Research Interests

Research in this laboratory focuses on how G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) are activated, and how the binding signal is transduced to trigger cellular functions. My major interest is to understand the function of serum amyloid A (SAA) - one of the acute phase proteins - on inflammation and bacterial infection. My research work includes (1) to investigate the signaling mechanisms of SAA for leukocyte activation; (2) to investigate the chemoattractant receptor(s) that mediates SAA function; (3) to investigate the role of SAA in autoimmune diseases. The long-term goal is to understand the relationship of leukocyte activation and progression of inflammatory diseases, which may help in designing new drugs and treatments for the control and treatment of inflammatory diseases.

• He R, Nanamori M, Sang H, Yin H, Dinauer MC, Ye RD. Reconstitution of chemotactic peptide-induced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (reduced) oxidase activation in transgenic COS-phox cells. J Immunol. 2004 Dec 15;173(12):7462-70.


• Nanamori M, He R, Sang H, Ye RD. Normal cell surface expression and selective loss of functions resulting from Phe110 to Ser and Cys126 to Trp substitutions in the formyl peptide receptor. Immunol Invest. 2004 May;33(2):193-212.


• Yi J, Yang J, He R, Gao F, Sang H, Tang X, Ye RD. Emodin enhances arsenic trioxide-induced apoptosis via generation of reactive oxygen species and inhibition of survival signaling. Cancer Res. 2004 Jan 1;64(1):108-16.


• Bae YS, Park EY, Kim Y, He R, Ye RD, Kwak JY, Suh PG, Ryu SH. Novel chemoattractant peptides for human leukocytes. Biochem Pharmacol. 2003 Nov 1;66(9):1841-51.


• Bae YS, Song JY, Kim Y, He R, Ye RD, Kwak JY, Suh PG, Ryu SH. Differential activation of formyl peptide receptor signaling by peptide ligands. Mol Pharmacol. 2003 Oct;64(4):841-7.


• Bae YS, Park JC, He R, Ye RD, Kwak JY, Suh PG, Ho Ryu S. Differential signaling of formyl peptide receptor-like 1 by Trp-Lys-Tyr-Met-Val-Met-CONH2 or lipoxin A4 in human neutrophils. Mol Pharmacol. 2003 Sep;64(3):721-30.


• He R, Sang H, Ye RD. Serum amyloid A induces IL-8 secretion through a G protein-coupled receptor, FPRL1/LXA4R. Blood. 2003 Feb 15;101(4):1572-81. Epub 2002 Sep 26.


• Yang D, Chen Q, Gertz B, He R, Phulsuksombati M, Ye RD, Oppenheim JJ. Human dendritic cells express functional formyl peptide receptor-like-2 (FPRL2) throughout maturation. J Leukoc Biol. 2002 Sep;72(3):598-607.


• He R, Browning DD, Ye RD. Differential roles of the NPXXY motif in formyl peptide receptor signaling. J Immunol. 2001 Mar 15;166(6):4099-105.


• He R, Tan L, Browning DD, Wang JM, Ye RD. The synthetic peptide Trp-Lys-Tyr-Met-Val-D-Met is a potent chemotactic agonist for mouse formyl peptide receptor. J Immunol. 2000 Oct 15;165(8):4598-605.