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Research Overview

The Ke Yuan lab will dissect the critical role of pericytes during angiogenesis and aim to understand abnormal vascular remodeling in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and other pulmonary vascular diseases. The ultimate goal is to identify potential therapeutic targets that could be exploited for the development of new drugs capable of preventing abnormal vessel remodeling and obliteration in PAH.

Research Background

Ke received her PhD in Biology from Temple University, PA, and was then a postdoctoral fellow at the Division of Pulmonary Critical Care Medicine at Stanford University when she joined the faculty. Ke has been recognized nationally as a Parker B Francis Fellow, a fellow of American Heart Association (AHA) and a recipient of AHA Scientist Development Grant, Cournand and Comroe Young Investigator Award.

Selected Publications

  1. Yuan K, Shamskhou EA, Orcholski ME, Nathan A, Reddy S, Honda H, Mani V, Zeng Y, Ozen MO, Wang L, Demirci U, Tian W, Nicolls MR, de Jesus Perez VA. Loss of Endothelium-Derived Wnt5a Is Associated With Reduced Pericyte Recruitment and Small Vessel Loss in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. Circulation. 2019;139(14):1710-24. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.037642. PubMed PMID: 30586764; PMCID: PMC6443444.
  2. Yuan K, Shao NY, Hennigs JK, Discipulo M, Orcholski ME, Shamskhou E, Richter A, Hu X, Wu JC, de Jesus Perez VA. Increased Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Kinase 4 Expression in Lung Pericytes Is Associated with Reduced Endothelial-Pericyte Interactions and Small Vessel Loss in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. Am J Pathol. 2016;186(9):2500-14. doi: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2016.05.016. PubMed PMID: 27456128; PMCID: PMC5012507.
  3. Yuan K, Orcholski ME, Panaroni C, Shuffle EM, Huang NF, Jiang X, Tian W, Vladar EK, Wang L, Nicolls MR, Wu JY, de Jesus Perez VA. Activation of the Wnt/planar cell polarity pathway is required for pericyte recruitment during pulmonary angiogenesis. Am J Pathol. 2015;185(1):69-84. doi: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2014.09.013. PubMed PMID: 25447046; PMCID: PMC4278244.
  4. de Jesus Perez VA*, Yuan K*, Lyuksyutova MA, Dewey F, Orcholski ME, Shuffle EM, Mathur M, Yancy L, Jr., Rojas V, Li CG, Cao A, Alastalo TP, Khazeni N, Cimprich KA, Butte AJ, Ashley E, Zamanian RT. Whole-exome sequencing reveals TopBP1 as a novel gene in idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2014;189(10):1260-72. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201310-1749OC. PubMed PMID: 24702692; PMCID: PMC4225850.* co-first author
  5. Yuan K, Lian Z, Sun B, Clayton MM, Ng IO, Feitelson MA. Role of miR-148a in hepatitis B associated hepatocellular carcinoma. PLoS One. 2012;7(4):e35331. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0035331. PubMed PMID: 22496917; PMCID: PMC3322146.
  6. Yuan K, Orcholski M, Tian X, Liao X, de Jesus Perez VA. MicroRNAs: promising therapeutic targets for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Expert Opin Ther Targets. 2013;17(5):557-64. doi: 10.1517/14728222.2013.765863. PubMed PMID: 23379818.
  7. Sung YK*, Yuan K*, de Jesus Perez VA. Novel approaches to pulmonary arterial hypertension drug discovery. Expert Opin Drug Discov. 2016;11(4):407-14. doi: 10.1517/17460441.2016.1153625. PubMed PMID: 26901465; PMCID: PMC4933595.*co-first author
  8. Yuan K, Orcholski M, Huang NF and V de Jesus Perez, In Vivo Study Of Human Endothelial–Pericyte Interactions by Implantation Of Matrigel Plugs In SCID Mice, JOVE, 12/19/2016, Issue 118; doi: 10.3791/54617
  9. Yuan K, Cai L, Ngok SP, Ma L, Botham CM. Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Postdoctoral Fellowship. PLoS Comput Biol. 2016;12(7):e1004934. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004934. PubMed PMID: 27415752; PMCID: PMC4945040.
  10. de Jesus Perez VA, Yuan K, Orcholski ME, Sawada H, Zhao M, Li CG, Tojais NF, Nickel N, Rajagopalan V, Spiekerkoetter E, Wang L, Dutta R, Bernstein D, Rabinovitch M. Loss of adenomatous poliposis coli-alpha3 integrin interaction promotes endothelial apoptosis in mice and humans. Circ Res. 2012;111(12):1551-64. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.112.267849. PubMed PMID: 23011394; PMCID: PMC3821702

Publications