skip to main content
Give

Darwin J. Prockop, PhD

Darwin J. Prockop, PhD

Professor

Director, Institute for Regenerative Medicine

Contact

Molecular & Cellular Medicine
228 Reynolds Medical Building
College Station , TX 77843
prockop@tamu.edu
Phone: 979.436.9650

Biography

Dr. Darwin Prockop is a professor of Molecular & Cellular Medicine and the Stearman Chair in Genomic Medicine. He is also the director of the Texas A&M College of Medicine Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Scott & White in Temple, Texas.

He received his AB in philosophy from Haverford College in 1951 and a MA in animal physiology from Brasenose College at Oxford University in 1953. He was awarded his MD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1956 and worked at the National Institutes of Health from 1956-1961 while earning a PhD in biochemistry from George Washington University.

He rose to the rank of professor at the School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania from 1961-72. He was chair of biochemistry at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey from 1972-1986, chair of biochemistry and director of the Jefferson Institute for Molecular Medicine at Jefferson Medical College from 1986-1996, director of the Center for Gene Therapy at Hahnemann/Allegheny/Drexel from 1996-2000 and director of the Center for Gene Therapy at Tulane University Health Science Center from 2000-2008.

Prockop has authored or co‐authored more than 600 publications, is a frequent speaker at distinguished international events pertaining to matrix biology and stem cell science, and has been awarded three honorary degrees. Amongst his many accomplishments are appointments to both the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and the National Academy of Inventors. Prockop joined the faculty at the Texas A&M University Health Science Center in August 2008.

Research Interests

  • Currently we are studying the small vesicles called exosomes produced by adult stem/progenitor cells from bone marrow referred to as mesenchymal stem cells, multipotent stromal cells or MSCs. The cells have the remarkable ability to home to injured tissues and repair them by a variety of mechanisms that include differentiation, immune modulation, suppression of inflammation, stimulation of tissue-endogenous stem/progenitor cells, and perhaps transfer of mitochondria. Recently we and others found that many of the beneficial effects of MSCs are explained by their secretion of exosomes. We are characterizing the properties of exosomes secreted by MSCs and with other members of the IRM examining their therapeutic benefits in models for traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.

Representative Publications

  • Oh, J.Y., Ko, J.H., Lee, H.J., Yu, J.M., Choi, H., Kim, M.K., Wee, W.R., and Prockop, D.J. (2014) Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells inhibit the NLRP3 inflammasome by decreasing mitochondrial reactive oxygen species. Stem Cells. 32(6): 1553-1563. doi: 10.1002/ stem.1608. PMID: 24307525
  • Foskett, A.M., Bazhanov, N., Ti, X., Tiblow, A., Bartosh, T.J., and Prockop, D.J. (2014) Phase-directed therapy: TSG-6 targeted to early inflammation improves bleomycin-injured lungs. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 306(2): L120-31. doi: 10.1152/ ajplung.00240.2013. Epub 2013 Nov 15. PMID: 24242012
  • Reger, R.L., and Prockop, D.J. (2014) Should publications on mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells include in-process data on the preparation of the cells? Stem Cells Transl Med. 3(5): 632-635. doi: 10.5966/sctm.2013-0203. Epub 2014 Apr 1. PMID: 24692588
  • McFerrin, H.E., Olson, S.D., Gutschow, M.V., Semon, J.A., Sullivan, D.E., and Prockop, D.J. (2014) Rapidly self-renewing human multipotent marrow stromal cells (hMSC) express sialyl Lewis X and actively adhere to arterial endothelium in a chick embryo model system. PLoS One. 9(8): e105411. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0105411. eCollection 2014. PMID: 25144321
  • Prockop, D.J., Prockop, S.E., and Bertoncello, I. (2014) Are clinical trials with mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells too far ahead of the science? Lessons from experimental hematology. Stem Cells. 32(12):3055-3061. doi: 10.1002/stem.1806. Review. PMID: 25100155
  • Ylostalo, J.H., Bartosh, T.J., Tiblow, A., and Prockop, D.J. (2014) Unique characteristics of human mesenchymal stromal/progenitor cells pre-activated in 3-dimensional cultures under different conditions. Cytotherapy. 16(11): 1486-1500. doi: 10.1016/ j.jcyt.2014.07.010. Epub 2014 Sep 16. PMID: 25231893
  • Lee, R.H., Yu, J.M., Foskett, A.M., Peltier, G., Reneau, J.C., Bazhanov, N., Oh, J.Y., and Prockop, D.J. (2014) TSG-6 as a biomarker to predict efficacy of human mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells (hMSCs) in modulating sterile inflammation in vivo. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 111(47): 16766-16771. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1416121111. Epub 2014 Nov 10. PMID: 25385603
  • Zhao, Q., Gregory, C.A., Lee, R.H., Reger, R.L., Qin, L., Hai, B., Park, MS, Yoon, N., Clough, B., McNeill, E., Prockop, D.J., and Liu, F. (2015) MSCs derived from iPSCs with a modified protocol are tumor-tropic but have much less potential to promote tumors than bone marrow MSCs. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 112(2): 530-535. doi: 10.1073/ pnas.1423008112. Epub 2014 Dec 29. PMID: 25548183
  • Beltran, S.R., Svoboda, K.K., Kerns, D.G., Sheth, A., and Prockop, D.J. (2015) Anti-inflammatory protein tumor necrosis factor-α-stimulated protein 6 (TSG-6) promotes early gingival wound healing: an in vivo study. J Periodontol. 86(1): 62-71. doi: 10.1902/jop.2014.140187. PMID: 25269522
  • Xie, J., Broxmeyer, H.E., Feng, D., Schweitzer, K.S., Yi, R., Cook, T.G., Chitteti, B.R., Barwinska, D., Traktuev, D.O., Van Demark, M.J., Justice, M.J., Ou, X., Srour, E.F., Prockop, D.J., Petrache, I., and March, K.L. (2015) Human adipose-derived stem cells ameliorate cigarette smoke-induced murine myelosuppression via secretion of TSG-6. Stem Cells. 2015 Feb;33(2):468-478. doi: 10.1002/stem.1851. PMID: 25329668
  • Weiss, D.J., Chambers, D., Giangreco, A., Keating, A., Kotton, D., Lelkes, P.I., Wagner, D.E., Prockop, D.J.; ATS Subcommittee on Stem Cells and Cell Therapies. (2015) An official American Thoracic Society workshop report: stem cells and cell therapies in lung biology and diseases. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 12(4): S79-97. doi: 10.1513/ AnnalsATS.201502-086ST. PMID: 25897748
  • Prockop, D.J. (2015) Hardly Tendentious--Repairing Like with Like. N Engl J Med. 373(14): 1371-1372. doi: 10.1056/NEJMcibr1509841. No abstract available. PMID: 26422728
  • Kim, D.K., Choi, H., Nishida, H., Oh, J.Y., Gregory, C., Lee, R.H., Yu, J.M., Watanabe, J., An, S.Y., Bartosh, T.J., and Prockop, D.J. (2016) Scalable Production of a Multifunctional Protein (TSG-6) That Aggregates with Itself and the CHO Cells That Synthesize It. PLoS One. 11(1): e0147553. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147553. eCollection 2016. PMID: 26793973
  • Kim, D.K., Nishida, H., An, S.Y., Shetty, A.K., Bartosh, T.J., and Prockop, D.J. (2016) Chromatographically isolated CD63+CD81+ extracellular vesicles from mesenchymal stromal cells rescue cognitive impairments after TBI. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 113(1): 170-175. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1522297113. Epub 2015 Dec 22. PMID: 26699510
  • Ko, J.H., Lee, H.J., Jeong, H.J., Kim, M.K., Wee, W.R., Yoon, S.O., Choi, H., Prockop, D.J., and Oh, J.Y. (2016) Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells precondition lung monocytes/macrophages to produce tolerance against allo- and autoimmunity in the eye. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 113(1): 158-163. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1522905113. Epub 2015 Dec 22. PMID: 26699483
  • Bazhanov, N., Ylostalo, J.H., Bartosh, T.J., Tiblow, A., Mohammadipoor, A., Foskett, A., and Prockop, D.J. (2016) Intraperitoneally infused human mesenchymal stem cells form aggregates with mouse immune cells and attach to peritoneal organs. Stem Cell Res Ther. 7:27. doi: 10.1186/s13287-016-0284-5. PMID: 26864573
  • Prockop, D.J. (2016) Inflammation, fibrosis, and modulation of the process by mesenchymal stem/stromal cells. Matrix Biol. 51: 7-13. doi: 10.1016/ j.matbio.2016.01.010. Epub 2016 Jan 22. Review. PMID: 26807758
  • Bartosh, T.J., Ullah, M., Zeitouni, S., Beaver, J., and Prockop, D.J. (2016) Cancer cells enter dormancy after cannibalizing mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 113(42): E6447-E6456. Epub 2016 Oct 3. PMID: 27698134
  • Mohammadipoor, A., Lee, R.H., Prockop, D.J., and Bartosh, T.J. (2016) Stanniocalcin-1 attenuates ischemic cardiac injury and response of differentiating monocytes/ macrophages to inflammatory stimuli. Transl Res. 177:127-142. doi: 10.1016/j.trsl.2016.06.011. Epub 2016 Jul 9. PMID: 27469269
  • Mittal, M., Tiruppathi, C., Nepal, S., Zhao, Y.Y., Grzych, D., Soni, D., Prockop, D.J., and Malik, A.B. (2016) TNFα-stimulated gene-6 (TSG6) activates macrophage phenotype transition to prevent inflammatory lung injury. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 113(50): E8151-E8158. Epub 2016 Nov 28. PMID: 27911817
  • Prockop, D.J. (2017) The exciting prospects of new therapies with mesenchymal stromal cells. Cytotherapy. 19(1): 1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jcyt.2016.09.008. Epub 2016 Oct 18. Review. PMID: 27769637
  • Yun, Y.I., Park, S.Y., Lee, H.J., Ko, J.H., Kim, M.K., Wee, W.R., Reger, R.L., Gregory, C.A., Choi, H., Fulcher, S.F., Prockop, D.J., and Oh, J.Y. (2017) Comparison of the anti-inflammatory effects of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived and bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells in a murine model of corneal injury. Cytotherapy. 19(1):28-35. doi: 10.1016/j.jcyt.2016.10.007. Epub 2016 Nov 10. PMID: 27840134
  • Shigemoto-Kuroda, T., Oh, J.Y., Kim, D.K., Jeong, H.J., Park, S.Y., Lee, H.J., Park, J.W., Kim, T.W., An, S.Y., Prockop, D.J., and Lee, R.H. (2017) MSC-derived Extracellular Vesicles Attenuate Immune Responses in Two Autoimmune Murine Models: Type 1 Diabetes and Uveoretinitis. Stem Cell Reports. 8(5):1214-1225. doi: 10.1016/ j.stemcr.2017.04.008. PMID: 28494937
  • Long, Q., Upadhya, D., Hattiangady, B., Kim, D.K., An, S.Y., Shuai, B., Prockop, D.J., and Shetty, A.K. (2017) Intranasal MSC-derived A1-exosomes ease inflammation, and prevent abnormal neurogenesis and memory dysfunction after status epilepticus. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 114(17): E3536-E3545. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1703920114. Epub 2017 Apr 10. PMID: 28396435
  • Prockop, D.J., Oh, J.Y., Lee, R.H. (2017) Data against a Common Assumption: Xenogeneic Mouse Models Can Be Used to Assay Suppression of Immunity by Human MSCs. Mol Ther. 25(8): 1748-1756. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2017.06.004. Epub 2017 Jun 22. Review. PMID: 28647464
  • Song, H.B., Park, S.Y., Ko, J.H., Park, J.W., Yoon, C.H., Kim, D.H., Kim, J.H., Kim, M.K., Lee, R.H., Prockop, D.J., and Oh, J.Y. (2018) Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Inhibit Inflammatory Lymphangiogenesis in the Cornea by Suppressing Macrophage in a TSG-6-Dependent Manner. Mol Ther. 26(1):162-172. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2017.09.026. Epub 2017 Oct 5. PMID: 29301108