Description of Research Expertise

Allogeneic blood or marrow transplantation is the only potentially curative option for patients with relapsed, refractory, or high-risk hematologic malignancies. Unfortunately, only a third of patients have an available HLA-matched related donor. Partially HLA-mismatched related (HLA-haploidentical) transplantation allows identification of a donor for the vast majority of patients. In the past, HLA-haploidentical transplantation was associated with excessive nonrelapse mortality and poor overall survival. My research has contributed to the understanding of a novel technique that utilizes post-transplant cyclophosphamide as graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis after HLA-haploidentical transplantation. Using risk stratification with the disease risk index developed by Armand et al., I demonstrated that outcomes after nonmyeloablative HLA-haploidentical transplantation are comparable to that after reduced intensity HLA-matched transplantation. Similar to my work in older patients described above, I have also shown that nonmyeloablative HLA-haploidentical transplantation is safe and effective for pediatric and young adult patients. In addition, I have contributed to research examining early biomarkers, such as ST2, as predictors of nonrelapse mortality after HLA-haploidentical transplantation. Finally, to improve outcomes further, I have conducted research to examine the association of donor characteristics with transplantation outcomes. I showed that parent donors were associated with more graft failure when compared with sibling or offspring donors, but that survival was no different. Importantly, in that analysis, survival was affected by recipient age with recipients over 55 having inferior survival to younger patients. This work supports my proposed research agenda to evaluate the utility of the frailty phenotype tools to predict an older patient’s risk of nonrelapse mortality after induction chemotherapy and allogeneic transplantation as discussed in this proposal. Finally, my research has contributed to the widespread adoption of HLA-haploidentical transplantation with post-transplant cyclophosphamide, I have advanced the understanding of how we can improve its outcomes further, and I hope to continue to advance the field through studying frailty phenotype assessments in older patients with leukemia and myeloid malignancies undergoing induction then consolidative allogeneic transplantation.

Selected Publications

Tania Jain, Hua-Ling Tsai, Hany Elmariah, Pankit Vachhani, Theodoros Karantanos, Sarah Wall, Lukasz Gondek, Asad Bashey, Alla Keyzner, Michael Grunwald, Sameem Abedin, Kalyan Nadiminti, Madiha Iqbal, Aaron Gerds, Auro Viswabandya, Monzr M. Al Malki, Shannon R McCurdy, Ravi Varadhan, Haris Ali, Vikas Gupta, Richard J Jones, Salman Otoukesh: Haploidentical Donor Transplantation with Posttransplantation Cyclophosphamide in Myelodysplastic/Myeloproliferative Neoplasms: A Multi-Institutional Collaboration of 14 Centers American Society of Hematology Annual Meetings : 2022.

Cristian C. Taborda, MD, Shannon H. Gier, Avery W. Stivale, Alexander E. Perl, MD, Saar I. Gill, MD, Daria V. Babushok, MD, Elizabeth O. Hexner, MD, Noelle V. Frey, MD, Ximena Jordan Bruno, MD, MaryEllen Martin, MD, Catherine E. Lai, MD, Ivan Maillard, MD, PhD, David L. Porter, MD, Alison W. Loren, MD, Keith W. Pratz, MD, Selina M. Luger, MD, Phyllis A. Gimotty, PhD, Shannon R. McCurdy, MD: Fried’s Frailty Phenotype Predicts Mortality and Survival for Newly Diagnosed Older Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia or High-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndrome American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting : 2022.

Hatch RV, Freyer CW, Carulli A, Luger SM, Martin ME, McCurdy SR, Porter DL, Loren AW.: Pentosan polysulfate for the treatment of hemorrhagic cystitis after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant J Oncol Pharm Pract : 2022.

Freyer CW, Carulli A, Gier S, Ganetsky A, Timlin C, Schuster M, Babushok D, Frey NV, Gill SI, Hexner EO, Luger SM, Mangan JK, Martin ME, McCurdy SR, Perl AE, Porter DL, Pratz K, Smith J, Stadtmauer EA, Loren AW.: Letermovir vs. high-dose valacyclovir for cytomegalovirus prophylaxis following haploidentical or mismatched unrelated donor allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation receiving post-transplant cyclophosphamide Leuk Lymphoma : 2022.

Matthews AH, Perl AE, Luger SM, Loren AW, Gill SI, Porter DL, Babushok DV, Maillard IP, Carroll MP, Frey NV, Hexner EO, Martin ME, McCurdy SR, Stadtmauer EA, Paralkar VR, Bruno XJ, Hwang WT, Margolis D, Pratz KW.: Real-world effectiveness of CPX-351 vs venetoclax and azacitidine in acute myeloid leukemia Blood Adv 6 : 3997-4005,2022.

Graveno ME, Carulli A, Freyer CW, Mangan BL, Nietupski R, Loren AW, Frey NV, Porter DL, Gill SI, Hexner EO, Luger SM, Martin ME, McCurdy SR, Perl AE, Babushok DV, Pratz KW.: Venetoclax in combination with hypomethylating agents or low dose cytarabine for relapsed and refractory acute myeloid leukemia Leuk Lymphoma : 2022.

Hatch RV, Freyer CW, Carulli A, Redline G, Babushok DV, Frey NV, Gill SI, Hexner EO, Luger SM, Martin ME, McCurdy SR, Perl AE, Porter DL, Pratz KW, Stadtmauer EA, Loren AW.: Day 4 vs. day 12 G-CSF administration following reduced intensity peripheral blood allogeneic stem cell transplant J Oncol Pharm Pract : 2022.

McCurdy, SR: Harnessing allogeneic NK cells: improving outcomes with tailored donor lymphocyte infusion Journal of Clinical Investigation 132 (11): e160584,2022.

Murdock HM, Kim HT, Denlinger N, Vachhani P, Hambley B, Manning BS, Gier S, Cho C, Tsai HK, McCurdy S, Ho VT, Koreth J, Soiffer RJ, Ritz J, Carroll MP, Vasu S, Perales MA, Wang ES, Gondek LP, Devine S, Alyea EP, Lindsley RC, Gibson CJ.: Impact of diagnostic genetics on remission MRD and transplantation outcomes in older patients with AML Blood 139 : 3546-3557,2022.

Rimando JC, McCurdy SR, Luznik L.: How We Prevent GVHD in High Risk Patients: Post Transplant Cyclophosphamide and Beyond Blood : 2022.

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Academic Contact Information

Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine
3400 Civic Center Blvd
12 South Pavilion

Philadelphia, PA 19104
Patient appointments: 800-789-7366