LDI - Lehoux, Stéphanie

stephanie.lehoux@mcgill.ca

Dr. Lehoux's Publications Indexed on PubMed

Dr. Stephanie Lehoux is a Professor in the Department of Medicine at McGill University and a member of the Division of Experimental Medicine. She received her doctorate in Pharmacology from the University of Sherbrooke in 1997, followed by two post-doctoral fellowships at the Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (France) and at the University of Rochester (New York). In 2001, she was recruited by the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France), first as a Chargée de recherches, and more recently as Directeur de recherches. She established her laboratory studies on the molecular mechanisms associated with vascular mechanotransduction (the signal transduction cascades stimulated by changes in blood pressure or blood flow).

Dr. Lehoux joined McGill University in 2007 as the Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Physiology. She is a member of the editorial board of the journal Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, and a member of the scientific advisory boards of both the International Symposium on Biomechanics in Cardiovascular Disease and the International Academy of Cardiology.

Major Research Activities

Dr Lehoux’s research is aimed at understanding the factors that favour atherosclerotic lesion formation and progression. She is particularly interested in defining how endothelial dysfunction and immunomodulatory mechanisms interact, and how they relate to the hemodynamic environment of the plaque. Dr Lehoux’s experimental approach is multidisciplinary, combining molecular biology, biochemical, and physiological and histological techniques in a morphological and functional analysis of vascular biology. She has established a number of original tools and techniques that are used in in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro experiments. The major research themes of her laboratory are the following:
1) defining the molecular mechanisms that govern angiotensin AT1 receptor expression and function in the endothelium, including its role as a potential mechanosensor;
2) understanding how flow prevents the progression of atherosclerosis, and how it interferes with inflammatory cells and processes within the plaque, leading to plaque regression; and
3) elucidating the mechanisms that underlie vascular remodelling, including the regulation of gene expression in the context of restenosis.

Recent Publications

Lemarie CA, Tharaux PL, Lehoux S. Extracellular matrix alterations in hypertensive vascular remodeling. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2010, 48: 433-439.

Ramkhelawon B, Vilar J, Rivas D, Mees B, De Crom R, Tedgui A, Lehoux S. Shear stress regulates angiotensin type one receptor expression in endothelial cells. Circ Res. 2009, 105: 869-875.

Castier Y, Ramkhelawon B, Riou S, Tedgui A, Lehoux S. Role of NFkappaB in flow-induced vascular remodeling. Antioxid Redox Signal. 2009, 11: 1641-1649.

Snapshot

Dr Lehoux is an expert in vascular physiology. She is known internationally for her work on mechanotransduction. She has developed a successful research program based on unique models that have been key in elucidating the molecular mechanisms of vascular remodelling. Her current studies focus on atherosclerosis, progression from plaque development to plaque regression, and restenosis. Gene and protein expression, signalling cascades, cell interactions and whole tissue responses are considered in her multidisciplinary approach.

Important Links

Dr. Lehoux's Profile at the Division of Experimental Medicine, McGill University