The National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases

Dr. Griffin Rodgers was named director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) on April 1, 2007. He also has been chief of the Molecular and Clinical Hematology Branch since 1998; the branch is administratively managed by NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. His research interests include:

1. Genetic diseases: sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, red cell enzymopathies; clinical evaluation of disease severity; treatment, including pharmacological alteration of gene expression and stem cell transplantation
2. Molecular genetics of human hemoglobins; gene expression and differentiation in erythroid cells in normal and perturbed hematopoietic states; pharmacological alteration of gene expression; molecular genetics of myleodysplastic and myleoproliferative syndromes
3. Hematopoiesis; role of inducible and stochastic factors; hematopoietic stem cell plasticity; identification of early markers of lineage-specific differentiation
4. The development of novel gene therapy strategies and their targeted application in cord blood hematopoietic stem cells

As a research investigator, Dr. Rodgers is widely recognized for his contributions to the development of the first effective—and now FDA approved—therapy for sickle cell anemia. He was a principal investigator in clinical trials to develop therapy for patients with sickle cell disease and also performed basic research that focused on understanding the molecular basis of how certain drugs induce gamma-globin gene expression. Recently, he and his collaborators reported on a modified blood stem-cell transplant regimen that is highly effective in reversing sickle cell disease in adults and is associated with relatively low toxicity.

As chief of the Molecular and Clinical Hematology Branch at the NIDDK, Dr. Rodgers is responsible for planning and conducting basic and clinical research on selected inherited and acquired diseases of human blood; utilizing contemporary biochemical, molecular, and physiological techniques; developing and validating models, including cellular and transgenic systems, to permit the delineation of regulatory mechanisms in normal and pathological hematopoesis, and to facilitate pharmacological or molecular genetic approaches to correct or compensate for abnormalities associated with disease states; and expediting the translation of novel basic scientific discovery to the appropriate level of preclinical or clinical investigation.

As chief of the Molecular Hematology Section, Dr. Rodgers is responsible for planning and conducting research on the molecular and cellular bases of selected congenital and acquired hematological disorders; developing quantitative methods to express disease severity or activity, amenable to sequential applications; studying gene expression and differentiation in erythroid cells in normal and pathological hematopoietic states; studying the molecular basis of lineage-specific differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells; and developing therapies for hemoglobinopathies and other genetic blood disorders based on the modification of target gene expression.

Clinical Protocols

• Secondary Pulmonary Hypertension in Adults With Sickle Cell Anemia, NCT00011648
• Stem Cell Collection, NCT00316069
• Collection and Storage of Umbilical Cord Hematopoietic Stem Cells for Sickle Cell Disease, NCT00012545
• Gene Message (mRNA) Analysis of Granulocytes, NCT00059423
• Improving the Results of Bone Marrow Transplantation for Patients With Severe Congenital Anemias, NCT00061568

Kumkhaek C, Aerbajinai W, Liu W, Zhu J, Uchida N, Kurlander R, Hsieh MM, Tisdale JF, Rodgers GP. MASL1 induces erythroid differentiation in human erythropoietin-dependent CD34+ cells through the Raf/MEK/ERK pathway. Blood, 121 (16): 3216-27, 2013. Epub 2013 Jan. 17. [Full Text/Abstract]

Kumkhaek C, Liu W, Rodgers GP. Identification and characterization of novel full-length cDNAs expressed during hematopoietic lineage-specific differentiation of cultured human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Blood Cells Mol Dis, 50: 154-5, 2013. [Full Text/Abstract]

Liu L, Aerbajinai W, Ahmed SM, Rodgers GP, Angers S, Parent CA. Radil controls neutrophiladhesion and motility through β2-integrin activation. Mol Biol Cell, 23: 4751-65, 2012. [Full Text/Abstract]

Liu W, Yan M, Liu Y, McLeish KR, Coleman WG Jr, Rodgers GP. Olfactomedin 4 inhibits cathepsin C-mediated protease activities, thereby modulating neutrophil killing of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli in mice. J Immunol, 189: 2460-7, 2012. [Full Text/Abstract]

Aerbajani W, Chin KC, Zhu J, Rodgers GP. Glial maturation factor gamma mediates neutrophil chemotaxis via p38 MAPK. J Leu Biol, 90: 529-38, 2011. [Full Text/Abstract]

Chen L, Li Hongzhen, Liu WL, Zhu J, Cao L, Ding I, Rodgers GP. Olfactomedin 4 suppresses prostate cancer cell growth and metastasis via negative interaction with cathepsin D and SDF-1. Carcinogenesis, 32: 986-94, 2011. [Full Text/Abstract]

Zhu J, Chin KC, Aerbajinai W, Gao Z, Trainor C, Rodgers GP. Recombinant erythroid Kruppel- like factor fused to GATA1 up-regulates delta- and gamma-globin expression in erythroid cells. Blood, 117: 3045-52, 2011. [Full Text/Abstract]

Liu WL, Lee HW, Liu Y, Wang R, Rodgers GP. Olfactomedin 4 is a novel target gene of retinoic acids and 5-aza-2’-deoxycytidine involved in human myeloid leukemia cell growth, differentiation, and apoptosis. Blood, 116: 4938-47, 2010. [Full Text/Abstract]

Liu WL, Yan M, Liu Y, Wang R, Li C, Deng C, Singh A, Coleman WG, Rodgers GP. Olfactomedin-4 down-regulates innate immunity against Helicobacter pylori infection. PNAS, 107: 110556-61, 2010. [Full Text/Abstract]

Hsieh MM, Tisdale JF, Rodgers GP, Young NS, Trimble EL, Little RF. Neutrophil count in African-Americans: lowering the target cutoff to initiate or resume chemotherapy? J Clin Onc, 28: 1633-7, 2010. [Full Text/Abstract]

Liu W, Rodgers GP. OLFM4 (olfactomedin 4). Atlas Genet Cytogenet Oncol Haematol. January 2010. [Full Text/Abstract]

Hsieh MM, Kang EM, Fitzhugh CD, Link MB, Kurlander R, Childs RW, Rodgers GP, Powell JD, Tisdale JF. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for sickle cell disease. NEJM, 361: 2309-17, 2009. [Full Text/Abstract]

Aerbajani W, Zhu J, Chin K, Rodgers GP. SCF induces gamma-globin by regulating downstream transcription factor COUP-TFII. Blood, 114: 187-194, 2009. [Full Text/Abstract]

Chin KL, Aerbajinai W, Drew L, Chen L, Liu W, Rodgers GP. The regulation of OLFM4 expression in myeloid precursor cells relies on the NF-κB transcription factor. Br J Haematol, 143: 421-32, 2008. [Full Text/Abstract]

Zoueva OP, Garrett LJ, Bodine D, Rodgers GP. BP1 motif in the human beta-globin promoteraffects beta-globin expression during embryonic/fetal erythropoiesis in transgenic micebearing the human beta-globin gene. Blood Cells Mol Dis, 41: 244-51, 2008. [Full Text/Abstract]

Kumkhaek C, Taylor IV JG, Zhu J, Hoppe C, Kato GJ, Rodgers GP. Fetal haemoglobin response to hydroxycarbamide treatment and SAR1A promoter polymorphisms in sickle cell anaemia. Br J Haemat, 141: 254-9, 2008. [Full Text/Abstract]

Liu W, Liu Y, Zhu J, Wright E, Ding I, Rodgers GP. Reduced hGC-1 expression is associated with malignant progression of colon carcinoma. Clinical Cancer Research, 14: 1041-9, 2008. [Full Text/Abstract]

Hsieh MM, Linde S, Metzger M, Wong C, Langsetmo I, Lin A, Smith R, Rodgers GP, Donahue RE, Klaus SJ, Tisdale JT. HIF prolyl hydroxylase inhibition results in endogenous erythropoietin induction, erythrocytosis, and modest fetal hemoglobin expression in rhesus macaques. Blood, 110: 2140-7, 2007. [Full Text/Abstract]

Liu W, Zhu J, Cao L, Rodgers GP. Expression of hGC-1 is correlated with differentiation of gastric carcinoma. Histopathology, 51: 157-65, 2007. [Full Text/Abstract]

Aerbajani W, Gao Z, Zhu J, Rodgers GP. Thalidomide induces gamma-globin gene expression through increased reactive oxygen species-mediated p38 MAPK signaling and histone H4 acetylation in adult erythropoiesis. Blood, 110: 2864-71, 2007. [Full Text/Abstract]

Chen L, Gao Z, Zhu J, Rodgers GP. Identification of CD13+CD36+ cells as a common progenitor for erythroid and myeloid lineages in human bone marrow. Exp Hematol, 35: 1047-55, 2007. [Full Text/Abstract]

Hsieh MM, Everhart JE, Byrd-Holt DD, Tisdale JF, Rodgers GP. Prevalence of neutropenia in the U.S. population: age, sex, smoking status, and ethnic differences. Ann Intern Med, 146: 486-92, 2007. [Full Text/Abstract]

Park DM, Zhuang Z, Chen L, Szerlip N, Maric I, Li J, Sohn T, Kim SH, Lubensky IA, Vortmeyer AO, Rodgers GP, Oldfield EH, Lonser RR. von Hippel-Lindau disease-associated hemangioblastomas are derived from embryologic multipotent cells. PLoS Med, 4(2): 60, 2007. [Full Text/Abstract]

Chen L, Zhang H, Shi Y, Chin KL, Tang DC, Rodgers GP. Identification of key genes responsible for cytokine-induced erythroid and myeloid differentiation and switching of hematopoietic stem cells by RAGE. Cell Res, 16: 923-39, 2006. [Full Text/Abstract]

Shi Y, Chen L, Liotta LA, Wan HH, Rodgers GP. Glia maturation factor gamma (GMFG): a cytokine-responsive protein during hematopoietic lineage development and its functional genomics analysis. Genomics Proteomics Bioinformatics, 4: 145-55, 2006. [Full Text/Abstract]

Kramer BS, Wilentz MA, Alexander D, Burklow J, Friedman LM, Hodes R, Kirschstein R, Patterson A, Rodgers GP, Straus SE. Getting it right: being smarter about clinical trials. Public Library of Science (PLOS), 3: 144, 2006. [Full Text/Abstract]

Liu W, Chen L, Zhu J, Rodgers GP. The glycoprotein hGC-1 binds to cadherin and lectins. Exp Cell Res, 312: 1785-97, 2006. [Full Text/Abstract]

Zhuang Z, Huang S, Kowalak JA, Shi Y, Lei J, Furuta M, Lee YS, Lubensky IA, Rodgers GP, Cornelius AS, Weil RJ, Teh BT, Vortmeyer AO. From tissue phenotype to proteotype: sensitive protein identification in microdissected tumor tissue. Int J Oncol, 28: 103-10, 2006. [Full Text/Abstract]