Faculty Detail   
Name PETER H KING
Professor and Vice Chair of Neurology, UAB
Chief of Neurology, BVAMC		  
Campus Address SC 260C Zip 0017
Phone  (205) 975-8116
E-mail
Other websites Lab home page
    

Faculty Appointment(s)
Appointment Type Department Division Rank
Primary  Neurology Chair Office  Neurology Chair Office Professor
Secondary  Cell, Developmntl, & Integrative Biology  Cell, Developmntl, & Integrative Biology Professor
Center  Civitan International Research Center  Civitan International Research Center Professor
Center  Comprehensive Cancer Center  Comprehensive Cancer Center Professor
Center  Comprehensive Neuroscience Center  Comprehensive Neuroscience Center Professor
Center  Med - Cardiovascular Disease  Ctr Cardiovasc Bio (Org Ret) Professor
Center  Ctr for Exercise Medicine (Org Ret)  Ctr for Exercise Medicine (Org Ret) Professor
Center  Ctr for Glial Bio in Med  Ctr for Glial Bio in Med Professor
Center  Ctr Neurodegeneration & Exp Ther (CNET)  Ctr Neurodegeneration & Exp Ther (CNET) Professor

Graduate Biomedical Sciences Affiliations
Cancer Biology 
Hughes Med-Grad Fellowship Program 
Integrative Biomedical Sciences 
Medical Scientist Training Program 
Neuroscience 
Neuroscience Graduate Program 
Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine 

Biographical Sketch 
I was born in Canton, Ohio in 1959. I graduated from Duke University with a BA in zoology in 1981 and Duke University Medical School in 1985. I did a one year research fellowship in Dr. James McNamara’s laboratory in epilepsy research in 1984. My medical training included an internship (internal medicine) at Case Western Reserve University (1985-1986) and a residency in Neurology at Duke University (1987-1990). I completed a molecular biology fellowship in Dr. Jack Keene’s laboratory (1990-1991) studying basic RNA biology and a clinical neuromuscular fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic (1991-1992). I am currently Vice Chair of Neurology at UAB and Chief of Neurology at the Birmingham Veterans Administration Medical Center. In addition to administrative duties, I maintain a clinic practice, oversee clinical neurophysiology at BVAMC, direct the ALS clinic for veterans, and oversee an active basic science research laboratory.

Society Memberships
Organization Name Position Held Org Link
American Association of Cancer Research  Member   
American Neurological Association  Associate   
 

Research/Clinical Interest
Title
1) RNA Regulation of Inflammation in ALS and other Neurodegenerative Disorders, 2) Smads as Biomarkers of ALS Disease Progressionh
Description
My laboratory interests have centered on the post-transcriptional regulation of cytokine and chemokine expression in glial cells of the central nervous system and the impact on ALS, other neurodegenerative disorders, and glioblastoma. We are also interested in biomarkers of ALS that would facilitate diagnosis and disease monitoring and are focusing on two markers, Smad and TGFb, that we discovered from RNA sequencing experiments of muscle samples from patients with ALS.

Selected Publications 
Kwan T, Floyd CL, Patel J, Mohaimany-Aponte A, King PH. Astrocytic expression of the RNA regulator HuR accentuates spinal cord injury in the acute phase. Neurosci Lett. 2017;651:140-5. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2017.05.003.   28487080 
Matsye P, Zheng L, Si Y, Kim S, Luo W, Crossman DK, Bratcher PE, King PH. HuR promotes the molecular signature and phenotype of activated microglia: Implications for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases. Glia. 2017;65(6):945-63. doi: 10.1002/glia.23137.
 		 28300326 
Kwan T, Floyd CL, Kim S, King PH. RNA Binding Protein Human Antigen R Is Translocated in Astrocytes following Spinal Cord Injury and Promotes the Inflammatory Response. J Neurotrauma. 2017;34(6):1249-59. Epub 2016/11/18. doi: 10.1089/neu.2016.4757.
 		 27852147 
Si Y, Kim S, Cui X, Zheng L, Oh SJ, Anderson T, AlSharabati M, Kazamel M, Volpicelli-Daley L, Bamman MM, Yu S, King PH. Transforming Growth Factor Beta (TGF-beta) Is a Muscle Biomarker of Disease Progression in ALS and Correlates with Smad Expression. PLoS One. 2015;10(9):e0138425. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0138425.   26375954 
Si Y, Cui X, Kim S, Wians R, Sorge R, Oh SJ, Kwan T, AlSharabati M, Lu L, Claussen G, Anderson T, Yu S, Morgan D, Kazamel M, King PH. Smads as muscle biomarkers in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Ann Clin Transl Neurol. 2014;1(10):778-87. doi: 10.1002/acn3.117.   25493269 
Lu L, Zheng L, Si Y, Luo W, Dujardin G, Kwan T, Potochick NR, Thompson SR, Schneider DA, King PH. Hu antigen R (HuR) is a positive regulator of the RNA-binding proteins TDP-43 and FUS/TLS: implications for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. J Biol Chem. 2014;289(46):31792-804. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M114.573246.   25239623 
King PH, Chen CY. Role of KSRP in control of type I interferon and cytokine expression. J Interferon Cytokine Res. 2014;34(4):267-74. doi: 10.1089/jir.2013.0143.   24697204 
Nabors, L.N., Suswam, E., Huang, Y.,Yang, X., Johnson, M.J., King, P.H. Tumor Necrosis Factor- induces angiogenic factor upregulation in malignant glioma cells: a role for RNA stabilization and HuR. Cancer Res., 2003; 63: 4181-4187.  12874024 
 

Keywords
RNA stability; AU-rich elements; cytokines and chemokines; glioblastoma; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, stroke, spinal cord injury, HuR, KSRP