Principal Investigator Asa G. Candler Professor and Distinguished Professor in Emergency Medicine email: [email protected] phone: (404) 712-2540
Personal Interests
Personal interests include photography, tennis, hiking and biking.
Research Interests
Stein's early findings on sex differences in recovery from brain injury led to decades of research on neurosteroids in CNS injury. His laboratory now studies the actions of progesterone and its metabolites in pediatric, adult and aged models of TBI and stroke.
Using cell culture, molecular biological and immunocytochemical techniques, his group works with medical colleagues in emergency medicine, neurology, radiology, pediatrics and neuro-ophthalmology to examine how different kinds of brain injuries can be repaired at the morphological and functional levels.
His research has served as the basis for two independent Phase II clinical trials testing progesterone for moderate to severe traumatic brain injury, now completed, and an NIH-sponsored, nationwide Phase III clinical trial now underway.
Current lines of research in his lab include the investigation of combinatorial pharmacotherapies, and a focus on the pleiotropic actions of neurosteroids and the systemic nature of CNS injury. Dr. Stein is the author of hundreds of articles, book chapters, reviews and papers on the subject of recovery from brain injury.
Education
B.A., Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI M.A., Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI Ph.D., University of Oregon, Eugene, OR Postdoctoral-Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA Fulbright Scholar, Claude Bernard University, Lyon, France AAAS Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow, U.S. Senate
Selected Publications
1. Djebaili, M., Guo, Q., Pettus, E.H., Hoffman, S.W., Stein, D.G. (2005). Neurosteroids progesterone and allopregnanolone reduce cell death, gliosis and functional deficits after TBI in rats. J Neurotrauma 22:106- 18. PMID: 15665606
2. Pettus, E., Wright, D.W., Stein, D.G., Hoffman, S.W. (2005). Progesterone treatment inhibits inflammatory agents that accompany traumatic brain injury. Brain Res 1049:112-11. PMID: 15932748
3. Wright, D. W., Kellermann, A. L., Hertzberg, V. S., Clark, P. L., Frankel, M., Goldstein, F. C., Salomone, J. P., Dent, L. L., Harris, O. A., Ander, D. S., Lowery, D. W., Patel, M. M., Denson, D. D., Gordon, A. B., Wald, M. M., Gupta, S., Hoffman, S. W., Stein, D. G. (2007). ProTECT™ A Randomized Clinical Trial of Progesterone for Acute Traumatic Brain Injury. Ann Emer Med 49(4), 391-402. PMID: 17011666
4. Meffre, D., Pianos, A., Liere, P., Eychenne, B., Cambourg, A., Schumacher, M., Stein D. G., Guennoun, R. (2007). Steroid profiling in brain and plasma of male and pseudopregnant female rats after traumatic brain injury: analysis by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Endocrinology 148, 2505-17. PMID: 17303653
5. Stein, D.G. (2007). Sex differences in brain damage and recovery of function: experimental and clinical findings. Prog Brain Res 161, 339-51. PMID: 17618989
6. Sayeed, I., Wali, B., Stein, D.G (2007). Progesterone inhibits ischemic brain injury in a rat model of permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion. Rest Neurol Neurosci 25, 151-159. PMID: 17726274
7. Schumacher, M., Guennoun, R., Stein, D.G., De Nicola, A.F. (2007). Progesterone: therapeutic opportunities for neuroprotection and myelin repair. Pharmacol & Therapeu 116:77-107. PMID: 17659348
8. VanLandingham, J.W., Cekic, M., Cutler, S.M., Washington, E.R., Johnson, S.J., Miller, D., Hoffman, S.W., Stein, D.G. (2008) Progesterone and its metabolite allopregnanolone differentially regulate hemostatic proteins after traumatic brain injury. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 28(11): 1786-94. PMID: 18628783
9. Cekic, M., Sayeed, I., Stein, D.G. (2009). Combination treatment with progesterone and vitamin D hormone may be more effective than monotherapy for traumatic brain injury. Front Neuroendocrinol 30: 158-72. PMID: 19394357
10. Atif, F., Sayeed, I., Ishrat, T., Stein, D.G. (2009). Progesterone with vitamin D affords better neuro- protection against excitotoxicity in cultured cortical neurons than progesterone alone. Mol Med.15:328-36. PMID: 19603099
11. Cekic, M., Cutler, S.M., VanLandingham, J.W., Stein, D.G. (2009). Vitamin D deficiency reduces the benefits of progesterone treatment after brain injury in aged rats. Neurobiol Aging, published ahead of print: doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2009.04.017. PMID: 19482377
12. Cekic, M., Stein, D.G. (2010) Traumatic brain injury and aging: is a combination of progesterone and vitamin D hormone a simple solution to a complex problem? Neurotherapeutics 7:81-90. PMID: 20129500
13. Cekic, M., Stein, D.G. (2010) Progesterone treatment for brain injury: an update. Future Neurol 5(1): 37–46.
14. Stein, D.G., Wright, D.W. (2010). Progesterone in the clinical treatment of acute traumatic brain injury. ExpOpInvestDrugs 19(7): 847-57. PMID: 20486864
15. Ishrat, T., Sayeed, I., Atif, F., Hua, F., Stein, D.G. (in press) Progesterone and allopregnanolone attenuate blood-brain barrier dysfunction following permanent focal ischemia by regulating the expression of matrix metalloproteinases. Neurosciece.
Disclosures
DG Stein receives royalties (~ 6%) from products of BHR Pharmaceuticals Ltd related to the use of progesterone in the treatment of TBI and stroke, and may also receive research funding from BHR Pharmaceuticals, which is developing products related to this research. The University provides approximately 1.5% of its royalty share to support the Brain Lab research.
Over 60% of royalties to Emory goes to the University senior administration and various Deans, and another small share to the Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine. Stein serves as an occasional consultant to BHR Pharmaceuticals and receives compensation for these services.
The terms of this arrangement have been reviewed and approved by Emory University, which will continue to receive the largest share of fees and royalties in accordance with its conflict of interest policies.
