NAME

Idhaliz Flores

TITLE

Associate Professor

Positions and Honors

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Flores I , Mariano T, and Pestka S. Human Interferon Omega Binds to the a / b Receptor. J Biol Chem. 1991 ;266(30):19875-19877.

Sarkar S, Flores I, DeRosa C, Ozzello L, Ron Y, and Pestka S. Injection of Irradiated B16 Melanoma Cells Genetically Modified to Secrete IFN- g Causes Regression of an Established Tumor . Int J Oncol. 1995;7:17-24.

Flores I , Sarkar S, De Rosa C, Ozzello L, Nabivi N, Shen R, Ron Y, and Pestka S. INF- g and B7 as Costimulators of Antitumor Immune Responses . Int J Oncol. 1995;7:501-509.

Flores I , Pieniazek D, Morán N, Soler A, Rodríguez N, Alegría M, Vera M, Janini L, Bandea C, and Yamamura Y. Presence of HIV-1 subtype F in single and dual infections in Puerto Rico: a potential sentinel site for monitoring novel genetic variants in North America. J Emerg Infectious Dis. 1999 ;15(3):481-483.

Pieniazek D, Rayfield M, Hu DJ, Dondero T, and the HIV Variant Working Group (Elleberg D, Fridlund C, …, Flores I, …). Protease sequences from HIV-1 M subtypes A-H reveal distinct amino acid mutation patterns associated with protease resistance in protease inhibitor-naive individuals worldwide. AIDS. 2000 ;14:1489-1495.

Mora C, Flores I, Montealegre F, and Diaz AM. Cloning and expression of Blo t 1, a novel allergen from the dust mite Blomia tropicalis,homologous to cysteine proteases. Clin Exp Allergy. 2003 ;33:28-34.

Flores I , Mora C, Rivera E, Donnelly R, and Montealegre F. Cloning and molecular characterization of a cDNA from Blomia tropicalis homologous to dust mite Group 3 allergens (trypsin-like proteases). Int Arch Allergy Immunol. 2003 ;130:12-16.

Rojas- Cartagena C, Flores I, and Appleyard CB. Role of Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptors in an Animal Model of Acute Colitis. In revision, Cytokine. 2004, Manuscript #S2107.

Abstracts

Flores I , Mariano T, and Pestka S. Human Interferon Omega Binds to the a / b Receptor . J Interferon Res. 1991 , 11, Supplement 1, S202: A5.13.

Flores I , Sarkar S, De Rosa C, Ozzello L, Habif D, and Pestka S. Expression of Mouse IFN- g by B16 Melanoma Cells Reduces their Tumorigenicity . J Interferon Res. 1992 , 12, Supplement 1 S81: AW7-3.

Sarkar S, Flores I, Ron Y, and Pestka S. Constitutive Expression of IFN- g and IFN- a Induces a Strong Antitumor Response Against B16 Melanoma . Proceedings of American Association for Cancer Research Eighty-Fifth Annual Meeting. 1994 , p. 521, A3109.

Flores I , Morán N, Alegría M, Vera M, Pieniazek D, Janini LM, Bandea C, and Yamamura Y. Two cases of HIV-1 Infection in Puerto Rico Associated with “Pol” Type F Strains. 4 th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. 1997 , A163.

Morán N, Soler A, Flores I, Alegría M, Vera M, Pieniazek D, Rodríguez N, and Yamamura Y. Multi-Strain HIV-1 Infection Among Female Sex Workers of Puerto Rico: Emerging Pattern of HIV-1 Epidemic. 4 th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. 1997 , A170.

Flores I , Gutierrez S, Estrella L, Rivera E, Rivera K, Donnelly R, and Montealegre F. Molecular. Identification of Mag Allergens from Blomia tropicalis. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1999, 103(1) S31: A121.

Mora CI, Diaz AM, Flores I, and Montealegre F. Molecular characterization of group 1 allergen Blo t 1 from house dust mite Blomia tropicalis . 99 th American Society for Microbiology Meeting. 1999, 267(D/B295).

Silva WI, Maldonado H, Lisanti MP, DeVellis J, Chompré G, Mayol N, Ortiz M, Velázquez G, Maldonado A, and Flores I. Expression of Caveolin-1 and -2 in C6 Astroglial Cells. European Physiological Society Annual Meeting. 1999.

Resto K, Appleyard CB, Flores I, Santiago O, and Santiago C. Pathophysiological Mechanisms and Gastrointestinal Complications in an Animal Model of Endometriosis . Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS), 2001

De Jesús DA, Rojas C, Santiago OI, Appleyard C, and Flores I. White Blood Cells mRNA Amplification from the peritoneal fluid of a rat model of intestinal endometriosis. Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS), 2002

Rojas-Cartagena C, Appleyard CB, Santiago O I, Santiago C, Resto K, and Flores I. Differential role of TNFRII in an animal model of intestinal endometriosis. Biology of Reproduction. 2002;66(Supplement 1):A382.

Rojas- Cartagena C, Flores I, Santiago OI, Santiago C, Resto W, Appleyard CB. Pathophysiological Role of TNFRI in a Rat Model of Intestinal Endometriosis . FASEB Journal. 2002;16(5):A789.

Flores I , Abreu S, Abac S, and Ríos-Bedoya CF. Case series study of endometriosis in Puerto Rico. Fertil Steril. 2003;77(2 Suppl 1):S1-59.

Flores I , Abreu S, Fumero F, De Jesús Y,Abac S, and Ríos-Bedoya CF. Prevalence of endometriosis in Puerto Rico. Fertil Steril 2002;77(2 Suppl 1):S1-59.

Rojas- Cartagena C, Flores I, Santiago C, Santiago OI, and Appleyard CB. Pathophysiological role of TNF-RI in an animal model of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. FASEB Journal. 2003;17(5):A964.

Rojas- Cartagena C, Appleyard CB, Santiago OI, Santiago C, Resto K, and Flores I. TRAF1 overexpression in an animal model of intestinal endometriosis. Biology of Reproduction. 2003;68(Supplement 1):A400.

Flores I , Rivera E, Abac S, Abreu S, Ríos-Bedoya C, and Santiago-Cornier A . Familial and sporadic endometriosis are genotypically different: the role of liver detoxification genes in the pathophysiology of endometriosis. Am J Hum. Gen 2003;73(5)S:A2095.

Rivera E, Ortiz Y, Fourquet J, Abac S, Abreu S, Ríos-Bedoya C, and Flores I. The Role of the PvuII Estrogen Receptor Polymorphism in the Pathophysiology of Endometriosis . FASEB Journal. 2004;18(4):387.5.

Hernández G, Flores I, Valentín M, and Appleyard CB. The role of microflora in an animal model of intestinal endometriosis . FASEB Journal. 2004;18(4):838.20.

Fourquet J, Rivera E, Abac S, Ríos-Bedoya C, and Flores I. The Role of the Estrogen Receptor Gene in the Pathophysiology of Endometriosis . FASEB Journal. 2004;18(4):387.4.

Rojas- Cartagena C, Flores I, and Appleyard CB. Role of Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptors (TNFRs) in a TNBS Animal Model of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. American Physiological Society (APS) Meeting, 2004.

Flores I , Mandal DM, and Bailey-Wilson JE. Search for endometriosis susceptibility genes in Puerto Rico. American Society for Human Genetics (ASHG) Annual Meeting, 2004, A#1905.

Cornier-Santiago A, Acevedo J, Carlo S, Suárez E, Arciniegas N, and Flores I. Polymorphisms at PRX gene causing Charcot-Marie-Tooth Phenotype. American Society for Human Genetics (ASHG) Annual Meeting, 2004, A#2570.

Rojas- Cartagena C, Appleyard CB, and Flores I. Role of Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptors (TNFRs) in an Animal Model of Endometriosis. Cytokines in Cancer and Immunity: Joint Meeting of International Cytokine Society (ICS) and International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research (ISICR), 2004.

Flores I , Rivera E, Mousses S, Chen Y, Elkahloun A, and Rozenblum E. Identification of molecular markers for endometriosis in blood lymphocytes using DNA microarrays . 9 th Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Symposium on Health Disparities, 2004.

Rojas- Cartagena C, Flores I and Appleyard CB. Role of tumor necrosis factor receptors (TNFRs) in a TNBS animal model of colitis. The Physiologist. 2004;47(4):226.

Appleyard CB, Cruz ML, Rivera E, Hernández G, and Flores I. Experimental intestinal endometriosis is not associated with alterations in microflora or motility disturbances . Experimental Biology Meeting, 2005.

Research Support

Title of Project (and/or Subproject): Molecular Biology Core Laboratory

Project Number (Principal Investigator): 2G12RR0305-19 ( Martínez -Maldonado, M, MD)

Agency: RCMI-NIH

Dates of Approved/Proposed Project: 8/1/04-7/31/09

Role/ Percent Effort: Director / 30%

The objective of this institutional grant is to provide the Ponce School of Medicine with a centralized facility to perform molecular biology techniques such as PCR, real-time RT-PCR, molecular cloning, automated DNA sequencing, genetic linkage, genotyping, and others.

Title of Project (and/or Subproject): Differentiation of TNF- a pathways in intestinal endometriosis and Crohn’s disease

Project Number (Principal Investigator): SO6-GM08239 (Torres-Ruiz, J, PhD)

Agency: MBRS-NIH

Dates of Approved/Proposed Project: 8/1/02-8/31/05

Role / Percent Effort: PI / 20%

The objective of this grant is to study the role of the differential gene and protein expression of TNF- a and its receptors in the pathogenesis of intestinal endometriosis and Crohn’s disease, using rat models of disease.

Pending Research Projects

Title of Project (and/or Subproject): SNP Analysis of Endometriosis Candidate Genes

Agency: NIH (PA-01-005, Reproductive Genetics)

Dates of Approved/Proposed Project: 9/1/05-8/31/10

Role/ Percent Effort: PI / 30%

The objective of this grant is to identify genetic variants in candidate genes that can be associated with endometriosis.

Completed Research Projects:

Title of Project (and/or Subproject): Endometriosis in Puerto Rico: Epidemiology,Molecular Biology, and Human Genetics

Agency: RCMI-NIH

Dates of Approved/Proposed Project: 8/1/00-8/31/03

Role / Percent Effort: PI / 33%

The objective of this grant was to study the molecular and genetic aspects that play a role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis by conducting genetic linkage and differential gene expression studies.

Title of Project: Molecular Characterization of Blomia tropicalis Allergen Genes

Agency: MBRS-NIH

Dates of Approved Project: 9/1/97-8/31/2000

The objective of this grant was to clone and characterize at the molecular level, genes encoding allergens from the domestic dust mite Blomia tropicalis.