Shioko Kimura | |
|---|---|
 Kimura in 2016 | |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | Hokkaido University (PhD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biochemistry, endocrinology, cancer research |
| Institutions | National Cancer Institute |
Shioko Kimura is a Japanese-American biochemist specialized in endocrinology and the physiology and pathogenesis of diseases including thyroid and lung cancers. She heads the endocrinology section in the laboratory of metabolism at the National Cancer Institute.
Kimura completed a Ph.D. in chemistry at Hokkaido University. She was a postdoctoral researcher at Queen's University at Kingston and a visiting fellow at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). [1]
At the National Cancer Institute (NCI), she started in the laboratory of molecular carcinogenesis. Since 1996, she heads the endocrinology section in the laboratory of metabolism. [1]
Kimura's research focuses on understanding the role of homeodomain transcription factor NKX2-1, a marker for lung adenocarcinoma in humans, and its downstream target, a novel cytokine, SCGB3A2 in development, homeostasis, physiology, and pathogenesis of diseases, particularly cancers of the thyroid and lung. Kimura uses cell culture and mouse models, and various genetically engineered mouse lines to investigate these problems. Her studies have suggested that SCGB3A2 has anti-cancer activity, and her group is currently extensively involved in uncovering the mechanism. [2]
Endocrinology is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the integration of developmental events proliferation, growth, and differentiation, and the psychological or behavioral activities of metabolism, growth and development, tissue function, sleep, digestion, respiration, excretion, mood, stress, lactation, movement, reproduction, and sensory perception caused by hormones. Specializations include behavioral endocrinology and comparative endocrinology.
Thyroid-stimulating hormone (also known as thyrotropin, thyrotropic hormone, or abbreviated TSH) is a pituitary hormone that stimulates the thyroid gland to produce thyroxine (T4), and then triiodothyronine (T3) which stimulates the metabolism of almost every tissue in the body. It is a glycoprotein hormone produced by thyrotrope cells in the anterior pituitary gland, which regulates the endocrine function of the thyroid.
Thyroglobulin (Tg) is a 660 kDa, dimeric glycoprotein produced by the follicular cells of the thyroid and used entirely within the thyroid gland. Tg is secreted and accumulated at hundreds of grams per litre in the extracellular compartment of the thyroid follicles, accounting for approximately half of the protein content of the thyroid gland. Human TG (hTG) is a homodimer of subunits each containing 2768 amino acids as synthesized.
Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), also called somatomedin C, is a hormone similar in molecular structure to insulin which plays an important role in childhood growth, and has anabolic effects in adults. In the 1950s IGF-1 was called "sulfation factor" because it stimulated sulfation of cartilage in vitro, and in the 1970s due to its effects it was termed "nonsuppressible insulin-like activity" (NSILA).
The sodium/iodide cotransporter, also known as the sodium/iodide symporter (NIS), is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SLC5A5 gene. It is a transmembrane glycoprotein with a molecular weight of 87 kDa and 13 transmembrane domains, which transports two sodium cations (Na+) for each iodide anion (I−) into the cell. NIS mediated uptake of iodide into follicular cells of the thyroid gland is the first step in the synthesis of thyroid hormone.
Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma, also known as the glitazone reverse insulin resistance receptor, or NR1C3 is a type II nuclear receptor functioning as a transcription factor that in humans is encoded by the PPARG gene.
G protein-coupled estrogen receptor 1 (GPER), also known as G protein-coupled receptor 30 (GPR30), is a protein that in humans is encoded by the GPER gene. GPER binds to and is activated by the female sex hormone estradiol and is responsible for some of the rapid effects that estradiol has on cells.
SRY -box 2, also known as SOX2, is a transcription factor that is essential for maintaining self-renewal, or pluripotency, of undifferentiated embryonic stem cells. Sox2 has a critical role in maintenance of embryonic and neural stem cells.
Retinoid X receptor gamma (RXR-gamma), also known as NR2B3 is a nuclear receptor that in humans is encoded by the RXRG gene.
Shekel Somatostatin receptor type 3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SSTR3 gene.
Free Fatty acid receptor 4 (FFAR4), also termed G-protein coupled receptor 120 (GPR120), is a protein that in humans is encoded by the FFAR4 gene. This gene is located on the long arm of chromosome 10 at position 23.33. G protein-coupled receptors reside on their parent cells' surface membranes, bind any one of the specific set of ligands that they recognize, and thereby are activated to trigger certain responses in their parent cells. FFAR4 is a rhodopsin-like GPR in the broad family of GPRs which in humans are encoded by more than 800 different genes. It is also a member of a small family of structurally and functionally related GPRs that include at least three other free fatty acid receptors (FFARs) viz., FFAR1, FFAR2, and FFAR3. These four FFARs bind and thereby are activated by certain fatty acids.
NK2 homeobox 1 (NKX2-1), also known as thyroid transcription factor 1 (TTF-1), is a protein which in humans is encoded by the NKX2-1 gene.
Paired box gene 8, also known as PAX8, is a protein which in humans is encoded by the PAX8 gene.
Paired-like homeodomain transcription factor 2 also known as pituitary homeobox 2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the PITX2 gene.
RNA-binding motif 10 is a protein that is encoded by the RBM10 gene. This gene maps on the X chromosome at Xp11.23 in humans. RBM10 is a regulator of alternative splicing. Alternative splicing is a process associated with gene expression to produce multiple protein isoforms from a single gene, thereby creating functional diversity and cellular complexity. RBM10 influences the expression of many genes, participating in various cellular processes and pathways such as cell proliferation and apoptosis. Its mutations are associated with various human diseases such as TARP syndrome, an X-linked congenital disorder in males resulting in pre‐ or postnatal lethality, and various cancers in adults.
Fibroblast growth factor 19 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the FGF19 gene. It functions as a hormone, regulating bile acid synthesis, with effects on glucose and lipid metabolism. Reduced synthesis, and blood levels, may be a factor in chronic bile acid diarrhea and in certain metabolic disorders.
Progesterone receptor membrane component 1 is a protein which co-purifies with progesterone binding proteins in the liver and ovary. In humans, the PGRMC1 protein is encoded by the PGRMC1 gene.
Secretoglobin family 3A member 2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SCGB3A2 gene.
Sodium-coupled monocarboxylate transporter 1 (i.e., SMCT1) and sodium-coupled monocarboxylate transporter 2 (i.e., SMCT2) are plasma membrane transport proteins in the solute carrier family. They transport sodium cations in association with the anionic forms (see conjugated base) of certain short-chain fatty acids (i.e., SC-FAs) through the plasma membrane from the outside to the inside of cells. For example, propionic acid (i.e., CH
3CH
2CO
2H) in its anionic "propionate" form (i.e., CH
3CH
2CO−
2) along with sodium cations (i.e., Na+) are co-transported from the extracellular fluid into a SMCT1-epxressing cell's cytoplasm. Monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs) are also transport proteins in the solute carrier family. They co-transport the anionic forms of various compounds into cells in association with proton cations (i.e. H+). Four of the 14 MCTs, i.e. SLC16A1 (i.e., MCT1), SLC16A7 (i.e., MCT22), SLC16A8 (i.e., MCT3), and SLC16A3 (i.e., MCT4), transport some of the same SC-FAs anions that the SMCTs transport into cells. SC-FAs do diffuse into cells independently of transport proteins but at the levels normally occurring in tissues far greater amounts of the SC-FAs are brought into cells that express a SC-FA transporter.
V600E is a mutation of the BRAF gene in which valine (V) is substituted by glutamic acid (E) at amino acid 600. It is a driver mutation in a proportion of certain diagnoses, including melanoma, hairy cell leukemia, papillary thyroid carcinoma, colorectal cancer, non-small-cell lung cancer, Langerhans cell histiocytosis, Erdheim–Chester disease and ameloblastoma.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain . This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain . This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Institutes of Health.| Authority control databases: Academics |
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