Masao Kaneki, M.D. Ph.D.

Massachusetts General Hospital

Academic Titles

Associate Professor, Anesthesia, Harvard Medical School

Research Program Affiliation

Member, Prostate Cancer

Research Abstract

My research group has been working on three major projects: (1) inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and protein S-nitrosylation (a covalent attachment of NO to cysteine thiols) in stress signaling; (2) Sirt1 NAD+-dependent deacetylase and stress resistance; and (3) protein isoprenylation, namely farnesylation and geranylgeranylation, in atherosclerosis, sepsis and cancer. We have shown that Sirt1 inhibition by itself is sufficient to induce senescence-like sustained growth arrest in a p53-independent manner in human cancer cells. We have been also investigating the roles of Sirt family proteins in DNA damage-induced stress signaling. Our research has identified iNOS and protein S-nitrosylation as the major mediator of obesity- and stress-induced insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes. Moreover, my research team is currently identifying farnesylated or S-nitrosylated proteins in tissue samples in rodent models of human diseases, including cancer and diabetes, to investigate the molecular pathogenesis from the proteomic approach.