Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery
Department of Neurosurgery
Roswell Park Cancer Institute

Dr. Michael J. Ciesielski joined the staff of Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) in 2004 as Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery in the Department of Neurosurgery. He is a Co-leader with the RPCI Neuro-Oncology Disease Site Research Group.

Dr. Ciesielski earned his doctoral degree in Immunology and completed a fellowship in 2003 in the Department of Immunology of the Roswell Park Graduate Division of the University at Buffalo.

Dr. Ciesielski’s research interests include molecular mechanisms of glioma formation, and targeting glioma cells through immunotherapeutic approaches. In particular he has focused work upon the mechanism of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations and was the first to discover the class of tandem duplicated EGFR mutants. He has utilized these and other EGFR mutations as tumor specific targets  in glioma cells for immunological attack. Alterations to the structure of normal cellular proteins either through mutation, engineered mimicry, or basic xenogeneic differences between species can be exploited by the immune system and become recognized as foreign, leading to tumor rejection. Most recently he has applied these techniques towards stimulating anti-glioma immune responses against the anti-apoptotic protein survivin. The development of new antigen-specific immunotherapy for glioma is the primary focus of his research.

Dr. Ciesielski is a member of the Society for Neuro-Oncology, and the American Association for Cancer Research. He has authored or co-authored more than 40 journal publications, review articles and abstracts.  He is a reviewer for the Journal of Surgical Oncology and an ad hoc reviewer for among others, Journal of Immunotherapy, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Cancer Gene Therapy, Blood, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Cancer Research.

Key Publications

• Pollina, JR, Plunkett, RJ, Ciesielski, MJ, Lis, A, Barone, TA, Greenberg, SJ, Fenstermaker, RA: Intratumoral infusion of topotecan prolongs survival in the nude rat intracranial U87 human glioma model. J. Neurooncol., 39:217-225, 1998.
• Fenstermaker, RA, Ciesielski, MJ, Castiglia, GJ: Tandem duplication of the epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase and calcium internalization domains in A-172 glioma cells. Oncogene, 16:3435-3443, 1998.
• Ciesielski, MJ, Fenstermaker, RA: Synergistic cytotoxicity, apoptosis and protein-linked DNA breakage by etoposide and camptothecin in human U87 glioma cells: dependence on tyrosine phosphorylation. J. Neurooncol., 41:223-234, 1999.
• Ciesielski, MJ, Fenstermaker, RA: Oncogenic epidermal growth factor mutants with tandem duplication: effects on receptor downregulation and autophosphorylation. Oncogene. 19:810-20, 2000.
• Fenstermaker, RA, Ciesielski, MJ: Deletion and tandem duplication of exons 2 through 7 in the epidermal growth factor receptor gene in a malignant human glioma. Oncogene. 19:4542-8, 2000.
• Lobel, JL, MacDonald, IJ, Ciesielski, MJ, Barone, T, Potter, WR, Plunkett, RJ, Fenstermaker, RA, Dougherty, TJ: 2[1-Hexyloxyethyl]-2-Devinyl Pyropheophorbide-alpha (HPPH) in a nude rat glioma model: implications for photodynamic therapy. Lasers Surg. Med. 29:397-405, 2001.
• Yang, W, Barth, RF, Leveille, R, Adams, DM, Ciesielski, MJ, Fenstermaker, RA, Capala, J: Evaluation of systemically administered radiolabeled epidermal growth factor as a brain tumor targeting agent. J. Neurooncol., 55: 19-28, 2001.
• Barth, RF, Yang, W, Adams, DM, Rotaru, JH, Shukla, S, Sekido, M, Tjarks, W, Fenstermaker, RA, Ciesielski, M, Nawrocky, MM, Coderre, JA: Molecular targeting of the epidermal growth factor receptor for neutron capture therapy of gliomas. Cancer Res., 62:3159-66, 2002.
• Yang, W, Barth, RF, Adams, DM, Ciesielski, MJ, Fenstermaker, RA, Shukla, S, Tjarks, W, Caligiuri, MA: Convection-enhanced delivery of boronated epidermal growth factor for molecular targeting of EGF receptor-positive gliomas. Cancer Res., 62:6552-8, 2002.
• Ciesielski, MJ, Fenstermaker, RA: Structure of the epidermal growth factor receptor gene and intron recombination in human gliomas. Curr. Genomics. 4:1-12, 2003.
• Wu G, Barth RF, Yang W, Chatterjee M, Tjarks W, Ciesielski MJ, Fenstermaker RA. Site-specific conjugation of boron containing dendrimers to anti-EGF receptor monoclonal antibody Cetuximab (IMC-C225) and its evaluation as a potential delivery agent for neutron capture therapy. Bioconjug Chem. 15: 185-94, 2004.
• Fenstermaker, RA, Ciesielski, MJ: Immunotherapeutic Strategies for Malignant Gliomas. Cancer Control 11: 1-11, 2004.