See the Science that’s Expanding Treatments

For some people, their experience of healthcare is an annual visit with their doctor and a semi-annual visit with their dentist. But for many of us, healthcare is much more. It could be intensive care in a hospital after a cardiac event. It might be an operation to remove a tumor. It could be a prescription for medicine to get relief from severe depression. Or it might be an inhaled anti-asthmatic that relaxes the airways.

All of these therapies, and many, many more, came into existence through scientific research and discovery. The Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons has always contributed, and will continue to contribute, important scientific research and discoveries that ultimately benefit patients. The stories below highlight Columbia research projects that have led, or may one day lead, to advances in patient care.

Replacing a Heart Valve without Opening a Patient’s Chest

Roughly 5% of people over the age of 75 will experience a narrowing of their aortic valve, which can lead to chest pain, fatigue, and heart failure. A Columbia cardiologist co-invented an artificial replacement valve and then perfected a technique to insert the new valve without opening a patient’s chest. Since the early 2000s, Columbia researchers have been leading multiple clinical trials to establish the technique’s safety and effectiveness. Today, instead of requiring days or even weeks to recover, aortic valve patients can often leave the hospital within 24 hours. 

Using the Ovary to Understand (and Delay?) Aging

In recent years, across many studies of menopause, researchers have made two startling discoveries: the ovary ages faster than its owner; and the earlier ovaries age, the more likely a woman is to develop heart disease, depression, and dementia, and to die earlier. Now, based on their findings about how the ovary ages, Columbia researchers are testing a drug in perimenopausal women that might slow the aging of ovaries. Beyond its effect on the ovary, can this drug also blunt the afflictions of old age?

Applying the tools of neurology to understand and treat stomach cancer

Stomach cancer begins when cells in the lining of the stomach start to grow out of control and develop into a tumor. To better understand this process, Columbia researchers have focused on how cells of a stomach tumor communicate with nearby nerve cells of the stomach. With this understanding, they have shown that a tumor’s growth can be stopped or even reversed by disrupting this communication. Could a drug that targets this communication cure cancer of the stomach?

Finding a Cure for ‘Patchy’ Hair Loss

Before 2010, alopecia areata, which affects nearly seven million Americans, afflicted generations of patients while baffling their dermatologists. In that year, a team of Columbia researchers published the first genes underlying alopecia areata and then began a series of experiments that not only pinpointed the cause of the autoimmune disease but also identified a drug that could stop the disease process. Their early clinical trials proved that the drug could restore hair growth and prompted pharmaceutical companies to develop their own drugs, the first of which was approved in 2022. It was a triumph not only for patients but also for the fields of immunology and genetics.