William Banks, M.D.
Professor
Departments of Internal Medicine, Geriatric Division and Pharmacological and Physiological Science
M.D., University of Missouri, columbia, 1979
previously on the staff of Tulane University
University of Missouri, Columbia, 1979
Email bankswa@slu.edu
Departments of Internal Medicine, Geriatric Division and Pharmacological and Physiological Science
M.D., University of Missouri, columbia, 1979
previously on the staff of Tulane University
University of Missouri, Columbia, 1979
Email bankswa@slu.edu
Research Summary
Our laboratory investigates the ability of peptides, regulatory proteins, and related substances to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The ability of these substances to cross the BBB forms the basis for a humoral mediation of interactions between the central nervous system and the peripheral tissues. The applications of this premise are broad and our laboratory uses a variety of in vivo, in situ, and in vitro models to investigate various aspects of this field.
- Examples of currently active programs are:
- The role of peptide transport system (PTS)-1, a saturable system that transports methionine enkephalin (ME) from blood to brain, in regulating brain ME levels in alcohol dependence and withdrawal.
- The role that cytokine transport across the BBB plays in the neuroimmune axis.
- The role that the BBB plays through control of the exchange of leptin, insulin, pancreatic polypeptide and other feeding hormones in the regulation of body weight, appetite, and feeding behaviors.
- The mechanism used by the AIDS virus to enter and exit the central nervous system.
- The pathophysiology of prion penetration of the BBB.
- Alterations of neurotrophin and cytokine transport systems located at the BBB with various types of neurological injury including spinal cord trauma, animal models of multiple sclerosis, and brain ischemia.
Numerous other active projects relate to the pathophysiologic mechanisms of altered BBB function and the role that those alterations play in disease and health.
Publications
- During, M.J., L. Cao, D.S. Zuzga, J.S. Francis, H.L. Fitzsimons, X. Jiao, R.J. Bland, M. Klugmann, W.A. Banks, D.J. Ducker, and C.N. Haile. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor is involved in learning and neuroprotection. Nature Medicine 9:1173-1179, 2003.
- Banks, W.A., A.B. Coon, S.M. Robinson, A. Moinuddin, J.M. Shultz, R. Nakaoke, J.E. Morley. Triglycerides induce leptin resistance at the blood-brain barrier. Diabetes 53:1253-1260, 2004.
- Urayama, A., J.H. Grubb, W.A. Banks, W.S. Sly. Epinephrine enhances lysosomal enzyme delivery across the blood-brain barrier by up-regulation of the mannose 6-phosphate receptor. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104: 12873-78, 2007.
