e-mail address: ckflee@hkucc.hku.hk

Tel: (852)2819-9369
Fax: (852)2816-1947
Fax: (852)2855-0947

Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,
Rm 49, 7/F, Laboratory Block, Faculty of Medicine Building.
The University of Hong Kong, 21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, CHINA

Link to personal homepage

Dr. LEE Kai-Fai, Calvin

BSc (HKBU), Ph D (CUHK)
Associate Professor

Research Interest

  1. Interaction of embryos and the female reproductive tract, and role of glycodelins in fertilization process.


Figure 1  Immunostaining of Dcpp in preimplantation mouse embryos.  Germinal vesicle (GV) oocyte, oocyte, 4-cells embryo and morula were stained with Dcpp antibody (Green), and the nuclei were counterstained with PI (red).

  1. Understanding human endometrial receptivity.


Figure 2  Microarray analysis of 13 human endometrial samples. Normalized data of all genes in each microarray chip were used in the clustering and PCA analyses. (A) Hierarchic cluster analysis of 13 human endometrial samples. The up-regulated (red) and down-regulated (green) genes (rows) of 13 endometrial samples (columns) were clustered into two groups. (B) Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to group samples with similar gene expression patterns. Two principal variables in the gene expression profile data were presented in a twodimensional system between the natural cycles (N; open squares), moderate responders (M; gray squares), and excessive responders (E; solid squares) of stimulated cycles. Percentages of variances for PCA1 and PCA2 were 44.14% and 12.25%, respectively.

  1. Conditional gene inactivation approach to understand acrosome-specific gene in spermatogenesis.

Expression of VAD1.2 transcripts in the testes
A – mouse                  B – mouse                  C – mouse                  D - human


Figure 3  Expression of VAD1.2 transcripts in the testes.  35S-labeled VAD1.2 cRNA was used to detect VAD1.2 transcript in adult mouse testes. The expression of VAD1.2 transcript was strongest at stage X and viewed under bright (A) and dark (B) field images. VAD1.2 protein was strongly detected at the acrosome region of the round and elongated spermatids of mouse (C) and human (D) testis.

 
 

Selected publications

  1. Chiu PCN, Wong BST, Lee CL, Pang RTK, Lee KF, Sumitro SB, Gupta SK, Yeung WSB. (2008) Native human zona pellucida glycoproteins: Purification and binding properties. Hum Reprod., 2008 Mar 10; [Epub ahead of print]

  2. Zeng HT, Yeung WS, Cheung MP, Ho PC, Lee KF, Zhuang GL, Liang XY, O WS. (2008) In vitro-matured rat oocytes have low mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid and adenosine triphosphate contents and have abnormal mitochondrial redistribution. Fertil Steril. 2008 Mar 3; [Epub ahead of print]

  3. Lee YL, Liu Y, Ng PY, Lee KF, Au CL, Ng EHY, Ho PC, Yeung WSB (2008) Aberrant expression of angiopoietins-1, -2 and vascular endothelial growth factor-A in peri-implantation endometrium after gonadotrophin stimulation. Hum Reprod., 2008 Feb 7 [Epub ahead of print].

  4. Liu Y*, Lee KF *, Yeung WSB, Ng EH, Ho PC (2008) Gene Expression Profiling of Human Peri-implantation endometria between natural and stimulated cycles. Fertil Steril, 2008 Jan 11; [Epub ahead of print] (*Co-first-authors)

  5. Tse PK, Lee YL, Chow WN, Luk JMC, Lee KF, Yeung WSB (2008) Preimplantation embryos cooperate with oviductal cells to produce embryotrophic inactivated complement-3b. Endocrinology 149, 1268-76. Epub 2007 Nov 26.

  6. Chiu PC, Chung MK, Koistinen R, Koistinen H, Seppala M, Ho PC, Ng EHY, Lee KF, Yeung WSB (2007) Cumulus oophorus-associated glycodelin-C displaces sperm bound glycodelin-Aand -F and stimulates spermatozoa-zona pellucida binding. J. Biol. Chem. 282, 5378-5388.

  7. Chiu PC, Chung MK, Koistinen R, Koistinen H, Seppala M, Ho PC, Ng EHY, Lee KF, Yeung WSB (2007) Glycodelin-A interacts with fucosyltransferase on human sperm plasma membrane to inhibit spermatozoa-zona pellucida binding. J. Cell Science 120, 33-44.

  8. Lee KF, Yeung WSB (2006) Gamete/Embryo-Oviduct interactions: Implications on in vitro culture. Human Fertility 9, 137-43.

  9. Luk JM, Lee NP, Shum CK, Lam BY, Siu AF, Che CM, Tam PC, Cheung AN, Yang ZM, Lin YN, Matzuk MM, Lee KF,Yeung WSB (2006) Acrosome-Specific Gene AEP1: Identification, characterization and roles in spermatogenesis. J. Cell Physiol. 209, 755-66.

  10. Yeung WSB, Lee KF, Koistinen R, Hoistinen H, Seppala M, Ho PC, Chiu PC (2006) Roles of glycodelin in modulating sperm function. Mol. Cell. Endocrinol. 250, 149-56. Epub 2006 Jan 18.

  11. Lee KF, Xu JS, Lee YL, Yeung WSB (2006) Demilune cell and parotid protein (Dcpp) from murine oviductal epithelium stimulates pre-implantation embryo development. Endocrinology 147, 79-87. Epub 2005 Oct 20.

  12. Chiu PC, Chung MK, Tsang HY, Koistinen R, Koistinen H, Seppala M, Lee KF, Yeung WS. (2005) Glycodelin-S in human seminal plasma reduces cholesterol efflux and inhibits capacitation of spermatozoa. J. Biol. Chem. 280, 25580-25589.

  13. Lee KF, Kwok KL, Chung MK, Lee YL, Chow JFC, Yeung WSB (2005) Phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP) mRNA expression is stimulated by developing embryos in the oviduct. J Cell Biochem, 2005 Apr 14; [Epub ahead of print].

  14. Xu JS, Lee YL, Lee KF, Kwok KL, Lee WM, Luk JM, Yeung WS. (2004) Embryotrophic factor-3 from human oviductal cells enhances proliferation, suppresses apoptosis and stimulates the expression of the 1 subunit of sodium-potassium ATPase in mouse embryos.  Hum Reprod. 19, 2919-2926. Epub 2004 Sep 30.

  15. Chiu PC, Tsang HY, Koistinen R, Koistinen H, Seppala M, Lee KF, Yeung WS. (2004) The contribution of D-Mannose, L-Fucose, N-Acetylglucosamine, and Selectin residues on the binding of glycodelin isoforms to human spermatozoa. Biol. Reprod. 70, 1710-1719. Epub 2004 Feb 18.

  16. Lee YL, Lee KF, Xu JS, He QY, Chiu JF, Lee WM, Luk JM, Yeung WSB. (2004) The embryotrophic activity of oviductal cell derived complement C3b and iC3b-a novel function of complement protein in reproduction. J. Biol. Chem. 279, 12763-12768. Epub 2003 Dec 29.

  17. Lee KF, Yeung WS, Chow JF, Shum CK, Luk JM. (2004) Different Testicular Gene Expression Patterns in the First Spermatogenic Cycle of Postnatal and Vitamin A-Deficient Rat Testis. Biol. Reprod. 70, 1010-1017. Epub 2003 Dec 3

  18. Luk JM, Mok BW, Shum CK, Yeung WS, Tam PC, Tse JY, Chow JF, Woo J, Kam K, Lee KF (2003) Identification of novel genes expressed during spermatogenesis in stage-synchronized rat testes by differential display. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 307, 782-790.

  19. Yao YQ, Xu JS, Lee WM, Yeung WS, Lee KF. (2003) Identification of mRNAs that are up-regulated after fertilization in the murine zygote by suppression subtractive hybridization. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 304, 60-66.

  20. Chiu PC, Koistinen R, Koistinen H, Seppala M, Lee KF, Yeung WS. (2003) Binding of zona binding inhibitory factor-1 (ZIF-1) from human follicular fluid on spermatozoa. J. Biol. Chem., 278, 13570-13577.

  21. Lee YL, Lee KF, Xu JS, Luk JM, Lee WM, Kwok KL, Yeung WSB. (2003) The effects of embryotrophic factor-3 from human oviductal cells on the gene expression of mouse blastocyst. Biol. Reprod., 68, 375-382.

  22. Lee KF, Yao YQ, Kwok KL, Xu JS, Yeung WSB. (2002) Early developing embryos affect the gene expression patterns in the mouse oviduct. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 292, 564-570.

  23. Lee KF, Chow JFC, Xu JS, Chan STH, Ip SM, and Yeung WSB. (2001) A comparative study of gene expression in murine embryos developed in vivo, cultured in vitro and cocultured with human oviductal cells using messenger ribonucleic acid differential display. Biol. Reprod. 64, 910-917.
 

External Grants

  • Functional characterization of a testis-specific TRS4 gene on spermatogenesis by tissue-specific conditional inactivation. National Natural Science Foundation of China and Research Grant Council (NSFC/RGC) Joint Research Scheme 2006-2007 (Principal Investigator) HK$730,700 (2007-2010)

  • Functional characterization of VAD1.3, a novel acrosome-specific protein by conditional tissue-specific gene inactivation. University Grants Committee of Hong Kong (UGC) Research Grants Council (RGC) Earmarked Grant for Research 2005-2006 (Principal Investigator) HK$884,957 (2005-2008)

  • Role of olfactomedin in implantation. University Grant Committee of Hong Kong (UGC) Research Grant Council (RGC) Earmarked Grant for Research 2005-2006 (Co-Investigator) HK$1,109,957 (2005-2008)

  • The molecular interaction between human oviductal embryotrophic factor-3 and embryo. University Grants Committee of Hong Kong (UGC) Research Grants Council (RGC) Earmarked Grant for Research 2004-2005 (Principal Investigator) HK$939,968 plus HK$45,000 (2004-2006)

  • Molecular cloning and characterization of zona-binding inhibitory factor-1 (ZIF-1) receptor(s) from human spermatozoa. University Grants Committee of Hong Kong (UGC) Research Grants Council (RGC) Earmarked Grant for Research 2001-2002 (Principal Investigator) HK$754,600 (2001-2003)

  • The effect of embryos on the gene expression of mouse oviduct in the preimplantation period. University Grants Committee of Hong Kong (UGC) Research Grants Council (RGC) Earmarked Grant for Research 2000-2001 (Principal Investigator) HK$763,200 (2000-2002)