Faculty Profiles
Allan R. Albig
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Washington State University
E-mail: Allen.Albig@isugw.indstate.edu
Research Interests: Vascular biology, Cancer, Angiogenesis, Extracellular Matrix.
Vascular biology: Under normal circumstances, blood vessels are critical for transporting various substances to and from all tissues of the body. Many human diseases however feature either excessive or insufficient numbers of blood vessels as a component of their pathology. Therefore, Dr. Albig's research seeks to understand the basic mechanisms by which blood vessel growth, maintenance, and removal are controlled to help facilitate better treatments for these diseases.
Tumors, cancer, and angiogenesis: Tumors, like all tissues require blood. Through the process of angiogenesis, tumors trick our bodies into producing new blood vessels that penetrate into tumors and insure the proper delivery of oxygen and nutrients. Since all solid tumors require angiogenesis, anti-angiogenic therapy represents an attractive avenue to combat a wide variety of cancers. Dr. Albig is contributing to the world wide search for effective anti-angiogenesis drugs to aid in our fight against cancer.
Searching for angiogenesis regulators in the ECM: In order to design new drugs to manipulate angiogenesis, we first need to understand the molecules and molecular mechanisms which control angiogenesis in our bodies. Research has shown that the extracellular matrix (ECM) within the vascular microenvironment around blood vessels is a rich source of both positive and negative regulators of angiogenesis. Therefore, a major aspect of the research conducted in the Albig lab is focused on discovering ECM molecules that regulate angiogenesis.
Treating diseases by manipulating angiogenesis: By discovering ECM proteins that regulate angiogenesis and the molecular mechanisms by which these proteins function, we can exploit this knowledge to develop new therapeutic opportunities to combat diseases characterized be either excessive or insufficient angiogenesis. In particular, diseases including cancer, obesity, and retinopathy are characterized by excessive angiogenesis and may one day be treated with anti-angiogenic drugs while diabetic chronic wounds, pre-eclampsia, and osteoporosis are characterized by insufficient angiogenesis and may one day be treated with pro-angiogenic drugs.
Selected Publications
Albig, A.R., Roy, T.G. and Schiemann, W.P. (2007) Transcriptome analysis of endothelial cell gene expression induced by growth on Matrigel matrices: Identification and characterization of MAGP-2 and lumican as novel regulators of angiogenesis. Angiogenesis. 10, 197-216.
Albig, A.R., Neil, J.R. and Schiemann, W.P. (2006) Fibulins 3 and 5 antagonize tumor angiogenesis in vivo. Cancer Research 66, 2621-2629.
Albig AR, Schiemann WP. (2004) Identification and characterization of regulator of G protein signaling 4 (RGS4) as a novel inhibitor of tubulogenesis: RGS4 inhibits mitogen-activated protein kinases and vascular endothelial growth factor signaling. Mol Biol Cell. 16(2) 609-25 (2005).
Albig AR, Schiemann WP. (2005) Fibulin-5 function during tumorigenesis. Future Oncol. 1(1):23-35.
Albig AR, Schiemann WP. (2004) Fibulin-5 antagonizes vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling and angiogenic sprouting by endothelial cells. DNA Cell Biol. 23(6):367-79