The Puré laboratory studies the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie inflammation and fibrosis, which play a significant role in a wide array of diseases, including atherosclerosis, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, pulmonary fibrosis, and cancer. Her on-going research into this area has the potential to reveal promising targets for new drug therapies to treat these diseases.

Puré first joined The Wistar Institute in 1992 as an associate professor, arriving from The Rockefeller University in New York where she was an assistant professor from 1984-1992. A native New Yorker, she received her bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis, MO in 1977, and a Ph.D. in immunology from the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical School in 1981, where she also did postdoctoral work. Puré is also a Wistar Professor in the microbiology, medicine and pharmacology departments at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Once considered part of an organism’s response to infection, inflammation is now widely recognized as a critical component underlying a wide variety of diseases. The goal of the Puré laboratory is to gain new insights into the molecular and cellular basis of inflammation and fibrosis, and to better understand how the mechanisms involved in these processes contribute to the development of leukemia as well as the microenvironment of tumors, which directly affects tumor cell growth and metastasis.

Over the past decade the Puré laboratory has also helped clarify how inflammatory pathways contribute to atherosclerosis, as well as helping characterize the role of CD44, a cell surface protein, in the process of tumor growth, stroke, atherosclerosis and lung fibrosis. In a series of studies, her laboratory also uncovered new targets for future anti-inflammatory drugs with potentially less risk than those associated with currently available therapies.

1 - Kinder M, Thompson JE, Wei C, Shelat SG, Blair IA, Carroll M, Pure E., Interferon regulatory factor-8-driven myeloid differentiation is regulated by 12/15-lipoxygenase-mediated redox signaling., Experimental Hematology. 2010 Nov;38(11):1036-46.e1-4. [Epub 2010 Aug 17], 20647030

2 - Hui Y, Ricciotti E, Crichton I, Yu Z, Wang D, Stubbe J, Wang M, Pure E, Fitzgerald GA., Targeted deletions of cyclooxygenase-2 and atherogenesis in mice., Circulation. 2010 Jun 22;121(24):2654-60. [Epub 2010 Jun 7] , 20530000

3 - Kinder M, Wei C, Shelat SG, Kundu M, Zhao L, Blair IA, Pure E., Hematopoietic stem cell function requires 12/15-lipoxygenase-dependent fatty acid metabolism., Blood. 2010 Jun 17;115(24):5012-22. [Epub 2010 Mar 31] , 20357242

4 - Santos AM, Jung J, Aziz N, Kissil JL, Pure E., Targeting fibroblast activation protein inhibits tumor stromagenesis and growth in mice. , Journal of Clinical Invest. 2009 Dec;119(12):3613-25. doi: 10.1172/JCI38988. [Epub 2009 Nov 16] , 19920354

5 - Middleton MK, Zukas AM, Rubinstein T, Kinder M, Wilson EH, Zhu P, Blair IA, Hunter CA, Pure E., 12/15-lipoxygenase-dependent myeloid production of interleukin-12 is essential for resistance to chronic toxoplasmosis., Infection and Immununity. 2009 Dec;77(12):5690-700. [Epub 2009 Oct 12] , 19822654

6 - Pure E., The road to integrative cancer therapies: emergence of a tumor-associated fibroblast protease as a potential therapeutic target in cancer., Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets. 2009 Aug;13(8):967-73. Review., 19606930

7 - Zhu L, Stalker TJ, Fong KP, Jiang H, Tran A, Crichton I, Lee EK, et al., Pure E, Diamond SL, Brass LF., Disruption of SEMA4D ameliorates platelet hypersensitivity in dyslipidemia and confers protection against the development of atherosclerosis., Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, Vascular Biology. 2009 Jul;29(7):1039-45. [Epub 2009 Apr 23], 19390055

8 - Jacob M, Todd LA, Majumdar RS, Li Y, Yamamoto KI, Pure E., Endogenous cAbl regulates receptor endocytosis., Cellular Signalling. 2009 Aug;21(8):1308-16. [Epub 2009 Apr 1], 19344757

9 - Pure E, Assoian RK., Rheostatic signaling by CD44 and hyaluronan., Cell Signal. 2009 May;21(5):651-5. [Epub 2009 Jan 13], 19174187

10 - Mrass P, Kinjyo I, Ng LG, Reiner SL, Pure E, Weninger W., CD44 mediates successful interstitial navigation by killer T cells and enables efficient antitumor immunity., Immunity. 2008 Dec;29(6):971-85., 19100702