Research Summary
Dr. Luznik's primary research interest is in the area of allogeneic blood and marrow stem cell transplantation (alloBMT). In the laboratory, there are two main areas of ongoing research. The first area focuses on understanding the mechanisms of antitumor immunity after alloBMT. The strategy is to induce immune response against antigens expressed on the tumor (tumor-specific antigens) but not on the normal host hematopoietic and epithelial tissue.
A second area of interest focuses on understanding the critical cellular and molecular mechanisms of acute and chronic GVHD. The long-term goal of these studies is to translate them into the clinic to achieve better antitumor efficacy of alloBMT and to extend the application of this procedure to patients with non-hematopoietic disorders by early induction of tolerance and better prevention of acute and chronic GVHD.
Dr. Luznik's clinical interests are focused on the translation of the concepts developed in the laboratory to early phase clinical trials. He currently leads the multi-institutional clinical trial using high-dose cyclophosphamide as single-agent short course GVHD prophylaxis. (Principal Investigator: L. Luznik; ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT 00809276). As a part of this clinical trial, his laboratoty is also conducting a systematic study of the correlates of T-cell immune recovery with the goal of identifying critical mechanisms behind the unique ability of high-dose cyclophosphamide to prevent acute and chronic GVHD.
Clinical Trial Keywords
single-agent, short course GVHD prophylaxis; high-dose cyclophosphamide; Lymphoma; Leukemia
Selected Publications
Luznik, L., O’Donnell, P.V., Symons, H.J., Chen, A.R., Leffell, M.S., Zahurak, M., Piantadosi, S., Gooley, T.A., Kaup, M., Ambinder, R.F., Huff, C.A., Matsui, W.H., Bolaños-Meade, J., Borrello, I., Powell, J.D., Flowers, M.,Brodsky, R.A., Sandmaier, B.M., Storb, R.F., Jones, R.J. and E. J. Fuchs: HLA-haploidentical bone marrow transplantation for hematologic malignancies using nonmyeloablative conditioning and high-dose, post-transplantation cyclophosphamide. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2008;14(6):641-650
Luznik L, Bolanos-Meade J, Zahurak M, Chen AR, Smith, BD, Brodsky R, Huff C, Borrello I, Matsui W, Powell JD, Kasamon Y, Goodman SN, Hess A, Levitsky HI, Ambinder RF, Jones RJ, Fuchs EJ. High-dose cyclophosphamide as single-agent, short-course prophylaxis of graft-versus host disease. Blood. 2010;115(16):3224-3230
Kanakry, CG., O’Donnell, PV., Furlong, T., de Lima, MJ., Wei, W., Medeot, M., Mielcarek, M., Champlin, RE., Jones, RJ., Thall, PF., Andersson, BS., and L. Luznik: Multi-institutional study of post-transplantation cyclophosphamide as single-agent graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation using myeloablative busulfan and fludarabine conditioning. JCO. 2014; 32(31):3497-505
Kanakry CG., Ganguly S., Zahurak M., Bolaños-Meade J., Thoburn C., Perkins B., Fuchs EJ, Jones RJ, Hess AD, L. Luznik: Aldehyde dehydrogenase upregulation drives human regulatory T cell resistance to post-transplantation cyclophosphamide. Sci. Transl. Med. 2013; 5(211)ra157
Kanakry, CG, Fuchs, EJ and L. Luznik: Modern approaches to HLA-haploidenticalblood or marrow transplantation. Nature Rev. Clin. Oncol. 13. 1-14. 2016
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