Faculty Research

Eva L. Feldman, MD, PhD
Russell N. DeJong Professor of Neurology

Dr. Feldman's laboratory research centers on four areas. First, we have a large effort aimed at understanding growth factor and hormone signaling in the nervous system. We have defined the intracellular signaling mechanisms in neurons upon insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) stimulation. This work has therapeutic importance as IGF-I is now in clinical trials for neurodegenerative disorders. Our second area of interest lies in elucidating the mechanisms that underlie glucose- and lipid-mediated damage in the nervous system resulting in nervous system complications of diabetes. We have a special focus on glucose-mediated oxidative stress as a pathway to interrupt with the goal of developing new therapies to ameliorate the signs and symptoms of diabetic neuropathy. Our third area of interest lies in understanding the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and developing new treatments, with an emphasis on using gene therapy to deliver therapeutic proteins in the diseased spinal cord. Our fourth area of research centers on childhood neuroblastoma. We discovered nearly 15 years ago that increased expression of the IGF-I receptor confers a malignant phenotype to neuroblastoma. Our work focuses on disrupting the growth promoting effects of IGF-I in neuroblastoma, with an emphasis on interrupting the metastatic cascade. Highlights of our research are on our web site www.pfund.umich.edu .

Singleton JR, Smith AG, Russell J, Feldman EL. Polyneuropathy with impaired glucose tolerance (prediabetes): Implications for diagnosis and therapy. Current Treatment Options in Neurology, 7, 33-42, 2005.

Vincent AM, McLean LL, Backus C, and Feldman EL. Short-term hyperglycemia produces oxidative damage and apoptosis in neurons. FASEB Journal 19, 638-640, 2005.

Meyer A, van Golen CM, Boyanapalli M, Kim B, Soules ME, Feldman EL. Integrin-linked kinase complexes with caveolin-1 in human neuroblastoma cells. Biochemistry, 44, 932-938, 2005.

Kim B, Oh SS, van Golen CM, Feldman EL. Differential regulation of insulin receptor substrate-1 degradation during mannitol and okadaic acid induced apoptosis in human neuroblastoma cells. Cellular Signalling, 17, 769-775, 2005

Leinninger GM, Feldman EL. Insulin-like growth factors in the treatment of neurological disease. Endocrine Development, 9, 135-159, 2005

Vincent AM, Backus C, Taubman AA, Feldman EL. Identification of candidate drugs for the treatment of ALS. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, 6, 29-36, 2005.

Kim B, Feldman EL. Insulin-like growth factor I induces preferential degradation of insulin receptor substrate-2 through the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway in human neuroblastoma cells. Endocrinology, 146, 5350-5357, 2005.

Vincent AM, Stevens MJ, Backus C, McLean LL, Feldman EL. Cell culture modeling to test therapies against hyperglycemia-mediated oxidative stress and injury. Antioxidant and Redox Signaling, 7, 1494-1506, 2005.

Martin CL, Albers J, Herman WH, Cleary P, Waberski B, Greene DA, Stevens MJ, Feldman EL. Neuropathy among the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial Cohort 8 years after trial completion. Diabetes Care, 29, 340-344, 2006.

Leinninger GM, Backus C, Sastry AM, Yi Y-B, Wang C-W, Feldman EL. Mitochondria in DRG neurons undergo hyperglycemic mediated injury through Bim, Bax and the fission protein Drp1. Neurobiology of Disease,23, 11-22, 2006.