 |
William F. Stenson, M.D.
|
|
William F. Stenson, M.D. Professor of Medicine Dr. Nicholas V. Costrini Professor in Gastroenterology & Inflammatory Bowel Disease Dr. Stenson joined the Gastroenterology Division in 1979. He received his M.D. degree from Washington University School of Medicine and completed his internship and residency in medicine at Barnes Hospital. After a fellowship in gastroenterology at Washington University from 1976-78, he spent two years of additional training in the Immunology Division with Dr. Charles Parker, developing techniques to examine the biochemistry of arachidonic acid metabolism. The major focus of Dr. Stenson's current research is the role of inflammation in intestinal injury and wound repair. This work has included studies of lipid mediators in inflammatory bowel disease, in radiation injury and enteric infections. Epithelial injury induces the expression of cyclooxygenase-1 and cyclooxygenase-2, the enzymes responsible for the synthesis of prostaglandins. Repair of damaged epithelium, in turn, is regulated by prostaglandin synthesis. Prostaglandins also regulate the immune response in the intestine. "My research focuses on the inflammatory response to intestinal injury and the role of inflammatory mediators in epithelial repair and immune regulation. Cyclooxygenase-1 and cyclooxygenase-2 are the enzymes that convert arachidonic acid to prostaglandins. We have found that in epithelial cells the expression of these enzymes can be induced by infection with invasive bacteria or by radiation injury. The expression of cyclooxygenase-2 is also induced in epithelial cells in human inflammatory bowel disease. We have also found that prostaglandins mediate epithelial cell proliferation and apoptosis after injury."
Link to Medline for selected publications
Stenson Lab 
Division of Gastroenterology
|
