, gestational outcomes are programmed at the time of implantation and during early pregnancy, apparently in defiance of the regulatory immunological laws of tissue transplantation. It is believed that adverse pregnancy outcomes may originate from abnormal immune and vascular responses at the maternal-fetal interface. Using mouse and human models, the Sharma laboratory has demonstrated that IL-10 and uterine NK cells (contributing to 60-70% of all decidual mononuclear cell population) form a regulatory axis to program a successful pregnancy outcome. The seminar will discuss issues related to utero-placental vascular deficiency and the role of uterine NK cells as a friend or a foe in pregnancy. For example, preterm birth is the leading cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality, and contributes to a majority of long-term neurocognitive and pulmonary complications. It will be established that cytotoxic migration of uterine NK cells to the placental zone causes preterm delivery in IL-10 null mice.

When:

Monday, April 23, 2007
12:15PM – 1:15PM
 

Location:

Hughes Auditorium
Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center
303 East Superior Street, 1st floor
  

Hosted by Dr. Nabeel Yaseen

Sharma S, Murphy SP, Barnea ER.Genes regulating implantation and fetal development: a focus on mouse knockout models

Sharma S, Deitchman D, Eni JS, Gelperin K, Ilgenfritz JP, Blumenthal M.The hemodynamic effects of long-term ACE inhibition with fosinopril in patients with heart failure. Fosinopril Hemodynamics Study Group.
Am J Ther. 1999 Jul;6(4):181-9.

Murphy SP, Fast LD, Hanna NN, Sharma S.Uterine NK cells mediate inflammation-induced fetal demise in IL-10-null mice. J Immunol. 2005 Sep 15;175(6):4084-90.

De Paepe ME, Mao Q, Chao Y, Powell JL, Rubin LP, Sharma S.Hyperoxia-induced apoptosis and Fas/FasL expression in lung epithelial cells.Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2005 Oct;289(4):L647-59.

Chung MA, Luo Y, O'Donnell M, Rodriguez C, Heber W, Sharma S, Chang HR.Development and preclinical evaluation of a Bacillus Calmette-Guerin-MUC1-based novel breast cancer vaccine.Cancer Res. 2003 Mar 15;63(6):1280-7