Cancers Treated:
Specializing In:
MRI and photoacoustic imaging T-cell metabolism Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation Graft-versus-host diseaseAbout Nataliya Buxbaum
Biography:
I am a physician-scientist in the field of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and cellular therapy. The primary goal of my translational research program is to elucidate mechanisms underlying immune barriers to successful HSCT. I am using pre-clinical models to gain insight into dysregulated post-HSCT immunity to develop novel diagnostic tools and targeted therapies. My laboratory and clinical investigations are centered on graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), a highly morbid and prevalent post-HSCT complication. I am targeting immunometabolism of alloreactive T cells, which are the main cellular mediators of GvHD, to develop new imaging and therapeutic modalities for this condition. Currently, clinical diagnosis of GvHD is challenging and is based on either subjective clinical findings and/or biopsies of the affected organs. To address this important clinical need, my group has developed a non-invasive and non-radioactive metabolic imaging method for GvHD and cellular therapies. Clinical testing of this approach is planned. Metabolic imaging may allow objective and safe diagnosis of GvHD and visualization of therapeutic responses in vivo. Furthermore, pre-clinical testing of metabolic inhibitors to reprogram alloreactive T cells in pre-clinical models has shown promising results and we are planning clinical trials to test these therapies in patients undergoing HSCT.
Additionally, I am developing a non-radioactive metabolic imaging approach for cancer and cellular immunotherapy. By using deuterated isotopes (heavy water and heavy glucose) and deuterium MRI detection my group has been able to visualize tumors and T cells without the use of radioactivity, which is widely used for cancer imaging. Pilot clinical testing of this approach in patients with malignancies is now planned. Furthermore, dMRI may have applicability in imaging cellular immunotherapeutic products post infusion, if ex vivo deuterium labeling of CARs or TILs is performed during production. This may facilitate imaging of cellular trafficking, which influences biological activity of immunotherapeutic products, and may predict early therapeutic responses or their absence.
Lab member: Jill Duzen, PhD.
Positions
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Assistant Professor of Oncology
- Department of Pediatric Oncology
Jacobs School Of Medicine And Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo
- Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Background
Education and Training:
- MD - Robert Wood Johnson - Rutgers Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ
Residency:
- Pediatrics, Columbia Presbyterian Children’s Hospital of New York (CHONY), New York, NY
Fellowship:
- Pediatric Hem/Onc Fellowship at the Johns Hopkins-NCI, NIH Combined Program, Bethesda, MD
Board Certification:
- Pediatrics and Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
Professional Memberships:
- 2019-current - National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Project on Criteria for Clinical Trials in Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease: Treatment of Chronic GVHD Working Group member
- 2015-2017 - Full scientific member of National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Institutional Review Board (IRB)
- 2013-current - Fellow, American Board of Pediatrics, Hematology-Oncology Sub-board
- 2009-current - Fellow, American Academy of Pediatrics (F.A.A.P)
- 2009-current - American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT) formerly ASBMT
- 2009-current - American Society of Hematology (ASH)
Honors & Awards:
- 2020 - Cancer Imaging Highlight, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM)
- 2019 - Winner, Magnetic Moments 2019, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM)
- 2018 - NIH Center for Cancer Research Federal Technology Transfer Award
- 2014 - NIH chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease Multidisciplinary Team Recognition Award
- 2014 - NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence (FARE)
- 2002-2003 - Research Scholars Program, Howard Hughes Medical Institute-NIH
- 2000 - Summa Cum Laude Rider University
Clinical Trials
Publications
1. DeFilipp, Z., Couriel, D.R., Lazaryan, A. Bhatt, V.A., Buxbaum, N.P., Alousi, A.M., Olivieri, A., Pulanic, D., Halter, J., Przepiorka, D., Henderson, L., Zeiser, R., Gooley, T.A., Macdonald, K.P., Wolff, D., Schultz, K.R., Paczesny, S., Inamoto, Y., Cutler, C.S., Kitko, C.L., Pidala, J.A., Lee, S.J., Socie, G., Sarantopoulos, S., Pavletic, S.Z., Martin, P.J., Blazar, B.R., Greinix, H.T. National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Project on Criteria for Clinical Trials in Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease: III. The 2020 Treatment of Chronic GVHD Report, TCT, 2021, 27: 729-737; DOI: 10.1016/j.jtct.2021.05.004
2. Assmann, J.C., Farthing, D.E., Saito, K., Maglakelidze, N., Oliver, B.U., Warrick, K.A., Sourbier, C., Ricketts, C.J., Meyer, T.J., Pavletic, S.Z., Linehan, W.M., Krishna, M.C., Gress, R.E., Buxbaum, N.P. Glycolytic metabolism of pathogenic T cells early in disease enables metabolic 13C-MRI detection of GvHD, Blood, 2021, 137 (1): 126–137; https://doi.org/10.1182/blood.2020005770.
3. Buxbaum, N.P., Pavletic, S.Z. Autoimmunity Following Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation. Frontiers in Immunology, 2020, 11: 2017; DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.02017.
4. Buxbaum, N.P. We didn’t start the fire, MDSC inflammasome signaling in GvHD. Blood, 2019, 134(19), DOI: 10.1182/blood.2019003247.
5. Buxbaum, N.P., Farthing, D.E., Maglakelidze, N., Lizak, M., Merkle, H., Carpenter, A.C., Oliver, B.U., Kapoor, V., Castro, E., Swan, G.A., DosSantos, L.M., Bouladoux, N.J., Bare, C.V., Flomerfelt, F.A., Eckhaus, M.A., Telford, W.G., Belkaid, Y., Bosselut, R.J., Gress, R.E. In vivo kinetics and non-radioactive imaging of rapidly proliferating cells in graft-versus-host disease. Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight, 2017, 2(12): e92851
Patents:
Buxbaum, N.P., et al. Stable water isotope labeling and magnetic resonance imaging (swiMRI) for visualization of rapidly dividing cells” US 62/414,554 and PCT/US2017/058886, October 2016 and 2017, respectively