Benhammou Laboratory
Metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma
Key investigator
- Jihane N. Benhammou, MD, PhD
Mission
The Benhammou Laboratory is focused on understanding the molecular and clinical predictors of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and MASLD-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in diverse populations. The Research Group also aims to understand the role and mechanisms of statins and other chemo-preventive agents for HCC prevention. The laboratory conducts multidisciplinary research at UCLA and Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Health Systems and uses transdisciplinary approaches including population genetics and clinical/environmental risk factor identification, to guide further mechanistic studies in patient-derived organoids and mouse models. We value a collaborative and inclusive environment to ultimately advance science and help the care of patients living with chronic liver diseases. We are part of the Comprehensive Liver Research Center at UCLA and work collaboratively and closely with other teams at UCLA and beyond to accomplish our goals.
Honors and awards
- OPSCD Bridge Grant 2024-25: This award from the UCLA DGSOM Office of Physician-Scientist Career Development will support Dr. Benhammou and her team in obtaining more preliminary results for an NIH R21 resubmission to assess the impact of genes and social determinants of health on metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease outcomes in the Million Veteran Program.
- Seed Grant: UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Foundation, "The impact of statins on immune checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. PI: Benhammou. 2024
- KL2 UL1TR001881: National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences Institute. PI: Benhammou, 2022-2025
- Clinical Science Research & Development (CSR&D) grant from the Veterans Affairs Office of Research and Development. Her work aims to improve our understanding of the role of statins for chemoprevention in hepatocellular carcinoma by using novel patient-derived organoid models and interrogating key oncogenic pathways. PI: Benhammou, 2023-2028 Full story
- Selected to AASLD Promoting Leadership Potential for Women in Hepatology Mentorship Program
- New member of the NIH Early Career Reviewer (ECR) Program
- Selected an Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Early Career Women Faculty Leadership Development Seminar recipient
- Joins the executive committee for the VA Cooperative Study, "Preventing Liver Cancer Mortality through Imaging with Ultrasound vs MRI." As a committee member, she joins other liver cancer experts across the country to oversee one of the largest randomized control trials comparing ultrasound to MRI for the early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma
- Joins the editorial board of Hepatology Communications.
- Selected as an early career physician-scientist "scholar" for the 2021-2023 AGA FORWARD Program: Fostering Opportunities Resulting in Workforce and Research Diversity supported by NIH.
- NIH/NIDDK CURE: Digestive Diseases Research Center Pilot and Feasibility Studies (P03 DK41301), 2019-2022
- American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Advanced Transplant Hepatology Award, 2020-2021
- Visium 10X Spatial Genomics Grant, 2020-2021
- Intercept Pharmaceuticals Investigator Initiated Study to determine the prevalence of NAFLD in the post hepatitis C SVR patient population within Veterans, 2017-2019
In the news
- Pham Nguyen, MD, IM resident in the Benhammou Lab, was selected for the 2024 AASLD Emerging Liver Scholar Award (2024)
- This award is dedicated to internal medicine residents who have shown a commitment to a career in academic hepatology.
- Prerana Kasanagottu, undergraduate in Benhammou Lab, was selected for the 2024 Lee Summer Fellowship Award to support her summer in the Benhammou Lab (2024)
- This award is supported by the Southern California Alcoholic Liver and Pancreatic Diseases (ALDP).
- An inspiring weekend in LA with women in GI (2024)
- The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) supports women in gastroenterology by offering opportunities for career and professional development as a part of a framework to advance gender equity in gastroenterology. To support these efforts, they’ve been bringing together women in GI for regional workshops across the country. The most recent workshop was held at the UCLA, where 50 women in academia and private practice from all career stages heard from women leaders who facilitated conversations in topics most relevant to their personal and professional development. Lin Chang, MD, vice chief of the division, was a co-organizer and speaker. UCLA GI speakers also included Jihane N. Benhammou, MD, PhD, assistant clinical professor of medicine; Folasade P. May, MD, PhD, MPhil, associate professor of medicine; and Suzanne R. Smith, MSN, NP, CMT-P, integrative health practitioner. Read full story
Current trainees
- Juliana Avilas - Undergraduate
- Nguyen V. Pham, MD - IM resident
- Namrata Venkatesan - Undergraduate
Past trainees
- Saroja Bangaru, MD, GI fellow
- Prerana Kasanagottu - Undergraduate
- Ram Sundaresh, MD, IM resident
About Dr. Benhammou
Dr. Benhammou completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin, with a major in human biology. She then completed medical school at University of California, San Francisco with a thesis in molecular medicine. Before starting her internship at the University of California, Los Angeles in internal medicine, Dr. Benhammou participated in a two-year intramural program at the National Cancer Institutes studying functional genomics and hereditary forms of kidney cancer.
Dr. Benhammou went on to complete her internal medicine and gastroenterology training at UCLA. There, she received advanced research training in the UCLA Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR) program and NIH T32, which supported her graduate studies in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology. Her doctoral dissertation addressed the clinical risk factors of NAFLD hepatocellular carcinoma and the molecular mechanisms at play in NAFLD pathogenesis. Following her PhD, Dr. Benhammou completed additional clinical training in transplant hepatology at UCLA.
Dr. Benhammou joined the digestive diseases and hepatology faculty at UCLA and Greater Los Angeles VA where she will care for patients with chronic liver disease before and after liver transplantation. She will continue to pursue her research on NAFLD-associated hepatocellular carcinoma using clinical and translational research tools. She is board certified in internal medicine, gastroenterology, and transplant hepatology.
Lab members
Courtney Labrecque, PhD
Dr. Labrecque earned her BS in biochemistry & molecular biology at the University of Richmond. She completed her PhD in chemical biology at Virginia Commonwealth University under Dr. Brian Fuglestad. Her thesis work was understanding the underpinnings of peripheral membrane protein (PMP) membrane engagement as well as developing a method to screen for small molecule binders for the proteins while bound to a membrane model.
Bo Qiano, MD
Dr. Qiao earned his medical degree at Zhangjiakou Medical School in China, followed by an MS in biochemistry at Beijing University. He served as a research associate at USC in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery and subsequently joined the Dumont-UCLA Transplant Center. He joined the laboratory of Dr. to continue his work on metabolism and liver disease.
Nicole Prause, PhD
Dr. Prause specializes in time series analysis, including biosignal processing and cognitive models. She will be working with Dr. Jihane N. Benhammou, Dr. Tien S. Dong and Dr. Arpan A. Patel on a number of clinical, translational and health services research projects in hepatology. Her past research has focused on decision making during alcohol intoxication using direct administration in laboratory studies.
Publications (selected) - Full list on PubMed
- Wang D, Baghoomian A, Zhang Z, Cui Y, Whang EC, Li X, Fraga J, Spellman R, Dong TS, Li W, Gupta A, Benhammou JN, Sallam T. Hepatic lipopolysaccharide binding protein partially uncouples inlammation from fibrosis in MAFLD. J Clin Invest. 2024
- Yang JO, Chittajallu P, Benhammou JN, Patel A, Pisegna JR, Tabibian J & Dong TS. Validation of a machine learning algorithm, EVendo, for presecting esophageal varices in hepatocellular carcinoma(Link is external). Digestive Diseases and Sciences. 19 June 2024
- Benhammou JN, Leng M, Shah SC, Cholankeril G, Dong TS, Patel AA, Tong MJ. Exposure to Agent Orange and Hepatocellular Carcinoma Amongh US Military Personnel. JAMA Open Network. 2023;6(12):e2346380
- Bangaru S, Sundaresh, Lee A, Prause N, Hao F, Dong TS, Tincopa M, Cholankeril G, Rich NE, Kawamoto, Bhattacharya D, Han SB, Patel AA, Shaheen M & Benhammou JN. Predictive Algorithm for Hepatic Steatosis Detection Using Elastography Data in the Veterans Affairs Electronic Health Records. Digestive Diseases & Sciences. 21 October 2023
- Benhammou JN, Qiao B, Ko A, Sinnett-Smith J, Pisegna, Rozengurt E. Lipophilic statins inhibit YAP co-activator transcriptional activity in HCC cells through Rho-mediated modulation of the actin cytoskeleton. American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology. June 27, 2023
- Benhammou JN, Sinnett-Smith J, Pisegna JR, Rozengurt EJ. Interplay Between Fatty Acids, Stearoyl-Co-A Desaturase, Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin, and Yes-Associated Protein/Transcriptional Coactivator With PDZ-Binding Motif in Promoting Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Gastro Hep Advances. Volume 2, ISSUE 2, P232-241, 2023
- Singal AG, Ghaziani TT, Mehta N, Zhou K, Grinspan LT, Benhammou JN, Moon AM, Yang JD, Salgia R, Pillai A, Zheng E, Rich NE, Gopal P, Jalal P, Verna E, Yekkaluri S, Phen S, Melendez-Torres J, Alshuwaykh O, Choi H, Junus K, Grady J, Song M, Leven EA, Yum J, Gowda V, Alsudaney M, Hernandez P, Sedai N, Parikh N. Recall patterns and risk of primary liver cancer for subcentimeter ultrasound liver observations: A multicenter study. Hepatology Communications. 7(3):e0073, March 2023
- Lee AH, LeBrett WG, Benhammou J, Prause N, Chang L, Patel AA. Opioid Prescription Patterns and Disparities During Ambulatory Encounters in Patients with Cirrhosis. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. December 9, 2022. doi.org/10.1016/j.cgh.2022.11.016
- Alvarez M & Benhammou JN, Darci-Maher N, French SW, Han SB, Sinsheimer JS, Agopian VG, Pisegna JR, Pajukanta P. Human liver single nucleus and single cell RNA sequence identify a hepatocellular carcinoma-associated cell-type affecting survival. Genome Medicine 14, article number: 50 (2022).
- Benhammou JN, Rich NE, Cholankeril G, Zhang P, Zeng W, Rao S, Le W, Wu X, Feng S, Fujiwara N, Meng X, Zhu S, Zaidi S, Tayob N. DETECT: DEvelopment of Technologies for Early HCC deTection. Gastroenterology. doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2022.03.024
- Rao S, Yang X, Ohshiro K, Saidi S, Wang Z, Shetty K, Xiang X, Hassan I, Mohammad T, Latham PS, Nguyen BN, Yu H, Al-Abed Y, Mishra B, Vacca M, Guenigault G, Allison MED, Vidal-Puid A, Benhammou JN, Valrez M, Pajukanta P, Pisegna JR, Mishra L. β2-spectrin (SPTBN1) as a therapeutic target for diet-induced liver disease and preventing cancer development. Science Translational Medicine. 15 Dec 2021 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abk2267
- Benhammou JN. Emerging risk factors for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease associaed hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatoma Res. 2020;6(35). Epub 2020/06/18
- Benhammou JN, Aby ES, Shirvanian G, et al. Improved survival after treatments of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease associated hepatocellular carcinoma. Sci Rep. 2020;10(1):9902. Epub 2020/06/20
- Aby ES, Winters AC, Lin J, Bui A, Kawamoto J, Goetz MB, Bhattacharya D, Pisegna JR, May FP, Patel AA, Benhammou JN. A telephone and mail outreach program successfully increases uptake of hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance. Hepatol Commun. 2020;4(6):825-33. Epub 2020/06/04
- Benhammou JN, Ko A, Alvarez M, et al. Novel lipid long intervening noncoding RNA, oligodendrocyte maturation-associated long intergenic noncoding RNA, regulates the liver steatosis gene stearoyl-coenzyme a desaturase as an enhancer RNA. Hepatol Commun. 2019;3(10):1356-72. Epub 2019/10/09
- Garske KM, Pan DZ, Miao Z, Bhagat YV, Comenho C, Robles CR, Benhammou JN, et al. Reverse gene-environment interaction approach to identify variants influencing body-mass index in humans. Nat Metab. 2019;1(6):630-42. Epub 2019/09/21
- Aby ES, Benhammou JN, Tabibian JH. My doctor told me I have fatty liver - What do I need to know? JAMA Intern Med. 2019. Epub 2019/07/02
- Dong TS, Aby ES, Benhammou JN, et al. Metabolic syndrome does not affect sustained virologic response of direct-acting antivirals while hepatitis C clearance improves demoglobin A1c. World J Hepatol. 2018;10(9):612-21. Epub 2018/10/13
- Benhammou JN, Dong TS, May FP, et al. Race affects SVR12 in a large and ethnically diverse hepatitis C-infected patient population following treatment with direct-acting antivirals: Analysis of a single-center Department of Veterans Affairs cohort. Pharmacol Res Perspect. 2018;6(2):e00379. Epub 2018/02/28
- Aby ES, Dong TS, Kawamoto J, Pisegna JR, Benhammou JN. Impact of sustained virologic response on chronic kidney disease progression in hepatitis C. World J Hepatol. 2017;9(36):1352-60. Epub 2018/01/24
- O'Mahony F, Wroblewski K, O'Byrne SM, Jiang H, Clerkin K, Benhammou JN, Blaner WS, Beaven SW. Liver X receptors balance lipid stores in hepatic stellate cells through Rab18, a retinoid responsive lipid droplet protein. Hepatology. 2015;62(2):615-26. Epub 2014/12/09
Contact us
For more information, please email Dr. Benhammou at [email protected]
If you are interested in joining our research group, please include a cover letter detailing your relevant accomplishments and your CV. We are particularly interested in training physician-scientists from diverse backgrounds.