Dr. Maria Monsalve
Assistant Professor (Científico Titular, CSIC)
Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Alberto Sols (CSIC-UAM)
T: 915854471
F: 915844401
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Research Interests
Our work is mainly focused on the mechanisms of action of the master transcriptional coactivator PGC-1α, a protein that controls both oxidative metabolism and ROS detoxification systems in response to changing environmental situations.
Metabolic syndrome is associated with an increased risk of developing an important number of pathologies, ranging from cardiovascular disease to cancer. .Due to the pandemic character of the metabolic syndrome and it has and it poses overwhelming social and heath care burden.
Therefore, it is necessary to elucidate the mechanisms that underlay that increased disease risk and to develop appropriate palliating therapies.
We hypothesize that the downregulation/inactivation of PGC-1α in individuals with metabolic dysfunctions reduces the capacity of the organism to respond to a vast array of insults and hence increases the risk of disease.
We aim to evaluate the role of PGC-1α in several of the most relevant of those pathologies, understand the mechanisms involved and develop new therapeutic tools based on the target specific activation of PGC-1α.
Selected Recent Publications
- Valle, I., Olmos, Y., Borniquel, S. Tierrez, A., Soria, E., Lamas S., and Monsalve, M.(2009), "Foxo3a is both upstream and downstream of PGC-1a in the induction of oxidative stress genes", JBC, vol. 284, pp. 14476-14484.
- Borniquel, S., García-Quintáns, N., Valle, I., Olmos, Y., Wild, B., Martínez-Granero, F., Soria, E., Lamas, S., and Monsalve, M. (2010), “Inactivation of Foxo3a and subsequent downregulation of PGC-1α mediates nitric oxide induced endothelial cell migration”, MCB, vol. 30, pp. 4035-4044.
- Sanchez, C., Tierrez, A., Wild, B., Fabregat, O., Sánchez-Cabo, F., Arduini, A., Dopazo, A., Monsalve, M. (2011), "PGC-1α regulates TLS activity in oxidative stress protection genes", Antioxid Redox Signal., vol. 15, pp. 325-337.
- Fabregat-Andrés, O., Tierrez, A., Mata, M., Estornell-Erill, J., Ridocci-Soriano, F., and Monsalve, M. (2011), “Induction of PGC-1α Expression Can Be Detected in Blood Samples of Patients with ST-segment Elevation Acute Myocardial Infarction”, PLoS ONE, vol. 6, pp. e26913-e26913.
- Olmos, Y., Sánchez-Gomez, F.J.,Wild, B., García-Quintans, N., Cabezudo, S., Lamas, S., Monsalve, M. (2013), “SirT1 regulation of antioxidant genes is dependent on the formation of a FoxO3a/PGC-1 complex.”, ARS, Date: April, 15. [Epub ahead of print]
