Research Summary

CLINICAL INTERESTS:
Cardio-Oncology, Cardio-Immunology

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
I am a cardiologist and myocyte biologist. My clinical focus is cardio-oncology and cardio-immunology. My clinical interests overlap with my laboratory focus, where we are investigating the mechanistic underpinnings of cardiovascular sequelae of novel targeted and immune-based cancer therapies.

Since 2016, a major focus of my clinical and research program has been the interaction between the cardiovascular and immune systems. Our group initially described a novel clinical syndrome of fulminant myocarditis that arises from (ICI) immune checkpoint inhibitors (Johnson et al, NEJM, 2016). We further defined the clinical characteristics of ICI-associated myocarditis (Moslehi et al, Lancet, 2018) and showed that cardiovascular sequelae of ICI include pericarditis, vasculitis and arrhythmias (Salem et al, Lancet Oncology, 2018). My laboratory has generated mouse models that recapitulate these novel immune-based clinical syndromes which have provided insights into new diagnostic and treatment strategies for these complications (Bonaca et al, Circulation, 2019; Salem et al, NEJM, 2019; Wei et al, Cancer Discovery, 2021). My interest in this space has recently expanded to other inflammatory cardiomyopathies, including giant cell myocarditis, acute cellular rejection (ACR) following cardiac transplantation, and other forms of myocarditis. Our group is further investigating the how the immune system can be harnessed to treat heart disease.

Research Funding

  • May 1, 2021 - April 30, 2026 - Immunologic and Antigenic Drivers of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Associated Myocarditis , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01HL156021
  • May 1, 2021 - April 30, 2026 - Long-Term Cardiovascular Sequelae of Cancer Immunotherapies , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01HL155990
  • August 1, 2019 - May 31, 2024 - Novel mechanisms and predictors of VEGF receptor inhibitor-associated hypertension , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01HL141466
  • September 15, 2018 - August 31, 2019 - Novel mechanisms and predictors of VEGF receptor inhibitor-associated hypertension , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R56HL141466
  • September 30, 2009 - June 30, 2014 - A Functional Role for Prolyl Hydroxylases (PHDs) in Cardiomyopathy , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: K08HL097031

Education

  • Johns Hopkins University, BA, 1996, Biology
  • University of Connecticut School of Medicine, MD, 2001, Medicine

Honors & Awards

  • Elected Member, Association of American Physicians (AAP), 2024
  • Inaugural Holder of the William Grossman Distinguished Professorship in Cardiology, UCSF, 2021
  • Elected Member, American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI), 2020
  • Alumni Achievement Award, Stanley J. Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Foundation, 2016
  • Biomedical Science Impact Award, Vanderbilt University, 2016
  • Thomas Smith Award in Heart Failure Research, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 2009

Selected Publications

  1. Fankhauser RG, Johnson DB, Moslehi JJ, Balko JM. Preclinical mouse models of immune checkpoint inhibitor-associated myocarditis. Nat Cardiovasc Res. 2025 May; 4(5):526-538.  View on PubMed
  2. Chen YC, Dolladille C, Rao A, Palaskas NL, Deswal A, Lehmann L, Cautela J, Courand PY, Hayek S, Zhu H, Cheng RK, Alexandre J, Baldassarre LA, Roubille F, Laufer-Perl M, Asnani A, Ederhy S, Tamura Y, Francis S, Gaughan EM, Johnson DB, Flint DL, Rainer PP, Bailly G, Ewer SM, Aras MA, Arangalage D, Cariou E, Florido R, Peretto G, Itzhaki Ben Zadok O, Akhter N, Narezkina A, Levenson JE, Liu Y, Crusz SM, Issa N, Piriou N, Leong D, Sandhu S, Turker I, Moliner P, Obeid M, Heinzerling L, Chang WT, Stewart A, Venkatesh V, Du Z, Yadavalli A, Kim D, Chandra A, Zhang KW, Power JR, Moslehi J, Salem JE, Zaha VG, International ICI Myocarditis Registry. Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Myocarditis and Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction. JACC CardioOncol. 2025 Apr; 7(3):234-248.  View on PubMed
  3. Wadden E, Lai C, Grivas P, Bhatia S, Portuguese AJ, Salem JE, Moslehi JJ, Cheng RK. Successful treatment of immune checkpoint inhibitor-associated fulminant myocarditis with abatacept and ruxolitinib: a case report. Eur Heart J Case Rep. 2025 Feb; 9(2):ytaf019.  View on PubMed
  4. Bonaca MP, Lang NN, Chen A, Amiri-Kordestani L, Lipka L, Zwiewka M, Strnadova C, Klaar S, Dent S, Janicijevic TK, Herrmann J, Barac A, de Boer RA, Deswal A, Schou M, Neilan TG, van der Meer P, Moslehi J, Kondapalli L, Ky B, Fernandez TL, Cornell RF, Flaig TW, Hsia J, Sharon E, de Azambuja E, Seltzer J, Januzzi JL, Petrie MC. Cardiovascular Safety in Oncology Clinical Trials: JACC: CardioOncology Primer. JACC CardioOncol. 2025 Feb; 7(2):83-95.  View on PubMed
  5. Desai P, Lonial S, Cashen A, Kamdar M, Flinn I, O'Brien S, Garcia JS, Korde N, Moslehi J, Wey M, Cheung P, Sharma S, Olabode D, Chen H, Ali Syed F, Liu M, Saeh J, Andrade-Campos M, Kadia TM, Blachly JS. A Phase 1 First-in-Human Study of the MCL-1 Inhibitor AZD5991 in Patients with Relapsed/Refractory Hematologic Malignancies. Clin Cancer Res. 2024 Nov 01; 30(21):4844-4855.  View on PubMed
  6. Moslehi JJ. Cardio-Oncology: A New Clinical Frontier and Novel Platform for Cardiovascular Investigation. Circulation. 2024 Aug 13; 150(7):513-515.  View on PubMed
  7. Tocchetti CG, Farmakis D, Koop Y, Andres MS, Couch LS, Formisano L, Ciardiello F, Pane F, Au L, Emmerich M, Plummer C, Gulati G, Ramalingam S, Cardinale D, Brezden-Masley C, Iakobishvili Z, Thavendiranathan P, Santoro C, Bergler-Klein J, Keramida K, de Boer RA, Maack C, Lutgens E, Rassaf T, Fradley MG, Moslehi J, Yang EH, De Keulenaer G, Ameri P, Bax J, Neilan TG, Herrmann J, Mbakwem AC, Mirabel M, Skouri H, Hirsch E, Cohen-Solal A, Sverdlov AL, van der Meer P, Asteggiano R, Barac A, Ky B, Lenihan D, Dent S, Seferovic P, Coats AJS, Metra M, Rosano G, Suter T, Lopez-Fernandez T, Lyon AR. Cardiovascular toxicities of immune therapies for cancer - a scientific statement of the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the ESC and the ESC Council of Cardio-Oncology. Eur J Heart Fail. 2024 Oct; 26(10):2055-2076.  View on PubMed
  8. Fankhauser RG, Johnson DB, Moslehi JJ, Balko JM. Unveiling Cellular Identities and Gene Expression Pathways in Overlapping Myocarditis and Myositis. Cancer Immunol Res. 2024 Aug 01; 12(8):954-955.  View on PubMed
  9. Shannon ML, Heimlich JB, Olson S, Debevec A, Copeland Z, Kishtagari A, Vlasschaert C, Snider C, Silver AJ, Brown D, Spaulding T, Bhatta M, Pugh K, Stockton SS, Ulloa J, Xu Y, Baljevic M, Moslehi J, Jahangir E, Ferrell PB, Slosky D, Bick AG, Savona MR. Clonal hematopoiesis and inflammation in the vasculature: CHIVE, a prospective, longitudinal clonal hematopoiesis cohort and biorepository. Blood Adv. 2024 07 09; 8(13):3453-3463.  View on PubMed
  10. Munir AZ, Gutierrez A, Qin J, Lichtman AH, Moslehi JJ. Immune-checkpoint inhibitor-mediated myocarditis: CTLA4, PD1 and LAG3 in the heart. Nat Rev Cancer. 2024 Aug; 24(8):540-553.  View on PubMed
  11. Won T, Song EJ, Kalinoski HM, Moslehi JJ, Ciháková D. Autoimmune Myocarditis, Old Dogs and New Tricks. Circ Res. 2024 Jun 07; 134(12):1767-1790.  View on PubMed
  12. Power JR, Dolladille C, Ozbay B, Procureur AM, Ederhy S, Palaskas NL, Lehmann LH, Cautela J, Courand PY, Hayek SS, Zhu H, Zaha VG, Cheng RK, Alexandre J, Roubille F, Baldassarre LA, Chen YC, Baik AH, Laufer-Perl M, Tamura Y, Asnani A, Francis S, Gaughan EM, Rainer PP, Bailly G, Flint D, Arangalage D, Cariou E, Florido R, Narezkina A, Liu Y, Sandhu S, Leong D, Issa N, Piriou N, Heinzerling L, Peretto G, Crusz SM, Akhter N, Levenson JE, Turker I, Eslami A, Fenioux C, Moliner P, Obeid M, Chan WT, Ewer SM, Kassaian SE, International ICI-Myocarditis Registry, Johnson DB, Nohria A, Zadok OIB, Moslehi JJ, Salem JE. Predictors and Risk Score for Immune Checkpoint-Inhibitor-Associated Myocarditis Severity. medRxiv. 2024 Jun 03.  View on PubMed
  13. Moslehi JJ, Furman RR, Tam CS, Salem JE, Flowers CR, Cohen A, Zhang M, Zhang J, Chen L, Ma H, Brown JR. Cardiovascular events reported in patients with B-cell malignancies treated with zanubrutinib. Blood Adv. 2024 05 28; 8(10):2478-2490.  View on PubMed
  14. Qin J, Huang GN, Moslehi J. PD-1-PD-L1 immunomodulatory pathway regulates cardiac regeneration. Nat Cardiovasc Res. 2024 04; 3(4):410-411.  View on PubMed
  15. Gougis P, Jochum F, Abbar B, Dumas E, Bihan K, Lebrun-Vignes B, Moslehi J, Spano JP, Laas E, Hotton J, Reyal F, Hamy AS, Salem JE. Clinical spectrum and evolution of immune-checkpoint inhibitors toxicities over a decade-a worldwide perspective. EClinicalMedicine. 2024 Apr; 70:102536.  View on PubMed
  16. Fenioux C, Abbar B, Boussouar S, Bretagne M, Power JR, Moslehi JJ, Gougis P, Amelin D, Dechartres A, Lehmann LH, Courand PY, Cautela J, Alexandre J, Procureur A, Rozes A, Leonard-Louis S, Qin J, International ICI-Myocarditis Registry, Cheynier R, Charmeteau-De Muylder B, Redheuil A, Tubach F, Cadranel J, Milon A, Ederhy S, Similowski T, Johnson DB, Pizzo I, Catalan T, Benveniste O, Hayek SS, Allenbach Y, Rosenzwajg M, Dolladille C, Salem JE. Publisher Correction: Thymus alterations and susceptibility to immune checkpoint inhibitor myocarditis. Nat Med. 2024 Mar; 30(3):910.  View on PubMed
  17. Gutierrez A, Moslehi JJ. B-Cell Immune Checkpoints Come of Age in Cardio-oncology. Circ Res. 2024 03; 134(5):569-571.  View on PubMed
  18. Liang FG, Moslehi J, Kitsis RN. Ponatinib-Induced Cardiomyocyte Toxicity: Dark Side of the Integrated Stress Response. Circ Res. 2024 03; 134(5):502-504.  View on PubMed
  19. Amancherla K, Schlendorf KH, Vlasschaert C, Lowery BD, Wells QS, See SB, Zorn E, Colombo PC, Reilly MP, Lindenfeld J, Uriel N, Shah RV, Freedman JE, Moslehi J, Bick AG, Clerkin K. Genetic Interleukin-6 Receptor Variant Is Not Associated With Rejection and Mortality After Heart Transplantation. J Card Fail. 2024 Jun; 30(6):848-852.  View on PubMed
  20. Fenioux C, Abbar B, Boussouar S, Bretagne M, Power JR, Moslehi JJ, Gougis P, Amelin D, Dechartres A, Lehmann LH, Courand PY, Cautela J, Alexandre J, Procureur A, Rozes A, Leonard-Louis S, Qin J, International ICI-Myocarditis Registry, Cheynier R, Charmeteau-De Muylder B, Redheuil A, Tubach F, Cadranel J, Milon A, Ederhy S, Similowski T, Johnson DB, Pizzo I, Catalan T, Benveniste O, Hayek SS, Allenbach Y, Rosenzwajg M, Dolladille C, Salem JE. Author Correction: Thymus alterations and susceptibility to immune checkpoint inhibitor myocarditis. Nat Med. 2023 Dec; 29(12):3268.  View on PubMed

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