May Research Highlights

New Bladder Cancer Classification Predicts Treatment Response

Investigators from Cedars-Sinai Cancer, working in collaboration with colleagues in Colorado and the Netherlands, have identified a specific type of bladder cancer most likely to resist first-line treatment. Their study, led by co-senior author Dan Theodorescu, MD, PhD, published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Translational Medicine, could guide clinicians toward more aggressive treatment or more targeted therapies for some patients with specific subtypes of the disease, ultimately saving lives. Read more>

Study: Transcatheter Mitral Valve Repair Safe, Successful

Long-awaited outcomes data of transcatheter edge-to-edge procedures to repair patients’ leaky mitral valves revealed the minimally invasive procedure to be safe and effective in nearly 90% of patients, according to a study led by Cedars-Sinai physician-scientist Raj Makkar, MD. The findings on the condition called degenerative mitral regurgitation were published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), representing the largest study to date that examines outcomes for patients treated outside of a clinical trial with transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER). Read more>

New Imaging Platform for MS Preclinical Trials

Investigators at Cedars-Sinai and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke have pioneered a way to monitor the self-repair of brain lesions in a nonhuman primate model of multiple sclerosis (MS). Their study, led by co-senior author Pascal Sati, PhD, and published in the peer-reviewed journal eLife, used highly sensitive 7-Tesla MRI to track the progress of brain lesion self-repair. Read more>

Study: Blood Vessel Damage Could Be an Alzheimer’s Driver

Blood vessel abnormalities in the eye are a major factor in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, according to research from Cedars-Sinai investigators, led by Maya Koronyo-Hamaoui, PhD, published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association. These changes correspond to changes in the brain, offering a new possibility for early diagnosis. Read more> 

Sealing a Leaky Gut

By studying the cells that line the intestines, Cedars-Sinai investigators, led by Kathrin Michelsen, PhD, have discovered a biological process that helps these cells repair themselves. The findings, published in the journal Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology, illuminate what goes wrong in people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Read more> 

Study Reveals How Fatty Liver Promotes Colorectal Cancer Spread

Investigators led by Ekihiro Seki, MD, PhD, found that fatty liver, a condition closely associated with obesity, promotes the spread of colorectal cancer to the liver. Their study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell Metabolism, details the process at the cellular level and could change the way doctors manage the disease in some patients. Read more> 

Cedars-Sinai Establishes Center for Artificial Intelligence Research and Education

The Cedars-Sinai Department of Computational Biomedicine recently established the Center for Artificial Intelligence Research and Education. The center’s scientists are particularly focused on the development of leading-edge, new algorithms and on applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to genomic research, personalized medicine and other healthcare research applications. Jason Moore, PhD, and Tiffani Bright, PhD, will serve as co-directors of the center. Read more> 

Association of American Physicians Taps Cedars-Sinai Leader as President-Elect

Physician-scientist Paul Noble, MD, chair of the Department of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai, was named president-elect of the Association of American Physicians (AAP) at the group's annual meeting in Chicago on April 22. The AAP also inducted three Cedars-Sinai physicians—Nunzio Bottini, MD, PhD, Sumeet Chugh, MD, and Dermot McGovern, MD, PhD—who now join 17 other Cedars-Sinai faculty who are elected members of this prestigious academic society. Read more>

Cedars-Sinai Cancer Appoints New OncoBiobank Director

Cedars-Sinai Cancer welcomes Karine Sargsyan, MD, as scientific director of its OncoBiobank. Sargsyan is charged with leading biobank development and creating new strategies for the optimal deployment and use of the Cedars-Sinai Cancer Molecular Twin Precision Oncology Platform for both research and clinical practice. She will work collaboratively with Nicholas Tatonetti, PhD, associate director of Computational Oncology, on the latter project. She also will lead specific aspects of cancer research project protocol development, including overseeing biospecimen procurement, processing and storage, as well as distribution to investigators. Read more>

Can Artificial Intelligence Predict Heart Attack Risk?

What if your physician could predict if—or when—you might experience a heart attack, cardiac arrest or another heart-related problem? Investigators are one step closer to achieving this breakthrough in preventive healthcare and offering patients personalized predictions of their heart health thanks to a novel deep-learning tool and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm developed at Cedars-Sinai. Investigators, led by Piotr Slomka, PhD, say their findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal NPJ Digital Medicine, might be an effective way to engage patients in their own healthcare.  Read more> 

Developing New Ways to Repair Tendons

Cedars-Sinai investigators are working to develop a more effective treatment for one of the most common and hard-to-heal musculoskeletal injuries: torn tendons. Investigators led by Dmitriy Sheyn, PhD, assistant professor in the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, and the departments of Orthopaedics, Surgery and Biomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai, are studying how to use stem cells to repair tendons, the tissues that connect muscles to bones.  Read more>            

Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes Increase Stroke Risk

Investigators from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, led by Natalie Bello, MD, MPH, director of Hypertension Research, found that women who experience an adverse pregnancy outcome--such as gestational hypertension, preeclampsia or preterm birth--have a higher risk of developing stroke in their lifetime, and at a younger age. The findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Stroke, also found that compared to women with one uncomplicated pregnancy, a woman who had two or more pregnancies impacted by an adverse pregnancy outcome had a twofold higher increase of stroke. Read more>

Research: Prostate Cancer Studies Explore New Treatment, Health Disparities

Research from Cedars-Sinai Cancer detailing the largest examination to date of prostate cancer in transgender women, as well as treatment options that improve outcomes in patients with recurrent prostate cancer, was presented by Stephen Freedland, MD, the Warschaw Robertson Law Families Chair in Prostate Cancer at Cedars-Sinai and associate director for Training and Education at Cedars-Sinai Cancer, during the American Urological Association (AUA) annual meeting April 28-May 1 in Chicago. Read more>       

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