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Monty Hughes Jr., PhD

Director, Duke University Urinary Dysfunction Laboratory
Assistant Professor in Surgery
Division: 
Urology
Faculty Lab: 
Duke University Urinary Dysfunction Laboratory
Office: 383 MSRB 1, Durham, NC 27710
Campus Mail: DUMC 383 MSRB 1, Durham, NC 27710

 Dr. Hughes received his Ph.D. from the Medical University of South Carolina and was a post doc at both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and NIH. He then joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he rose to the rank of Associate Professor (with tenure). Following a brief stint as the director of the biology division of a start-up pharmaceutical company, he joined forces with Dr. Purves at the Medical University of South Carolina to begin this lab focused on benign urinary disorders. Dr. Hughes has been at Duke since 2015. He is currently an Assistant Professor working within the Department of Surgery and Division of Urology. He serves as the Director of the Urinary Dysfunction Laboratory which studies the role of inflammation in disorders such as bladder outlet obstruction and diabetic bladder dysfunction. In association with Dr. J Todd Purves, this lab has been instrumental in demonstrating the central importance of the NLRP3 inflammasome in sensing the biochemical stressors associated with these disorders and translating them into an inflammatory signal. This signal is ultimately responsible for changes in voiding function, denervation and fibrosis.

Education and Training

  • Senior Research Scientist, Surgery / Urology, Duke University School of Medicine, 2015 - 2019
  • Ph.D., Medical University of South Carolina, 1992
  • B.S., Clemson University, 1987

Selected Grants

Publications

Hughes, Francis M., Armand Allkanjari, Michael R. Odom, Huixia Jin, and J Todd Purves. “Diabetic bladder dysfunction progresses from an overactive to an underactive phenotype in a type-1 diabetic mouse model (Akita female mouse) and is dependent on NLRP3.” Life Sci 299 (June 15, 2022): 120528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lfs.2022.120528.

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Hughes, Francis M., Armand Allkanjari, Michael R. Odom, Huixia Jin, and J Todd Purves. “Specialized pro-resolution mediators in the bladder: Receptor expression and recovery of bladder function from cystitis.” Exp Biol Med (Maywood) 247, no. 8 (April 2022): 700–711. https://doi.org/10.1177/15353702211067465.

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Dunton, Cody L., J Todd Purves, Francis M. Hughes, and Jiro Nagatomi. “BOO induces fibrosis and EMT in urothelial cells which can be recapitulated in vitro through elevated storage and voiding pressure cycles.” Int Urol Nephrol 53, no. 10 (October 2021): 2007–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-021-02942-3.

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Hughes, Francis M., Shelby N. Harper, Brent D. Nosé, Armand Allkanjari, Michael T. Zheng, Huixia Jin, and J Todd Purves. “Specialized proresolution mediators in the bladder: annexin-A1 normalizes inflammation and bladder dysfunction during bladder outlet obstruction.” Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 321, no. 4 (October 1, 2021): F443–54. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajprenal.00205.2021.

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Hughes, Francis M., Nathan A. Hirshman, Hamza A. Malick, Simon W. White, Huixia Jin, Shelby N. Harper, and J Todd Purves. “A possible mechanism underlying mood disorders associated with LUTS: Chronic bladder outlet obstruction causes NLRP3-dependent inflammation in the hippocampus and depressive behavior in rats.” Neurourol Urodyn 39, no. 6 (August 2020): 1700–1707. https://doi.org/10.1002/nau.24448.

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Wu, Jianxuan, Byron W. Hayes, Cassandra Phoenix, Gustavo Sosa Macias, Yuxuan Miao, Hae Woong Choi, Francis M. Hughes, J. Todd Purves, R. Lee Reinhardt, and Soman N. Abraham. “A highly polarized TH2 bladder response to infection promotes epithelial repair at the expense of preventing new infections.” Nat Immunol 21, no. 6 (June 2020): 671–83. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-020-0688-3.

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Hirshman, Nathan A., Francis M. Hughes, Huixia Jin, William T. Harrison, Simon W. White, Isabelle Doan, Shelby N. Harper, Patrick D. Leidig, and J Todd Purves. “Cyclophosphamide-induced cystitis results in NLRP3-mediated inflammation in the hippocampus and symptoms of depression in rats.” Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 318, no. 2 (February 1, 2020): F354–62. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajprenal.00408.2019.

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Purves, Todd, Nathan Hirshman, Huixia Jin, Isabelle Doan, Simon White, Shelby Harper, and Francis Hughes. “CYCLOPHOSPHAMIDE-INDUCED CYSTITIS TRIGGERS NLRP3-DEPENDENT NEUROINFLAMMATION IN THE HIPPOCAMPUS AND DEPRESSION IN RATS.” In Journal of Urology, 201:E688–E688. LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS, 2019.

Scholars@Duke

Sivaraman, Srikanth, Nicholas Amoroso, Xinzhu Gu, J Todd Purves, Francis M. Hughes, William R. Wagner, and Jiro Nagatomi. “Evaluation of Poly (Carbonate-Urethane) Urea (PCUU) Scaffolds for Urinary Bladder Tissue Engineering.” Ann Biomed Eng 47, no. 3 (March 2019): 891–901. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-018-02182-0.

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Hughes, Francis M., Nathan A. Hirshman, Brian M. Inouye, Huixia Jin, Eloise W. Stanton, Chloe E. Yun, Leah G. Davis, Jonathan C. Routh, and J Todd Purves. “NLRP3 Promotes Diabetic Bladder Dysfunction and Changes in Symptom-Specific Bladder Innervation.” Diabetes 68, no. 2 (February 2019): 430–40. https://doi.org/10.2337/db18-0845.

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