Periostin May Be a Novel Biomarker to Classify Patients with Chronic Rhinosinusitis

A recent study from the Division of Otolaryngology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) showed that serum periostin, an extracellular matrix protein, may be a novel biomarker for the presence of nasal polyps in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), and could potentially serve as a target for future therapeutic interventions. The findings were published in the October 2017 issue of Otolaryngology Head Neck Surg.  Read More

Harnessing Ultrasound to Deliver RNA-based Therapies into Gut Cells

While biologic drugs hold enormous promise for treating a wide range of gastrointestinal disorders, delivering these large molecules into the GI tract is formidable. To address this challenge, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) researcher C. Giovanni Traverso, MB, BChir, PhD, and colleagues have developed an ultrasound method for delivering drugs and macromolecules into the gut. Read More

Brigham and Women’s Mastocytosis Center Offers Advanced Approaches to Diagnosis and Treatment

Specialists in the Mastocytosis Center have developed advanced approaches for evaluating and treating mast cell disease, including state-of-the-art techniques to accurately diagnose the disease. Read More

Thyroid Cancer 360 Program Employs Multifaceted Analyses to Identify Targeted Treatments for Patients with Advanced and Aggressive Thyroid Cancers

Specialists in the Thyroid Cancer Center at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center are providing targeted treatments to improve outcomes for patients with advanced and aggressive thyroid cancers in the new Thyroid Cancer 360 Program. Read More

Pioneering Multiple Myeloma Trials Evaluate Novel Immunologic Approaches for Long-term Disease Control

Hemato-oncologists at the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center are leading studies of innovative immunologic approaches for patients with multiple myeloma that are designed to achieve long-term control of the disease. Read More

New Program Offers Personalized Risk Assessment, Screening, and Prevention Strategies for Patients at Increased Risk for Breast Cancer

Specialists from Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital recently introduced the Breast Cancer Personalized Risk Assessment, Education and Prevention (B-PREP) Program for patients at increased risk for breast cancer and for patients who want to better understand their risk. Read More

Asthma Drugs May Offer Novel Pathway to Thwart Parkinson’s Disease

Recent research into preventing the Lewy bodies that are a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease raises the possibility of a new path for drug development: repurposing existing asthma drugs to turn down production of alpha-synuclein. Read More

Upcoming Clinical Trial Using Combination Therapy for Newly-diagnosed Glioblastoma Patients  

The Department of Neurosurgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) is involved in cutting-edge clinical trials using immunotherapies to treat glioblastoma. Read More

Center for Alzheimer Research and Treatment to Receive NIH Grants to Advance Clinical Trials


The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is expected to award up to $70 million over five years to three physician-scientists to launch the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trials Consortium (ACTC) – a network of 35 Alzheimer’s disease trial sites across the country – with the goal of finding new ways to treat or prevent Alzheimer’s. Read More

Study of Severe Asthma Yields Insights into the Immunology of the Disease

The Severe Asthma Program, part of the Partners Asthma Center, offers state-of-the-art diagnostic and therapeutic options that enable your patients with severe asthma to achieve improved respiratory health. Meanwhile, Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers are discovering new therapies to manage the disease.

Research points to immunological differences in responses to steroids in patients with severe asthma, suggesting reasons corticosteroids may paradoxically perpetuate inflammation in severe asthma. Read More