Professor Hoo, Ruby Lai Chong 何麗莊
- The pathological role of A-FABP in liver fibrosis
- The role of A-FABP in the pathogenesis of cerebral ischemic stroke
- The role of mitochondrial membrane protein chchd10 in the regulation of adipose tissue browning and energy expenditure
- The role of neutrophil and its secretory proteases in the conversion of white to brown adipocytes.
- The role of A-FABP in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes
- Syndecan-4 (Sdc4) as an essential regulator in beige adipocyte differentiation in adaptive thermogenesis
- The role of A-FABP in the development of obesity related renal dysfunction
My research focuses on deciphering the roles and underlying mechanisms of adipocyte or liver-derived hormones such as adiponectin, fibroblast growth factor-1 (FGF21) and adipocyte fatty acid binding protein (A-FABP) in the regulation of energy metabolism and in the pathogenesis of obesity-related cardio-metabolic and inflammatory diseases such as type-2 diabetes, atherosclerosis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. My team discovered that pharmacological inhibition of A-FABP can significantly alleviate the development of both acute liver injury and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in mice and A-FABP mediates these diseases by enhancing inflammation in Kupffer cells. A-FABP is also a mediator of myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury and diabetes-induced cardiac dysfunction through its suppression on eNOS/NO pathway and induction of superoxide anion production. We also demonstrated that A-FABP potentiates toxic lipids-induced endoplasmic reticulum and inflammation in macrophages via inhibition of Janus Kinase 2-dependent autophagy. My team discovered the physiological role of A-FABP in energy metabolism which regulates adaptive thermogenesis through promoting the intracellular conversion of thyroid hormone T4 to T3 in brown adipocytes. The study result implicated that global pharmacological inhibition of A-FABP may not be an optimal therapeutic strategy for obesity-related cardiovascular and metabolic diseases due to the potential impairment of adaptive thermogenesis.
Dr. Ruby L.C. Hoo obtained her Bachelor, MPhil and PhD in biological science at The University of Hong Kong. She received her post-doctoral training at division of endocrinology, Department of Medicine at The University of Hong Kong. She took up her post as Research Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor in 2006 and 2017 respectively at Department of Medicine, HKU. She joined the Department of Pharmacolgy and Pharmacy, HKU, in Feb 2018. She is the principal investigator of research projects funded by HMRF, RGC, Shenzhen Basic research fund and NSFC.
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