Xiu-Min Li, M.D., focuses her research on food allergy and allergic asthma. In the area of food allergy, she is investigating the immunopathogenic mechanisms underlying food allergy and novel therapies for these allergic diseases. She is involved in teaching sessions with the fellows and coordinates weekly immunology rounds, which include clinical case presentations, review of journal articles, and lectures from invited speakers. Her clinical research has included clinical trials in both asthma and allergic diseases. She has recently been involved in studying hypersensitivity and the potential of CpG oligodeoxynucleotide treatment for allergic asthma, also utilizing animal models. In addition, Dr. Li is exploring herbal medicines for the treatment of allergic asthma and food allergy.

In the News

Dr. Li and her work were recently profiled in The Daily News feature The Daily Check Up. View the PDF.

Principal investigator: Xiu-Min Li, M.D., associate professor of pediatric allergy/immunology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York.

Dr. Li and her colleagues are studying a three-herb Chinese formula called ASHMI as a therapy for asthma. ASHMI, which was developed at Mount Sinai, is based on a formula that Dr. Li was familiar with from her practice of medicine in China. Dr. Li notes that there is not yet any effective therapy for persistent, severe asthma, nor any way to prevent it. Also, while conventional therapies can be helpful for many asthma patients, she says, corticosteroids (the cornerstone of treatment) often cause serious side effects and, if the medication is stopped, worsen the disease.

This CERC's three studies are looking at the mechanism of action of ASHMI in an animal model, finding out more about its active components, and investigating it in phase I and phase II clinical trials. So far, the team has found that ASHMI has broad therapeutic actions on multiple asthma-related mechanisms in an animal model, and that the effects are long lasting. They have almost completed their phase I study and are moving toward a proposed phase II clinical trial. "The beauty of a CERC," says Dr. Li, "is that we have three independent but highly interactive projects and experts from many fields. Studying and developing a first-generation botanical drug is a very big project."