Bradley Rabquer

Dr. Rabquer is a molecular and cellular physiologist interested in human inflammatory and angiogenic diseases.  Inflammation and angiogenesis play key roles in the pathogenesis of many cancers, and in autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic sclerosis (SSc).  Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing vessels, is excessive in the synovium (joints) of patients with RA, and deficient in the skin of patients with SSc.  Specifically, Dr. Rabquer’s work has focused on the role of adhesion molecules, cytokines, and chemokines in these diseases.  Currently, he is interested in determining the role of a novel family of soluble adhesion molecules, junctional adhesion molecules (JAMs), in mediating facets of angiogenesis. In addition, Dr. Rabquer is studying how the upregulation of angiogenic chemokines affects the development of blood vessels in patients with SSc.  Importantly, recent therapeutic successes of angiogenesis inhibitors have validated the idea that controlling pathological angiogenesis can modulate disease activity.  Therefore, continued research into potential angiogenic mediators and the dysregulation of known angiogenic pathways in diseases such as RA and SSc will be critical for the development of new therapies.

Immunofluorescence staining was used in the figure below to determine the expression of vWF (red), a marker of endothelial cells, and JAM-A (green) in normal human skin.  JAM-A is predominantly expressed by keratinocytes in the epidermis, and by fibroblasts and endothelial cells in the dermis.