The National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases

Yongzhi (Karen) Cui

Dr. Yongzhi (Karen) Cui joined our laboratory in October of 1999 as a postdoctoral fellow. She has received an MD from China Medical University in 1995 and her Ph.D. from the same institution in 2002. Karen explores how the Jak2/Stat5 signaling pathway modulates physiology of distinct cell types, with a focus on mammary epithelium and erythropoiesis. Most notebly Karen, along with Keiko Miyoshi and Greg Riedlinger, isolated and characterized the Stat3 and Stat5 genetic locus in the mouse and further discovered two novel genes within this locus. These three scientists subsequently targeted the entire Stat5 locus with loxP sites, which now permits the inactivation of the two Stat5 genes in selected cell types and ex vivo (Cui et al., 2004). In 2004 Karen was promoted to "Research fellow" and she will lead the effort in LGP to explore in depth the systems physiology of Stat5 signaling.

PubMed search

1. Cui, Y., Bierie, B., Miyoshi, K., Riedlinger, G., Shillingford, J., Morgan, F., Robinson, G.W. and Hennighausen, L. (2004) Stat5 signaling in mouse mammary development and function: haploinsufficiency, compensation and the identification of target genes. Submitted

2. Cui, Y., Riedlinger, G., Miyoshi, K., Tang, W., Li, C., Deng, C.-X., Robinson, G.W. and Hennighausen, L. (2004) Inactivation of Stat5 in mouse mammary epithelium during pregnancy reveals distinct functions in cell proliferation, survival and differentiation. Mol. Cell. Biol., 24, 8037-8047.

3. Bassaganya-Riera, J., Reynolds, K., Martino-Catt, S., Cui, Y., Hennighausen, L., Gonzalez, F., Rohrer, J., Benninghoff, A.U. and Hontecillas, R. (2004) Activation of PPARg and d by conjugated linoleic acid mediates protection from experimantal inflammatory bowel disease. Gastroenterology, 127, 777-791.

4. Wu, Y., Cui, Y., Miyoshi, K., Hennighausen, L., Green, J.E.and LeRoith, D. (2002) Circulating insulin-like growth factor-I levels regulate colon cancer growth and metastasis. Cancer Res., 62, 1030-1035.

5. Renou, J.-P., Bierie, B., Miyoshi, K., Cui, Y., Djiane, J., Reichenstein, M., Shani, M. and Hennighausen, L. (2003) Identification of genes differentially expressed in mouse mammary epithelium transformed by an activated beta-catenin. Oncogene, 29, 4594-4610.

6. Renou, J.-P., Bierie, B., Miyoshi, K., Cui, Y., Djiane, J., Reichenstein, M., Shani, M. and Hennighausen, L. (2003) Identification of genes differentially expressed in mouse mammary epithelium transformed by an activated beta-catenin. Oncogene, 29, 4594-4610.

7. Miyoshi, K., Meyer, B., Gruss, P., Cui, Y., Renou, J.-P., Morgan, F.V., Smith, G.H., Reichenstein, M., Shani, M., Hennighausen, L. and Robinson, G.W. (2002). Mammary epithelial cells are not able to undergo pregnancy-dependent differentiation in the absence of the helix-loop-helix inhibitor Id2. Mol. Endocrinol. 16:2892-2901.

8. Cui, Y., Miyoshi, K., Claudio, E., Siebenlist, U.K., Gonzalez, F.J., Flaws, J., Wagner, K.U. and Hennighausen, L. (2002). Loss of the peroxisome proliferation-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) does not affect mammary development and propensity for tumor formation but leads to reduced fertility. J. Biol. Chem. 277:17830-17835.

9. Cui, Y., Li, M., Walton, K.D., Sun, K., Hanover, J.A., Furth, P.A. and Hennighausen, L. (2001). The Stat3/5 locus encodes a novel endoplasmic reticulum and helicase-like proteins that are preferentially expressed in normal and neoplastic mammary tissue. Genomics 78:129-136.

10. Miyoshi, K., Cui, Y., Riedlinger, G., Robinson, P., Lehoczky, J., Zon, L., Oka, T., Dewar, K. and Hennighausen, L. (2001). Structures of the mouse and zebrafish Stat3/5 loci: Evolution from Drosophila to zebrafish to mouse. Genomics 71:150-155.