Research Group

  • Dr. Karl Lemström, Principal Investigator
  • MD. Erkki Kallio, Co-Investigator
  • Dr. Petri Koskinen, Co-Investigator
  • MD. Jussi Tikkanen, Co-Investigator
  • MD. Antti Nykänen, Research Associate
  • MB. Mikko Keränen, Research Associate
  • MB. Sandelin Henrik, Research Associate
  • MSc. Rainer Krebs, Research Associate

Location

  • Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland

Title

  • Role of Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1 in Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy

Cardiac transplantation is a standard therapy for many end-stage heart diseases and returns patients to normal life. Although the short-term survival of heart transplant recipients has improved, there is a steady decline in graft function over time. Ischemia is an integral part in solid organ transplantation and is associated with impaired long-term graft survival. The recent discovery of transcription factor hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) has unfolded a molecular link between hypoxia and regulation of a variety of genes involved in cellular adaptation to hypoxia. We aim to investigate the role of HIF-1 in cardiac allografts using experimental, pharmacological, gene vector and transgene-based strategies.