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Karen Posey

Assistant Professor
Department of Pediatrics
The University of Texas Health Science Center
United States of America

Biography

Dr. Karen Posey is currently working as a Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Medical School, United States of America. Her research interests includes to define the molecular mechanisms that contribute to cartilage-related conditions in order to develop therapeutics that improve cartilage and joint health to improve the quality of life of individuals with dwarfing conditions and osteoarthritis. she is serving as an editorial member and reviewer of several international reputed journals. Dr. Karen Posey is the of many international affiliations. She has successfully completed his responsibilities. she has authored of many research articles/books related to to define the molecular mechanisms that contribute to cartilage-related conditions in order to develop therapeutics that improve cartilage and joint health to improve the quality of life of individuals with dwarfing conditions and osteoarthritis.

Research Interest

The goal of my research is to define the molecular mechanisms that contribute to cartilage-related conditions in order to develop therapeutics that improve cartilage and joint health to improve the quality of life of individuals with dwarfing conditions and osteoarthritis. I study pseudoachondroplasia (PSACH), a severe dwarfing condition associated with severe and osteoarthritis early-onset. Using our pseudoachondroplasia mouse model, we defined the mechanisms underlying chondrocyte dysfunction and loss, a self-perpetuating pathological loop between ER stress, inflammation and oxidative stress, which revealed drug targets. Understanding the pathological loop between ER stress, inflammation and oxidative stress is very exciting because there is growing evidence that this pathological mechanism may be involved in many other ER stress related conditions such as neurodegenerative disorders and diabetes and has provided a foundation for the development of the first therapies for pseudoachondroplasia. We have investigated readily-available and well-tolerated antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents to dampen the intracellular ER retention chondrocyte pathology. This approach may work on many types of secretory cells (chondrocytes, neurons, islet cells...) interrupting the ER stress-inflammation-oxidative stress loop pathology. If this type of inexpensive and well-tolerated therapy could be applied to the early stages of neurodegenerative disorders and metabolic syndrome, onset may be delayed or the pathology suppressed effecting a revolution in health care and the impact of these devastating conditions. Additionally, this pseudoachondroplasia mouse model has lead me to expand my work into the field of osteoarthritis because early-onset osteoarthritis is associated with this dwarfing condition. The inducible feature of the model allows the stimulation of ER stress in adult articular chondrocytes in order to assess the role that ER stress plays in osteoarthritis establishment and progression. Our recent findings suggest that ER stress may be a major component in idiopathic osteoarthritis.

Publications

  • Posey KL, Coustry F, Veerisetty AC, Hossain M, Alcorn JL, Hecht JT. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents mitigate pathology in a mouse model of pseudoachondroplasia. Human Molecular Genetics. 2015 Apr 9;24(14):3918–28.

  • Posey KL, Coustry F, Veerisetty AC, Hossain M, Gattis D, Booten S, et al. Antisense Reduction of Mutant COMP Reduces Growth Plate Chondrocyte Pathology. Molecular Therapy. 2017 Mar;25(3):705–14.

  • Posey KL, Hecht JT. Novel therapeutic interventions for pseudoachondroplasia. Bone. 2017 Sep;102:60–8.

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