Recently, the winning list of scholarship has been released from Department of Science and Technology, and we are excited to learn that two research projects respectively led by Prof. Zhong Chen and Prof. Minxin Guan won the first prize of Zhejiang Province Science and Technology Award. The following is the brief introduction of the projects.
1. “Novel therapeutic drug targets against cerebral ischemia” led by Prof. Zhong Chen
So far, effective therapeutic approaches of ischemic brain injury, other than thrombolysis, is still unavailable. Prof. Chen’s team had a series of researches focusing on novel therapeutic targets and strategies for early treatment of ischemic brain injury, including the following aspects: (1) the protection of histamine and related drugs against acute ischemic brain injury by acting on multiple targets during the pathological process, and a histamine-independent action of histamine H3 receptor; (2) the role of neuroinflammation in chronic ischemic brain injury and the study of leading compounds of Caspase-1 inhibitors; (3) the roles of autophagy in ischemic brain injury; (4) the new therapeutic strategies for ischemic brain injury: preconditioning and postconditioning (e.g., acidosis postconditioning executed by CO2 inhalation) , which is safe, convenient and clinical feasible. This project found novel therapeutic targets and strategies against ischemic brain injury, which had important significance in the clinical therapy.
2. "The role of mitochondrial dysfunction in the pathogenesis of maternally inherited hypertension and deafness” led by Professor Min-Xin Guan, Institute of Genetics, Zhejiang University School of Medicine
Hypertension and deafness are major public health problems worldwide. Some of families with hypertension and deafness exhibited the maternal transmissions, suggesting that mutation(s) in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is one of the molecular bases for these disorders. However, the pathophysiology of these diseases remains poorly understood. Since 2002, the group has investigated molecular pathogenic mechanisms of maternally inherited hypertension and deafness in the cohorts of Chinese patients. Their findings were summarized as follows: (1) They showed that some of Chinese families exhibited maternal inheritance of hypertension and mutations in mitochondrial tRNA are the important causes for the disorder; (2) They demonstrated that mitochondrial dysfunctions caused by mutations in mitochondrial tRNA genes are responsible for maternally inherited deafness; (3) They have identified two nuclear modifier genes MTO1 and GTPBP3 for the phenotypic manifestation of deafness-associated mtDNA mutations.; (4) They developed the molecular diagnosis kits for two patents (Chinese patents :ZL 201310172063.0 and ZL 201210546972.1) for the detection of hypertension and deafness associated with mtDNA mutations. Their findings provide new insights into the pathophysiology that mitochondrial dysfunctions are one of the important causes for hypertension and deafness. Their data also provide the valuable information and technology for the early diagnosis, management, and treatment of maternally inherited hypertension and deafness.
