Professional Interests

Dr. Victor Schuster received his M.D. at Washington University, St. Louis in 1977. He was an intern, resident, and chief resident in Internal Medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle, and a renal fellow at Southwestern Medical School, Dallas. His first faculty position was at the University of Iowa, Iowa City. In 1988, he moved to Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx where he became chief of the Einstein Renal Division in 1992 and chief of the Unified Renal Division (Einstein + Montefiore hospital) in 1998. He has been Baumritter Professor of Medicine since 2002. From 2002 to 2014, he was Chair of the Department of Medicine at Einstein and at Montefiore Medical Center. Since 2014, he has been Senior Vice-Dean at Einstein.

Dr. Schuster’s research laboratory discovered the prostaglandin (PG) transporter PGT and extended the work to human and mouse genetics and drug discovery. His group has advanced the novel hypothesis that PG signaling is akin to neuronal signaling, i.e. the signaling molecule is released and is then taken up again by the same cell for inactivation. By screening a small molecular library and carrying out subsequent lead compound development, the laboratory has developed a series of high-affinity PGT inhibitors that, in pre-clinical studies, mitigate several features of the metabolic syndrome. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Dr. Schuster serves as the Renal Consult Service attending physician and as the inpatient Internal Medicine attending physician for several weeks each year; is a frequent discussant of clinical cases with students, interns, and residents; and regularly lectures on renal physiology, renal pathophysiology, renal disease, prostaglandin signaling, and nonsteroidal drug design to the Einstein medical students, MD-PhD students, renal fellows, and graduate students.

Dr. Schuster also lectures widely on topics outside of science, including "Effective Negotiation", "Things Your Parents Never Told You About Becoming a Clinical Investigator", "How Science Works", "Becoming a Leader in Academic Medicine", and "Avoiding the Hokey Pokey Moment". 

Selected Publications

Selected publications:

Kanai,N Lu,R Satriano,J Bao,Y Wolkoff,AW Schuster,VL. Identification and characterization of a prostaglandin transporter. Science 268: 866-869, 1995.

Itoh,S Lu,R Bao,Y Morrow,JD Roberts,LJ Schuster,VL. Structural determinants of substrates for the prostaglandin transporter "PGT". Mol Pharm 50: 736-742, 1996.

Lu,R Kanai,N Bao,Y Schuster,VL. Cloning, in vitro expression, and tissue distribution of a human prostaglandin transporter cDNA "hPGT". J Clin Invest 98: 1142-1149, 1996.

Schuster,VL Lu,R Coca-Prados,M. Identification and characterization of a prostaglandin transporter widely-expressed in ocular and other secretory epithelia. Survey Ophthalmol 41: S41-S45, 1997.

Schuster,VL. Molecular mechanisms of prostaglandin transport. Ann Rev Physiol 60: 221-242, 1998.

Chan,B Satriano,JA Pucci,M Schuster,VL. Mechanism of PGE2 transport across the plasma membrane of HeLa cells and Xenopus oocytes expressing the prostaglandin transporter "PGT". J Biol Chem 273: 6689-6697, 1998.

Lu,R Schuster,VL. Molecular cloning of the gene for the human prostaglandin transporter hPGT: Gene organization, promoter activity, and chromosomal localization. Biochem Biophys Res Comm 246: 805-812, 1998.

Pucci,M Bao,Y Chan,B Itoh,S Lu,R Copeland,NG Gilbert,DA Jenkins,NA Schuster,VL. Cloning of mouse prostaglandin transporter PGT cDNA: species-specific substrate affinities. Am J Physiol (Regulatory) 277: R734-R741, 1999.

Chan,BS Satriano,JA Schuster,VL. Mapping the substrate binding site of the prostaglandin transporter PGT by cysteine scanning mutagenesis. J Biol Chem 274: 25564-25570, 1999.

Schuster,VL Itoh,S Andrews,SW Chen,J Kedzie,KM Krauss,HA Woodward,DF. Structural requirements for binding of prostaglandins to the prostaglandin FP receptor versus the prostaglandin transporter PGT. Mol Pharmacol 58: 1511-1516, 2000.

Endo,S Nomura,T Chan,BS Lu,R Pucci,ML Bao,Y Schuster,VL. Expression of PGT in MDCK cell monolayers: polarized apical localization and induction of active PG transport. Am J Physiol 282: F618-F622, 2002

Bao,Y Pucci,ML Chan,BS Lu,R Itoh,S Schuster,VL. Prostaglandin transporter PGT is expressed in cell types that synthesize and release prostanoids. Am J Physiol (Renal) 282: F1103-1110, 2002.

Chan, BS Endo,S Kanai,N Schuster,VL. Identification of lactate as a substrate and a driving force for prostanoid transport by the prostaglandin transporter PGT. Am J Physiol (Renal) 282: F1097-1102, 2002.

van der Zwaag,B Verzijl,HTFM Beltran-Valero de Bernabe,D Schuster,VL van Bokhoven,H Kremer,H van Reen,M Wichers, GH Brunner,HG Padberg,GW. Mutation analysis in the candidate Mbius syndrome genes PGT and GATA2 on chromosome 3, and EGR2 on chromosome 10. J Med Genetics 39: e30, 2002

Chan,BS Bao,Y Schuster,VL. The role of conserved transmembrane cationic amino acids in the prostaglandin transporter PGT. Biochemistry 41: 9215-9221, 2002.

Schuster,VL. Prostaglandin transport. Prostaglandins and Other Lipid Mediators: 68-69: 633-647, 2002.

Nomura, T Lu,R Pucci,ML Schuster,VL. The two-step model of prostaglandin signal termination: in vitro reconstitution with the transporter PGT and prostaglandin 15 dehydrogenase. Molecular Pharmacology 65: 973-978, 2004.

Pucci,ML Chakkalakkal,B Liclican,EL Leedom,A Schuster,VL Abraham,NG. Augmented Heme Oxygenase-1 Induces Prostaglandin Uptake via the Prostaglandin Transporter in Micro-vascular Endothelial Cells. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 323:1299-1305, 2004.

Nomura,T Chang,H-Y Lu,R Hankin,J Murphy,Rc Schuster,VL. Prostaglandin signaling in the renal collecting duct: release, reuptake, and oxidation in the same cell. J Biol Chem 280: 28424-28429, 2005.

Pucci,ML Endo,S Nomura,T Lu,R Khine,C Chan,B Bao,Y Schuster,VL. Coordinate control of prostaglandin E2 synthesis and reuptake by hyperosmolarity in renal medullary interstitial cells. Am J Physiology (Renal) 290: F641-F649, 2006

Chi,Y Khersonsky,SM Chang-Y-T Schuster,VL. Identification of a new class of PGT inhibitors and their biological effects on PGE2 transport. J Pharmacol Exp Therapeutics 316: 1346-1350, 2006

Chi, Y  Pucci,ML  Schuster,VL. Dietary salt induces transcription of the prostaglandin transporter gene in renal collecting ducts. Am J Physiol (Renal) 295: F765-F771, 2008

Chang, HY Locker, J Lu, R. Schuster, VL. Failure of Postnatal Ductus Arteriosus Closure in Prostaglandin Transporter–Deficient Mice. Circulation. 121:529-536, 2010.

Chi, Y Schuster, VL. The prostaglandin transporter PGT transports PGH2. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 395: 168-172, 2010

Chi, Y Min, J Jasmin, J-F Lisanti, MP Chang, Y-T Schuster, VL. Development of a high affinity inhibitor of the prostaglandin transporter PGT. J Pharmacol & Exp Therapeut 339: 1-9, 2011

Chi, Y  Suadicani,SO  Schuster,VL.  Regulation of prostaglandin EP₁ and EP₄ receptor signaling by carrier-mediated ligand reuptake. Pharmacology Research & Perspectives 2: e00051, 2014

Liu, Z   Benard, O   Syeda, MM,   Schuster, VL,   Chi, Y. Inhibition of Prostaglandin Transporter (PGT) Promotes Perfusion and Vascularization and Accelerates Wound Healing in Non-diabetic and Diabetic Rats. PLoS One 10(7): e0133615, 2015

Chi, Y    Jasmin, J-F    Seki, Y    Lisati, MP    Charron, MJ   Lefer, DJ    Schuster, VL.  Inhibition of the prostaglandin transporter PGT lowers blood pressure in hypertensive rats and mice. PLoS One 10(6): e0131735, 2015

Schuster, VL   Chi, Y   Lu, R. The prostaglandin transporter PGT: eicosanoid reuptake, control of signaling, and development of high-affinity inhibitors as drug candidates. Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc 126: 248-257, 2015

Schuster, VL. The ins and outs of prostaglandin E2 in fever.  Temperature 2:3, 326--327, 2015

Jerschow, E   Ren,, Z   Hudes, G   Sanak, M   Morales, E   Schuster, VL   Spivack, SD   and Rosenstreich, MD.  Utility of low-dose oral aspirin challenges for diagnosis of aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease.  Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 116 (4): 321-328, 2016

Jerschow, E   Edin, ML   Pelletier, T   Abuzeid, WM   Akbar, NA   Gibber, M   Fried, M   Lih, FB   Gruzdev, A   Bradbury, AJ   Han, W   Hudes, G   Keskin, T   Tamayev, R  Schuster, VL  Spivack, S   Zeldin, DC   David Rosenstreich, MD.  Plasma 15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid predicts treatment outcomes in aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease. J Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice 2016 (in press)