Overview
 Elizabeth Mushaben (PhD student); Tricia Pastura (Senior Research Assistant); Beth Kramer (MD/PhD student); Tom Acciani (Research Assistant III); William Hardie MD (collaborator); Tim Le Cras PhD (Principal Investigator) |
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Lung Development and Chronic Lung Disease in Premature Newborns
Chronic lung disease (also known as bronchopulmonary dysplasia; BPD) is a major cause of death and disability in premature babies. While improvements in neonatal care mean that more and increasingly younger babies survive premature birth, about half of these premature infants go on to develop chronic lung disease.
In a normal baby lung development continues for at least the first 2 years of life after birth. The problem with premature birth is that it exposes a baby with very immature lungs to a number of potentially injurious stimuli, including barotrauma, infections and high oxygen levels. In fact, many premature infants have to be placed on ventilators to maintain their oxygenation and keep them alive, but these therapies, may ultimately contribute to the development of chronic lung disease (BPD).
Chronic lung disease in these premature babies is thought to result from injury to the babies' immature and still actively developing lungs. As a result lung development (alveolar and vascular development) in these infants is disrupted and the babies suffer from poor gas exchange and can develop pulmonary hypertension, which can be fatal. What causes chronic lung disease in premature babies is poorly understood.
The aim of the Le Cras laboratory is to understand the role of transcription factors and growth factors in pre- and postnatal lung development. A major emphasis of our lab is the regulation of normal blood vessel development in the lungs and the causes (pathogenesis) of pulmonary vascular disease (pulmonary hypertension). Both transgenic mouse models as well as cell culture studies are used to explore the role of different transcription factors, growth factors and other signaling molecules in lung development, pulmonary vascular disease and pulmonary hypertension.
The long term goal of our research is to improve our understanding of the factors that are important for normal lung development and that contribute to the pathogenesis of chronic lung disease in newborns (BPD). A better understanding of these factors and the processes that they regulate will enable the development of therapies to treat and prevent BPD. In addition, understanding which factors play a role in vascular remodeling in the developing lung, will aid the development of new therapies for pulmonary hypertension, a disease which affects both children and adults with chronic lung diseases.
Learn more about the Le Cras Lab
Contact Information
Tim D. Le Cras, PhD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Division of Pulmonary Biology
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
3333 Burnet Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio 45229-3039
Phone: 513-636-8151
Fax: 513-636-7868
Email: tim.lecras@cchmc.org
