Present Position and Address

11.104 Medical Research Bldg.
Mail Route:1062
Telephone: (409) 772-0715
Fax: (409) 772-2261
Email: msoloff@utmb.edu

A.B. 1962 University of California - Los Angeles
Ph.D. 1968 University of California - Los Angeles

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Oxytocin is a nonapeptide hormone that causes the uterus to contract and to synthesize prostaglandins. The laboratory's observations that uterine oxytocin receptors are markedly upregulated at the end of gestation has stimulated numerous studies proposing that uterine smooth muscle contractions occur during labor when the concentration of oxytocin receptors (OTR) exceeds some threshold. We have cloned the OTR gene and are in the process of characterizing the promoter and upstream regulatory elements to determine the signals that induce OTR gene expression and, consequently, labor. The OTR is a G protein coupled receptor, and we have shown that there are a number of discrete steps in the signal pathways that lead to oxytocin stimulation of smooth muscle contraction and prostaglandin synthesis. One of the key areas of interest in in a protein family of GTPases referred to as regulators of G protein signaling. Other elements in the signal pathway are also being characterized. Another area of current research on the OTR involves mRNA stability, which appears to be an important mechanism for regulating OTR expression in the human uterus.

1. Jeng Y-J, Liebenthal D, Strakova Z, Ives KL, Hellmich MR, Soloff MS. Complementary mechanisms of enhanced oxytocin-stimulated PGE2 synthesis in rabbit amnion. Endocrinology 141:4136-4145; 2000.
2. Peters CA, Maizels ET, Robertson MC, Shiu RPC, Soloff MS, Hunzicker-Dunn M. Induction of relaxin mRNA expression in response to prolactin activation requires PKCd signaling. Mol. Endocrinol. 14:576-590; 2000.
3. Hoare S, Copland JA, Strakova Z, Jeng Y-J, Ives KL, Hellmich MR, Soloff MS. The proximal portion of the C-terminus of the oxytocin receptor is required for coupling to Gq, but not Gi. Independent mechanisms for releasing calcium from intracellular stores and activating MAP kinases. J. Biol. Chem. 274:28682-28689;1999.
4. Copland JA, Ives KL, Simmons DJ, Soloff MS. Functional oxytocin receptors discovered in human osteoblasts. Endocrinology 140:4371-4374;1999.
5. Hoare S, Copland JA, Wood TG, Jeng Y-J, Izban MG, Soloff MS. Identification of a GABPa/b binding site involved in the induction of oxytocin receptor gene expression in human breast cells. Potentiation by c-Fos/c-Jun. Endocrinology 140:2268-2279; 1999.
6. Jeng Y-J, Lolait SJ, Soloff MS. Induction of oxytocin receptor gene expression in rabbit amnion cells. Endocrinology 139:3449-3455; 1998.