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Home > Healthcare Professionals > Research Awards > Researcher Profiles > Dr. Sergio Gradilone

Dr. Sergio A. Gradilone, PhD

Irwin M. Arias, MD Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota. "TRPV4 as a Potential Target to Reduce the Hyperproliferative Phenotype of Cholangiocytes in Polycystic Liver Disease."


Dr. Sergio A. Gradilone, PhD

The polycystic liver diseases are a group of disorders that cause cysts, or fluid-filled sacs, to form on the bile ducts inside the liver. Today we have a good understanding of the various genetic defects that can give rise to polycystic liver diseases. But research so far has not answered a critical question: What factors contribute to the long-term growth of these cysts? What exactly stimulates the cells that form cysts to continue multiplying out of control?

Based on current knowledge about kidney cysts and his own research results, Dr Gradilone surmises that cells lining liver cysts may have low calcium levels. Moreover, he believes that low calcium may be one of the key factors leading to uncontrolled cell division and cyst enlargement.

To test this hypothesis, Dr. Gradilone will manipulate the level of calcium inside these liver cells and see if higher calcium levels keep cysts from growing and expanding. To allow more calcium to enter the cells, he will administer a treatment that makes the cell membrane more porous to calcium by the activation of TRPV4, a calcium channel that Dr. Gradilone recently found to be expressed in the bile ducts. If Dr. Gradilone succeeds in controlling cyst development using this technique, he will have discovered a new potential approach to treating polycystic liver diseases.

Page updated: August 21st, 2008