Douglas Stocco, Ph.D.
| Professor | doug.stocco@ttuhsc.edu |
Research Interests
Dr. Stocco's research program is interested in the manner in which the biosynthesis of the steroid hormones in steroid producing tissues is controlled by trophic hormones secreted from the brain. It had been demonstrated in the early 1960's that hormone induced synthesis of steroids had an absolute requirement for the appearance of a new protein(s) in steroid producing tissues. The identification of this protein had remained elusive and following several years of work, this protein was purified, its cDNA cloned and its role in the regulation of steroidogenesis unequivocally demonstrated in Dr. Stocco's laboratory. This protein was named the Steroidogenic Acute Regulatory or StAR protein, and the results of this work were first published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry in 1994. The cloning of the StAR cDNA then enabled Dr. Stocco and a group of his colleagues at other universities to determine that a potentially fatal disease known as Congenital Lipoid Adrenal Hyperplasia (lipoid CAH), was caused by mutations in the StAR gene. The discovery of the StAR protein has led to a re-emergence of interest in this area and to date, over 800 publications have appeared world-wide in which StAR is the main subject of the study. Since that time Dr. Stocco has been interested in the mechanism of action of StAR, the regulation of its expression and the nature of the signal transduction pathways involved in StAR expression.
Recent Publications
- Stocco, D.M. and Dyson, M. StAR Molecule Page. 2006. Nature. (in press).
- Renlund, N., Jo, Y., Svechnikov, M., Holst, M., Stocco, D.M., Soder, O. and Svechnikov, K. 2006. Induction of Steroidogenesis in Immature Leydig Cells by Interleukin-1α is dependent on Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinases. J. Mol. Endocrinol. (in press).
- Stocco, D.M. 2006. The Role of StAR in Leydig Cell Steroidogenesis. in The Leydig Cell. Anita Payne and Matthew Hardy eds. Humana Press. (in press).
- Manna, P.R., Syam P. Chandrala, S.P., King, S.R., Counis, R., Huhtaniemi, I.T., and Stocco, D.M. 2006. Molecular Mechanisms of Insulin-like Growth Factor-I Mediated Regulation of the Steroidogenic Acute Regulatory Protein in Mouse Leydig Cells. Mol. Endocrinol. 20: 362-378.
- Stocco, D.M. and McPhaul, M. 2006. Physiology of Testicular Steroidogenesis. Knobil and Neill: Physiology of Reproduction, 3rd Edition. (ed. J.D. Neill). Chapter 20, pp 977-1016.
- Wang, X.J., Shen, C.L., Dyson, M.T., Eimerl, S., Orly, J., Hutson, J.C. and Stocco, D.M. 2005. Cyclooxygenase-2 regulation of the age-related decline in testosterone biosynthesis. Endocrinology 146: 4202-4208).
- Stocco, D.M., Wang, X.J., Jo, Y. and Manna, P.R. 2005. Multiple Signaling Pathways Regulating Steroidogenesis and StAR Expression: More Complicated Than We Thought. Mol. Endocrinol. 19: 2647-2659.
- Jo, Y., King, S.R., Khan, S.A. and Stocco, D.M. 2005. Role of PKC and PKA in steroid biosynthesis and StAR expression in Leydig cells. Biol. Reprod. 73: 244-255.
- Wang, X.J. and Stocco, D.M. 2005. The decline in testosterone biosynthesis during male aging: a consequence of multiple alterations. Mol. Cell. Endocrinol. 238: 1-7.
- Ke, F.C., Fang, S.H., Lee, M.T., Sheu, S.Y., Lai, S.Y., Chen, Y.J., Huang, F.L., Wang, P.S., Stocco, D.M. and Hwang, J.J. 2005. Lindane, a gap junction blocker, suppresses the FSH and TGFβ1-induced connexin43 gap junction formation and steroidogenesis in rat granulosa cells. J. Endocrinol. 184: 555-566.