Robert A. Brodsky, MD

Director, Division of Hematology
Professor of Medicine and Oncology
The Johns Hopkins Family Professor

Clinical/Academic Interests

Aplastic Anemia, Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH), and other Bone Marrow Failure Disorders.

Research Interests

Dr. Brodsky's major clinical research involves the study of aplastic anemia, PNH and other bone marrow failure disorders.  His research shows that immunoablative doses of cyclophosphamide, without bone marrow transplantation, can lead to durable complete remissions in severe aplastic anemia.  The reason high-dose cyclophosphamide is able to ablate the effector cells without destroying hematopoietic stem cells is that the earliest stem cells (but not lymphocytes) contain high levels of aldehyde dehydrogenase conferring resistance to the cytoxic properties of cyclophosphamide.  Dr. Brodsky and his colleagues in neurology and rheumatology are applying this approach in other severe autoimmune disorders including, scleroderma, myasthenia gravis, multiple sclerosis and autoimmune hematologic disorders.

Dr. Brodsky's major laboratory interests relate to the study of normal and abnormal hematopoiesis. Specifically his lab studies PIG-A gene mutations in aplastic anemia.  His group has developed a novel diagnostic assay for PNH based on the pore forming toxin (aeromonas hydrophila).

More about Dr. Brodsky's achievements can be found on YouTube:

The use of half-matched bone marrow transplants for treating Sickle Cell Disease
Results of the HiCy treatment at Hopkins
HiCy studies at Hopkins to treat Multiple Sclerosis
Visualizing Aplastic Anemia
A Remarkable Journey

Education/Training

• BA, Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
• MD, Hahnemann University
• Internship and Residency in Medicine, Vanderbilt University
• Medical Staff Fellow, Clinical Hematology Branch, NHLBI, NIH
• Hematology Fellowship, Hematology Branch, NHLBI, NIH
• Oncology Fellowship, Johns Hopkins University

Academic Positions

• Director, Division of Hematology, Johns Hopkins Medicine
• Director, Hematology Fellowship Training Program, Johns Hopkins University
• Professor of Medicine and Oncology, Johns Hopkins University
• Director, Division of Hematology, Johns Hopkins Bayview

Selected Publications

Brodsky RA, Vala MS, Barber JP, Medof ME, Jones RJ.  Resistance to apoptosis caused by PIG-A gene mutations in paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 1997;94(5):8756-60. 

Brodsky RA, Petri M, Smith BD, Seifter EJ, Spivak JL, Styler M, Dang CV, Brodsky I, Jones RJ.  Immunoablative high-dose cyclophosphamide without stem-cell rescue for refractory, severe autoimmune disease.  Annals of Internal Medicine. 1998;129(12):1031-5. 

Brodsky RA, Mukhina GL, Nelson KL, Lawrence TS, Jones RJ, Buckley JT.  Resistance of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria cells to the glycosylphosphatidylinositol-binding toxin aerolysin.  Blood. 1999; 93(5):1749-56.  

Brodsky RA, Mukhina GL, Li S, Nelson KL, Chiurazzi PL, Buckley J, Borowitz MJ.  Improved detection and characterization of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria using fluorescent aerolysin.  American Journal of Clinical Pathology. 2000; 114(3):459-66. 

Petri M, Jones RJ, Brodsky RA.  High dose cyclophosphamide without stem cell  transplantation in systemic lupus erythematosus.  Arthritis and Rheumatism. 2003; 48(1):166-73.  

Hu R, Mukhina GL, Piantadosi S, Barber JP, Jones RJ, Brodsky RA.  PIG-A mutations in normal hematopoiesis.  Blood. 2005; 105(10):3848-54.

Brodsky RA, Jones RJ.  Aplastic Anemia.  Lancet. 2005; 365(9471):1647-56. Review.

Armanios M, Chen JL, Chang YPC, Brodsky RA, Hawkins A, Griffin CA, Eshleman JR, Cohen AR, Chakravarti A, Hamosh A, Greider CW.  Haploinsufficiency of telomerase reverse transcriptase leads to anticipation in autosomal dominant dyskeratosis congenita.  Procedings of the National Academy of the Sciences. 2005; 102(44):15960-4.  

Hillmen MB, Young NS, Schubert J, Brodsky RA, Socie G, Muus P, Roth A, Szer J Elebute MO, Nakamura R, Browne P, Risitano AM, Hill A, Schrezenmeier H, Fu C, Maciejewski J, Rollins SA, Mojcik CF, Rother RP, Luzzatto L.  The complement inhibitor eculizumab in paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.  New England Journal of Medicine. 2006; 355(12):1233-43. 

Hillmen P, Muus P, Duhrsen DM, Risitano AM, Schubert J, Luzzatto, L, Schrezenmeier, H, Szer, J, Brodsky, RA, Hill, A, Socie, G, Bessler, M, Rollins, SA, Bell, L, Rother, RP, Young, NS. Effect of the complement inhibitor eculizumab on thromboembolism in patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.  Blood. 2007;110(12):4123-8.  

Rother RP, Rollins SA, Mojcik CF, Brodsky RA, Bell, L.  Discovery and development of the complement inhibitor eculizumab for the treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.  Nature Biotechnology. 2007; 25(12):1488.  

Brodsky RA.  Narrative review: Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemobloginuria: the physiology of complement-related hemolytic anemia.  Annals of Internal Medicine. 2008; 148(8):587-95.

Brodsky RA, Young NS, Antonioli E, Risitano AM, Schrezenmeier H, Schubert J, Valls AG, Coyle L, de Castro C, Fu CL, Maciejewski JP, Bessler M, Kroon HA, Rother RP,  Hillmen P.  Multicenter phase 3 study of the complement inhibitor eculizumab for the treatment of patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.  Blood. 2008; 111(4):1840-7. 

Chen G, Ye Z, Yu X, Zou J, Mali P, Brodsky RA, Cheng L.  Trophoblast differentiation defect in human embryonic stem cells lacking PIG-A and GPI-anchored cell-surface proteins.  Cell Stem Cell. 2008; 2(4):345-55.  

Drachman DB, Adams RN, Hu R, Jones RJ, Brodsky RA.  Rebooting the immune system with high-dose cyclophosphamide for treatment of refractory myasthenia gravis.  Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2008; 1132:305-14.  

Brodsky RA, Luznik L, Bolaños-Meade J, Leffell MS, Jones RJ, Fuchs EJ.  Reduced intensity HLA-haploidentical BMT with post transplantation cyclophosphamide in nonmalignant hematologic diseases. Bone Marrow Transplant 2008; 42(8):523-7. 

Savage WJ, Barber JP, Mukhina GL, Hu R, Chen G, Matsui W, Thoburn C, Hess AD, Cheng L, Jones RJ, Brodsky RA.  Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein deficiency confers resistance to apoptosis in PNH.  Experimental Hematology. 2009; 37(1):42-51.  

Brodsky RA.  How I treat paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.  Blood. 2009; 113(26):6522-7.  

Brodsky RA, Chen AR, Dorr D, Fuchs EJ, Huff CA, Luznik L, Smith BD, Matsui WH, Goodman SN, Ambinder RF, Jones RJ.  High dose cyclophosphamide for severe aplastic anemia: long-term follow-up.  Blood. 2010;115(11):2136-41. 

Mali P, Chou BK, Yen J, Ye Z, Zou J, Dowey S, Brodsky RA, Ohm JE, Yu W, Baylin SB, Yusa K, Bradley A, Meyers DJ, Mukherjee C, Cole PA, Cheng L.  Butyrate greatly enhances derivation of human induced pluripotent stem cells by promoting epigenetic remodeling and the expression of pluripotency-associated genes.  Stem Cells. 2010; 28(4):713-20. 

Dezern AE, Petri M, Drachman DB, Kerr D, Hammond ER, Kowalski J, Tsai HL, Loeb DM, Anhalt G, Wigley F, Jones RJ, Brodsky RA. High dose cyclophosphamide without stem cell rescue in 207 patients with aplastic anemia and other autoimmune disease.  Medicine.  2011; 90(2): 89-98.