Matthew Springer, PhD
Matthew Springer, PhD
Cell and gene therapy approaches for the study of cardiovascular disease
Dr. Springer's research interests include cell therapy and gene therapy approaches to studying cardiovascular disease, with the goals of exploring potential treatments and understanding underlying mechanisms involved in angiogenesis, vascular function, and treatments for myocardial infarction. The laboratory is studying differential responses of cardiac and skeletal muscle to angiogenic gene therapy in mice, focusing on effects of VEGF and pleiotrophin on the vasculature. Further interests center in the therapeutic effects of bone marrow cell implantation into the heart after myocardial infarction, with a special emphasis on the therapeutic implications of the age and cardiac disease status of the cell donor. Similarly, the lab is studying the effects of age and disease on circulating angiogenic cells (sometimes called endothelial progenitor cells), with a focus on the roles of endothelial nitric oxide synthase and nitric oxide in the function of these cells. Lastly, they have developed a rat model of endothelium-dependent flow-mediated vasodilation, and are using it to examine mechanisms underlying vascular reactivity and how they are affected by cigarette smoke exposure and dietary flavanols.
Selected Publications
Springer ML, Sievers RE, Viswanathan M, Yee MS, Foster E, Grossman W, and Yeghiazarians Y. (2005) Closed-chest cell injections into mouse myocardium guided by high-resolution echocardiography. Amer. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. 289: 1307-1314.
Springer ML, Banfi A, Ye J, von Degenfeld G, Kraft PE, Saini SA, Kapasi NK, and Blau HM. (2007) Localization of vascular response to VEGF is not dependent on heparin binding. FASEB J. 21(9): 2074-85.
Heiss C, Wong ML, Block VI, Lao D, Real WM, Yeghiazarians Y, Lee RJ, and Springer ML. (2008) Pleiotrophin induces nitric oxide dependent migration of endothelial progenitor cells. J. Cell Physiol. 215: 366-373.
Heiss C, Sievers RE, Amabile N, Momma TY, Chen Q, Natarajan S, Yeghiazarians Y, and Springer ML. (2008) In vivo measurement of flow-mediated vasodilation in living rats using high resolution ultrasound. Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. 294: H1086-H1093.
Yeghiazarians Y, Zhang Y, Prasad M, Shih H, Saini SA, Takagawa J, Sievers RE, Wong ML, Kapasi NK, Mirsky R, Koskenvuo J, Minasi P, Ye J, Viswanathan MN, Angeli FS, Boyle AJ, Springer ML, and Grossman W. (2009) Injection of bone marrow cell extract into infarcted hearts results in functional improvement comparable to intact cell therapy. Mol. Ther., 17: 1250-1256.
Heiss C, Schanz A, Amabile N, Jahn S, Chen Q, Wong ML, Rassaf T, Heinen Y, Cortese-Krott M, Grossman W, Yeghiazarians Y, and Springer, ML. (in press) NO-synthase expression and functional response to NO are both important modulators of circulating angiogenic cell response to angiogenic stimuli. Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol., Epub ahead of print 8/12/10.
