Jeanette Webster Marketon, PhD

Assistant Professor

2058A Graves Hall

333 West 10th Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210
Phone: (614) 688-8148

Specialty Interests

Nuclear hormone receptors

Glucocorticoids

Gene regulation

Research Interests

My laboratory is interested in factors that modulate glucocorticoid receptor function, in particular infectious agents. Glucocorticoids are one of the most widely prescribed drugs and are not only involved in inflammation but also are involved in the activity of many systems, including the central nervous system, the cardiovascular system and homeostasis and metabolism. Glucocorticoids function through an intracellular receptor (GR) which functions as a ligand dependent transcription facctor. There is a small amount of evidence that infectious agents interfere with glucocorticoid receptor function. We have previously shown that a bacterial toxin, the anthrax lethal toxin, interferes with GR function by preventing GR-DNA binding. Recently we have shown that respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) also prevents GR activation of genes in a mechanism that requires viral replication but is independent of the classical NFkappaB signaling pathway. Current research is focusing on dissecting this molecular mechanism and it's relevance to lung biology. In addition, we are also interested in other factors that modulate glucocorticoid receptor function. In a collaboration with Dr. Lisa Christain (Psychiatry/IBMR) we are using a whole blood assay to investigate the function of GR during pregnancy.


Publications

1. Webster Marketon, J.I. & Sternberg, E.M. (2008) Neuroendocrinology of Inflammatory Disorders. In “The Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis," Neuroimmune Biology, Volume 7. (ed. A. del Rey, G. Chrousos and H.O. Besedovsky) Elsevier. ISBN: 978-0-444-53040-0, Chapter 17 pp. 321-350.
2. Webster Marketon, J. I. & Sternberg, E.M. (2008) Neural Immune Interactions. In “Fundamental Immunology” Sixth Edition. ed. W.E. Paul. Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins. ISBN: 978-0781765190, Chapter 32 pp. 1027-1042.
3. Webster Marketon, J.I. & Glaser, R. (2008) Stress hormones and immune function. Cellular Immunology. In Press.
4. Webster, J. I., Moayeri, M. and Sternberg, E. M. (2006) Anthrax lethal factor represses glucocorticoid and progesterone receptor activity. In “Neural and neuroendocrine mechanisms in host defense and autoimmunity” (Eds. J. Welsh, M. Meagher and E. Sternberg). Springer publishers. ISBN: 0-387-31411-3, Chapter 4 pp. 57-80.
5. Webster,J.I., Tonelli, L. and Sternberg, E. M. (2005) Neural Immune Interactions in Inflammatory/Autoimmune Disease. In “Clinical Neuroimmunology” (ed. J. Antel, G. Birnbaum, H.-P. Hartung and A. Vincent) Oxford University Press. ISBN: 0-1985-1068-3, chapter 32 pp 65-76.
6. Webster, J. I. and Sternberg, E. M. (2005) Anthrax lethal toxin represses glucocorticoid receptor (GR) transactivation by inhibiting GR-DNA binding in vivo. Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology 241, 21-31.13.  
7. Moayeri, M., Webster, J. I., Wiggins, J. F., Leppla, S. H. and Sternberg, E. M. (2005) Endocrine perturbation increases susceptibility to anthrax lethal toxin. Infection and Immunity 73, 4238-4244.
8. Webster, J. I. and Sternberg, E. M. (2004) Neuroendocrine host factors in susceptibility and resistance to autoimmune/inflammatory disease. In “ImmunoEndocrinology in Health and Disease”. Eds. V. Geenen and G. Chrousos. Dekker/CRC Press, ISBN: 0-8247-5060-8, chapter 20 pp. 393-416.
9.  Webster, J. I., Maoyeri, M. and Sternberg, E. M. (2004) Novel repression of the glucocorticoid receptor by anthrax lethal toxin. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (Eds. T. Kino, E. Charmandari and G. Chrousos) 1024, 9-23.
10. Webster, J. I. and Sternberg, E. M. (2004) Role of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, glucocorticoids and glucocorticoid receptors in toxic sequelae of exposure to bacterial and viral products. Journal of Endocrinology. Journal of Endocrinology 181(2), 207-211.
11. Eskandari, F., Webster, J. I. and Sternberg, E. M. (2003) Neural Pathways and their Connection to Inflammatory Diseases. Arthritis Research and Therapy 5, 251-265.
12. Sternberg, E. M. and Webster, J. I. (2003) Neuroimmunology. In “Fundamental Immunology” Fifth Edition. ed. W. E. Paul. Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, ISBN: 0-7817-3514-9, chapter 32 pp. 1021-1042.
13. Webster, J. I., Tonelli, L., Maoyeri, M. Simons, S. S. Jr., Leppla, S. H. and Sternberg, E. M. (2003) Anthrax Lethal Factor Represses Glucocorticoid and Progesterone Receptor Activity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U. S. A. 100, 5706-5711.
14. Webster, J. I. and Carlstedt-Duke, J. (2002) Involvement of Multidrug Resistance Proteins (MDR) in the Modulation of Glucocorticoid Response. Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 82, 277-288.
15. Tonelli, L., Kramer, P., Webster, J. I., Wray, S., Listwak, S and Sternberg, E. (2002) Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Oestrogen Receptor Regulation in the Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus of Lewis and Fischer Rats. Journal of Neuroendocrinology 14, 847-852.
16. Webster, J. I., Tonelli, L. and Sternberg, E. M. (2002) Neuroendocrine regulation of Immunity. Annual Review of Immunology 20, 125-63.
17. Kauffmann, H-M., Pfannschmidt, S., Zöller, H., Benz, A., Vorderstemannm B., Webster, J. I. and Schrenk, D. (2002) Influence of pro-/antioxidants and PXR-activators on human MRP1 and MRP2 gene expression. Toxicology 171, 137-146.
18. Tonelli, L. Webster, J. I. and Sternberg, E. M. (2001) Neuroendocrine responses regulating susceptibility and resistance to autoimmune/inflammatory disease in inbred rat strains. Immunological Reviews 184, 203-211.
19. Weihua, Z., Mäkela, S., Andersson, L. C., Salmi, S., Saji, S., Webster, J. I., Jensen, E. V., Nilsson, S., Warner, M. and Gustafsson, J-Å. (2001) A role for estrogen receptor beta in regulation of growth of the ventral prostate.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U. S. A. 98, 6330-6335.