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Deborah C. Rubin, M.D.
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Deborah C. Rubin, M.D. Professor of Medicine Dr. Rubin joined the Gastroenterology Division in 1988. She received her M.D. degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1981 and then completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital. She pursued her clinical gastroenterology training at Washington University and subsequently completed her postdoctoral fellowship in the Departments of Biological Chemistry and Medicine. Her laboratory has focused on identifying the molecular mechanisms that regulate intestinal epithelial cell proliferation, differentiation, and carcinogenesis. The role of epithelial-mesenchymal interactions in morphogenesis, proliferation, differentiation and carcinogenesis of the gut mucosa is being explored. In addition, her lab seeks to identify mechanisms that regulate the intestinal adaptive response following loss of small bowel functional surface area (e.g. due to Crohn’s disease or small bowel resection), which has relevance to short bowel syndrome in humans. These studies have been performed in collaboration with Division member Marc Levin, M.D. “My laboratory is presently interested in examining molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of intestinal epithelial cell proliferation, differentiation and carcinogenesis. One major project examines the role of epimorphin, a protein expressed in subepithelial myofibroblasts, in regulating proliferation and carcinogenesis in the small and large bowel. We have shown that deletion of epimorphin results in enhanced gut epithelial cell proliferation and improved intestinal repair following injury. Aged epimorphin null mice develop small bowel polyps, yet epimorphin deletion protects from colonic epithelial dysplasia (adenomatous change) in an azoxymethane-dextran sodium sulfate model of inflammation induced colon carcinogenesis. Epimorphin affects the secretory function of gut myofibroblasts and null intestines show altered wnt-b-catenin and bmp signaling. Our lab studies the role of this and other proteins in epithelial –mesenchymal signaling. A second project seeks to identify the role of the immediate early gene TIS7 in the intestinal adaptive response. Transgenic and knockout mouse models have been utilized to show that this gene is important in regulating intestinal lipid absorption and crypt cell proliferation. Ongoing studies are directed towatds understanding the underlying mechanisms, with the goal of developing potential therapies for short bowel syndrome, specifically to enhance nutrient absorption and functional intestinal surface area.
Link to Medline for selected publications
Rubin Lab 
Division of Gastroenterology
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