department of pharmacology

Noa Noy, Ph.D.

Noy

Professor

Phone: (216) 368-0302
Fax: (216) 368-1300
E-mail: noa.noy@case.edu
W333 Wood Building

 
Research

Various lipid-soluble nutrients and hormones, such as vitamin A, vitamin D, cholesterol, and long chain fatty acids, regulate cellular behavior by modulating the rates of transcription of multiple genes. The biological activities of these compounds are mediated by transcription factors termed nuclear hormone receptors. These proteins bind to regulatory regions of particular target genes, and they modulate the transcription of these genes in response to the specific hormones that activate them. Consequently, nuclear receptors and their activating hormones have profound effects on cell growth, metabolism, and differentiation, and they are involved in numerous physiological processes. Nuclear receptors also play key roles in various pathologies, and ligands that activate them are in current use as therapeutic and preventive agents in diseases ranging from dermatological disorders to cancer. Work in my laboratory aims to obtain molecular-level understanding of the mechanisms of action of nuclear hormone receptors and their accessory proteins, and to elucidate the consequences of the activities of these proteins for cell function in health and in disease. Of special interest to us are the roles of nuclear receptors in cancer development, in adipose tissue biology, and in diabetes. 


Selected References:

Kersten, S., Dong, D., Lee, W.-y., Reczek, P. R., and Noy, N. (1998) Auto-silencing by the retinoid X receptor. J. Mol. Biol. 284:21-32 

Tan, N. S., Shaw, N. S., Vinckenbosch, N., Liu, P., Yasmin, R. Desvergne, B., Wahli, W. and Noy, N. (2002) Selective cooperation between fatty acid binding proteins and peroxisome proliferator activated receptors in regulating transcription. Mol. Cell. Biol. 22:5114-5227

Manor, D., Shmidt, E. N., Budhu, A., Flesken-Nikitin, A., Zgola, M., Page, R., Nikitin, A.Yu., and Noy, N. (2003) Mammary carcinoma suppression by cellular retinoic acid binding protein-II. Cancer Res. 63:4426-33. 

Shaw, N., Elholm, M., and Noy, N. (2003) Retinoic acid is a high-affinity selective ligand for PPARβ/δ. J. Biol. Chem. 278:41589-41592

Yasmin, R., Yeung, K. T., Chung, R., and Noy, N. (2004) DNA-looping by RXR tetramers permits transcriptional regulation ‘at a distance’. J. Mol. Biol. 343:327-338  

Sessler, R. J., and Noy, N. (2005) A ligand-activated nuclear localization signal in cellular retinoic acid binding protein-II. Mol. Cell, 18:343-353  

Donato, L. J., and Noy, N. (2005) Suppression of mammary carcinoma growth by retinoic acid:proapoptotic genes are targets for RAR and CRABP-II signalling in MCF-7 cells. Cancer Res. 65:8193-8199 

Yasmin, R., Williams, R. M., Xu, M., and Noy N. (2005) Nuclear import of the retinoid X receptor, vitamin D receptor and their mutual heterodimer. J Biol. Chem. 280:40152-60. 

Donato, L. J., and Noy, N. (2006) Quantitation of retinoic acid in biological samples using a fluorescence-based assay.  Anal. Biochem. 357:249-256.

Donato, L. J., Suh, J. H., and Noy, N. (2007) Suppression of mammary carcinoma cell growth by retinoic acid: the cell cycle control gene Btg2 is a direct target for RAR signaling. Cancer Research, 67: 609-615.

Schug, T. T, Berry, D. C., Shaw, N. S., Travis, S., and Noy, N. (2007) Opposing effects of retinoic acid on cell growth result from alternate activation of two different nuclear receptors.  Cell, 129:723–733

Ayers, S. D., Gillilan, R., and Noy, N.  (2007) Continuous nucleocytoplasmic shuttling underlies transcriptional activation of PPARg by FABP4.  Bichemistry, 46:6744-6752

Gillilan, R., Ayers, S. D., and Noy, N. (2007) Structural basis for activation of fatty acid binding protein 4.  J. Mol. Biol., 372:1246-1260