Leslie Raffel, MD

Director, General Clinical Research Center

Associate Director, Common Disease Genetics Program
Email:leslie.raffel@cshs.org
Phone:(310) 423-2703
Fax:(310) 423-0237

Institute Affiliation

Medical Genetics Research Institute

Academic Appointments

Professor, Pediatrics

Awards and Activities

Program Director, Cedars-Sinai General Clinical Research Center2008
Associate Director, Common Disease Genetics Program1991
Associate Editor: Genetics in Medicine1998 - 2006
Member, American Society of Human Genetics1984
Founding Fellow, American College of Medical Genetics1991

Research Focus

Delineation of the genetic basis of susceptibility to common adult-onset diseases, including type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetes mellitus and its complications, hypertension and coronary artery disease. Detailed physiological and biochemical studies are used to identify early changes related to a disorder and combined with large scale genotyping to identify genes that predispose to these conditions.

Research Contributions

Contributed to the understanding of the genes important in susceptibility to type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetes, including genes in the HLA region on chromosome 6, the insulin gene on chromosome 11, CTLA4 on chromosome 2, and the SUMO gene on chromosome 6. Helped establish that genetic factors influence diabetes and vascular related traits in the Hispanic population.

Current investigations include:

Family studies of cardiovascular risk factors in multiple ethnic groups. Questionnaire-based studies of attitudes about participating in genetics research.

Selected Publications

  1. Kopf D, Cheng LS, Blandau P, Hsueh W, Raffel LJ, Buchanan TA, Xiang AH, Davis RC, Rotter JI, Lehnert H: Association of insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance with the c.825C>T variant of the G protein beta-3 subunit gene. J. Diabetes Complicat., 22(3): 205-9, 2008
  2. Raffel LJ, Noble JA, Rotter JI: HLA on chromosome 6: the story gets longer and longer. Diabetes, 57(3): 527-8, 2008
  3. Chen YC, Guo X, Raffel LJ, Xiang AH, Fang B, Hsueh WA, Taylor KD, Buchanan TA, Hodis HN, Rotter JI: Carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) cosegregates with blood pressure and renal function in hypertensive Hispanic families. Atherosclerosis, 198(1): 160-5, 2007
  4. Thomson G, Valdes AM, Noble JA, Kockum I, Grote MN, Najman J, Erlich HA, Cucca F, Pugliese A, Steenkiste A, Dorman JS, Caillat-Zucman S, Hermann R, Ilonen J, Lambert AP, Bingley PJ, Gillespie KM, Lernmark A, Sanjeevi CB, Rønningen KS, Undlien DE, Thorsby E, Petrone A, Buzzetti R, Koeleman BP, Roep BO, Saruhan-Direskeneli G, Uyar FA, Günoz H, Gorodezky C, Alaez C, Boehm BO, Mlynarski W, Ikegami H, Berrino M, Fasano ME, Dametto E, Israel S, Brautbar C, Santiago-Cortes A, Frazer de Llado T, She JX, Bugawan TL, Rotter JI, Raffel L, Zeidler A, Leyva-Cobian F, Hawkins BR, Chan SH, Castano L, Pociot F, Nerup J: Relative predispositional effects of HLA class II DRB1-DQB1 haplotypes and genotypes on type 1 diabetes: a meta-analysis. Tissue Antigens, 70(2): 110-27, 2007
  5. Guo D, Li M, Zhang Y, Yang P, Eckenrode S, Hopkins D, Zheng W, Purohit S, Podolsky RH, Muir A, Wang J, Dong Z, Brusko T, Atkinson M, Pozzilli P, Zeidler A, Raffel LJ, Jacob CO, Park Y, Serrano-Rios M, Larrad MT, Zhang Z, Garchon HJ, Bach JF, Rotter JI, She JX, Wang CY: A functional variant of SUMO4, a new I kappa B alpha modifier, is associated with type 1 diabetes. Nat. Genet., 36(8): 837-41, 2004
  6. Cruz TD, Valdes AM, Santiago A, Frazer de Llado T, Raffel LJ, Zeidler A, Rotter JI, Erlich HA, Rewers M, Bugawan T, Noble JA: DPB1 alleles are associated with type 1 diabetes susceptibility in multiple ethnic groups. Diabetes, 53(8): 2158-63, 2004
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