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Stefan Octavian Ciurea

Present Title & Affiliation

Primary Appointment

Assistant Professor, Department of Stem Cell Transplantation, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

Research Interests

  

Mismatched related donors are a potential source of stem cells for virtually all patients who lack a matched sibling or unrelated donor. Expanding the use of stem cells from mismatched relatives by identifying barriers against successful transplantation, optimizing conditioning regimens, separating the graft-versus-tumor effect from graft-versus-host disease and incorporating novel strategies to enhance anti-tumor immunity, like the use of cellular therapy, represents a priority of my research.

Office Address

Education & Training

Degree-Granting Education

1996 Gr. T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmaceuticals, Iasi, Romania, MD, Medicine
1990 B. P. Hasdeu High School, Buzau, Romania, Diploma of Baccalaureate, Cum Laude, Mathematics-Physics

Postgraduate Training

7/2007-6/2008 Clinical Fellowship, Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
7/2004-6/2007 Clinical Fellowship, Hematology-Oncology, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, Chicago, IL
7/2000-6/2003 Clinical Residency, Internal Medicine, PennState University/PinnacleHealth at Harrisburg Hospital, Harrisburg, PA

Board Certifications

2007 Diplomate, Hematology
2003 Diplomate, Internal Medicine

Honors and Awards

2006 American Society of Hematology Merit/Travel Award
2002-2003 Chief Medical Resident
2001 Resident of the Year Award

Professional Memberships

Editorial Board for Oncology Discovery Journal
Editorial Board Member, 2012-present

Selected Publications

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles
1. Kebriaei P, Basset R, Ledesma C, Ciurea S, Parmar S, Shpall EJ, Hosing C, Khouri I, Qazilbash M, Popat U, Alousi A, Nieto Y, Jones RB, de Lima M, Champlin RE, Andersson BS. Clofarabine Combined with Busulfan Provides Excellent Disease Control in Adult Patients with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Undergoing Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation. Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation 18(12):1819-26, 12/2012, 12/2012.
2. de Lima M, McNiece I, Robinson SN, Munsell M, Eapen M, Horowitz M, Alousi A, Saliba R, McMannis JD, Kaur I, Kebriaei P, Parmar S, Popat U, Hosing C, Champlin R, Bollard C, Molldrem JJ, Jones RB, Nieto Y, Andersson BS, Shah N, Oran B, Cooper LJ, Worth L, Qazilbash MH, Korbling M, Rondon G, Ciurea S, Bosque D, Maewal I, Simmons PJ, Shpall EJ. Cord-Blood Engraftment with Ex Vivo Mesenchymal-Cell Coculture. N Engl J Med 367(24):2305-2315, 12/2012. PMID: 23234514.
3. Ciurea SO, Champlin RE. Donor selection in T-cell replete haploidentical hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation: knowns, unknowns and controversies. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. e-Pub 8/2012. PMID: 22892554.
4. Bayraktar UD, Bashir Q, Qazilbash M, Champlin RE, Ciurea SO. Fifty Years of Melphalan Use in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. e-Pub 8/2012. PMID: 22922522.
5. Ciurea SO, Mulanovich V, Saliba RM, Bayraktar UD, Jiang Y, Bassett R, Wang SA, Konopleva M, Fernandez-Vina M, Montes N, Bosque D, Chen J, Rondon G, Alatrash G, Alousi A, Bashir Q, Korbling M, Qazilbash M, Parmar S, Shpall E, Nieto Y, Hosing C, Kebriaei P, Khouri I, Popat U, de Lima M, Champlin RE. Improved Early Outcomes Using a T-cell Replete Graft Compared with T-cell Depleted Haploidentical Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Transplantation. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. e-Pub 7/2012. PMID: 22796535.
6. Nieto Y, Thall P, Valdez B, Andersson B, Popat U, Anderlini P, Shpall EJ, Bassett R, Alousi A, Hosing C, Kebriaei P, Qazilbash M, Frazier E, Gulbis A, Chancoco C, Bashir Q, Ciurea S, Khouri I, Parmar S, Shah N, Worth L, Rondon G, Champlin R, Jones RB. High-Dose Infusional Gemcitabine Combined with Busulfan and Melphalan with Autologous Stem-Cell Transplant in Patients with Refractory Lymphoid Malignancies. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. e-Pub 5/2012. PMID: 22643322.
7. Khouri IF, Saliba RM, Erwin WD, Samuels BI, Korbling M, Medeiros LJ, Valverde R, Alousi AM, Anderlini P, Bashir Q, Ciurea S, Gulbis AM, de Lima M, Hosing C, Kebriaei P, Popat UR, Fowler N, Neelapu SS, Samaniego F, Champlin RE, Macapinlac HA. Nonmyeloablative allogeneic transplantation with or without 90yttrium ibritumomab tiuxetan is potentially curative for relapsed follicular lymphoma: 12-year results. Blood. e-Pub 5/2012. PMID: 22586182.
8. Bayraktar UD, Champlin RE, Ciurea SO. Progress in Haploidentical Stem Cell Transplantation. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 18(3):372-80, 3/2012. e-Pub 8/2011. PMID: 21835146.
9. Ciurea SO, Saliba RM, Champlin RE, Fernandez-Vina MA. Comparing apples with apples. Blood Journal, 2/2012. e-Pub 2/2012.
10. Farhan S, Lee DA, Champlin RE, Ciurea SO. NK cell therapy: targeting disease relapse after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Immunotherapy. e-Pub 2/2012. PMID: 22329587.
11. Khan H, Oberoi S, Mahvash A, Sharma M, Rondon G, Alousi A, Shpall EJ, Kontoyiannis DP, Champlin RE, Ciurea SO. Reversible Ureteral Obstruction due to Polyomavirus Infection after Precutaneous Nephrostomy Catheter Placement. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 17(10):1551-5, 10/2011. e-Pub 3/9/2011. PMID: 21396475.
12. Ciurea SO, Mulanovich V, Jiang Y, Bassett R, Rondon G, McMannis J, de Lima M, Shpall EJ, Champlin RE. Lymphocyte Recovery Predicts Outcomes in Cord Blood and T-cell Depleted Haploidentical Stem Cell Transplantation. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 17(8):1169-75, 8/2011. e-Pub 11/2010. PMID: 21126598.
13. Ciurea SO, Saliba RM, Rondon G, Patah PA, Aung F, Cano P, Andersson BS, Kebriaei P, Popat U, Fernandez-Vina M, Champlin RE, de Lima M. Outcomes of patients with myeloid malignancies treated with allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from matched unrelated donors compared with one-human leukocyte antigen mismatched related donors using HLA typing at 10 loci. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 17(6):923-9, 6/2011. e-Pub 10/20/2010. PMID: 20969970.
14. Mulanovich VE, Jiang Y, de Lima M, Shpall EJ, Champlin RE, Ciurea SO. Infectious complications in cord blood and T-cell depleted haploidentical stem cell transplantation. Am J Blood Res 1(1):98-105, 2011. e-Pub 6/2011. PMCID: PMC3301419.
15. Ciurea SO, de Lima M, Giralt S, Saliba R, Bueso-Ramos C, Andersson BS, Hosing CM, Verstovsek S, Champlin RE, Popat U. Allogeneic stem cell transplantation for myelofibrosis with leukemic transformation. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 16(4):555-9, 4/2010. e-Pub 1/29/2010. PMID: 20005966.
16. Ciurea SO, Saliba R, Rondon G, Pesoa S, Cano P, Fernandez-Vina M, Qureshi S, Worth LL, McMannis J, Kebriaei P, Jones RB, Korbling M, Qazilbash M, Shpall EJ, Giralt S, de Lima M, Champlin RE, Gajewski J. Reduced-intensity conditioning using fludarabine, melphalan and thiotepa for adult patients undergoing haploidentical SCT. Bone Marrow Transplant 45(3):429-36, 3/2010. e-Pub 8/2009. PMID: 19668237.
17. Ciurea SO, de Lima M, Cano P, Korbling M, Giralt S, Shpall EJ, Wang X, Thall PF, Champlin RE, Fernandez-Vina M. High Risk of Graft Failure in Patients with Anti-HLA Antibodies Undergoing Haploidentical Stem Cell Transplantation. Transplantation 88(8):1019-1024, 10/2009. PMID: 19855248.
18. Ciurea SO, Rodrigues M, Giralt S, de Lima M. Aging, acute myelogenous leukemia and allogeneic transplantation: do they belong in the same sentence? Clin Lymphoma Myeloma 9(4):289-297, 8/2009. PMID: 19717378.
19. Ciurea SO, Andersson BS. Busulfan in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 15(5):523-36, 5/2009. e-Pub 2/2009. PMID: 19361744.
20. Chunduri S, Gaitonde S, Ciurea SO, Hoffman R, Rondelli D. Pulmonary extramedullary hematopoiesis in patients with myelofibrosis undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Haematologica 93(10):1593-5, 10/2008. e-Pub 7/2008. PMID: 18641018.
21. Tam CS, Nussenzveig RM, Popat U, Bueso-Ramos CE, Thomas DA, Cortes JA, Champlin RE, Ciurea SE, Manshouri T, Pierce SM, Kantarjian HM, Verstovsek S. The natural history and treatment outcome of blast phase BCR-ABL- myeloproliferative neoplasms. Blood 112(5):1628-37, 9/2008. e-Pub 6/2008. PMCID: PMC2518875.
22. Lee HJ, Gulbis A, De Padua Silva L, Hosing C, Khouri I, de Lima M, Champlin RE, Ciurea SO. Rituximab for passenger lymphocyte syndrome associated with allogeneic SCT. Bone Marrow Transplant 42(1):67-9, May-Jun, 7/2008. PMID: 18347568.
23. Ciurea SO, Sadegi B, Wilbur A, Alagiozian-Angelova V, Gaitonde S, Dobogai LC, Akard LP, Hoffman R, Rondelli D. Effects of extensive splenomegaly in patients with myelofibrosis undergoing a reduced intensity allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Br J Haematol 141(1):80-3, 4/2008. PMID: 18324970.
24. Ciurea SO, Merchant D, Mahmud N, Ishii T, Zhao Y, Hu W, Bruno E, Barosi G, Xu M, Hoffman R. Pivotal contributions of megakaryocytes to the biology of idiopathic myelofibrosis. Blood 110(3):986-93, 8/2007. e-Pub 5/2007. PMCID: PMC1924766.
25. Ciurea SO, Hoffman R. Cytokines for the treatment of thrombocytopenia. Semin Hematol 44(3):166-82, 7/2007. PMID: 17631181.
26. Ishii T, Xu M, Zhao Y, Hu WY, Ciurea S, Bruno E, Hoffman R. Recurrence of clonal hematopoiesis after discontinuing pegylated recombinant interferon-alpha 2a in a patient with polycythemia vera. Leukemia 21(2):373-4, May-Jun, 2/2007. PMID: 17122864.
27. Hoffman R, Prchal JT, Samuelson S, Ciurea SO, Rondelli D. Philadelphia chromosome-negative myeloproliferative disorders: biology and treatment. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 13(1 Suppl 1):64-72, 1/2007. PMID: 17222772.
28. Ciurea SO, Thulborn KR, Gowhari M. Dural venous sinus thrombosis in a patient with sickle cell disease: case report and literature review. Am J Hematol 81(4):290-3, Jan-Feb, 4/2006. PMID: 16550522.
29. Ciurea S, Beri R, Dobogai L, Chunduri S, Mahmud N, Rondelli D, Peace D. The use of blood conservation methods in addition to erythropoietin allows myeloablative allogeneic stem cell transplantation without the use of blood products. Bone Marrow Transplant 37(3):325-7, Jan-Feb, 2/2006. PMID: 16314850.
30. Najera JE, Alousi A, De Lima M, Ciurea SO. Akinetic mutism-a serious complication to tacrolimus-based GVHD prophylaxis. Bone Marrow Transplantation. Submitted.
31. Aung FM, Lichtiger B, Ping L, Alousi A, Bashir Q, Ciurea S, de Lima M, Hosing C, Kebriaei P, Nieto Y, Oran B, Parmar S, Qazilbash M, Shah N, Khouri I, Champlin R. Incidence and natural history of pure red cell aplasia in Major ABO mismatched Hematopoietic cell Transplantation. British Journal of Haematology. Submitted.

Abstracts
1. Alousi AM, Saliba RM, Chen J, Andersson BS, Khouri IF, Qazilbash MH, Popat UR, Hosing CM, Ciurea SO, Shpall EJ, Jones RB, Kebriaei P, Nieto Y, Anderlini P, DeLima M, Rondon G, Champlin RE. A Matched Controlled Analysis of Post-Transplant Cyclophosphamide (CY) Versus Tacrolimus and Mini-Dose Methotrexate in Matched Sibling and Unrelated Donor Transplant Recipients Receiving Reduced-Intensity Conditioning: Post-Transplant CY Is Associated with Higher Rates of Acute Gvhd. Proceedings of the American Society of Hematology, Blood. 2012. In Press.
2. Khouri IF, Saliba RM, Turturro F, Korbling M, Ledesma C, Rondon G, Alousi AM, Anderlini P, Bashir Q, Ciurea SO, Hosing CM, Popat UR, Charafeddine Y,Oki Y, Fayad LE, Champlin RE. Bortezomib and BEAM-Rituximab Reduced-Intensity Conditioning for High-Risk Lymphoma Patients Who Are Not Eligible for Nonmyeloablative Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation. Proceedings of the American Society of Hematology, Blood. 2012. In Press.
3. Benton CB, Konopleva M, Saliba RM, Shpall EJ, Ciurea SO, Kebriaei P, Alousi AM, Popat UR, Anderlini P, Nieto Y, Parmar S, Zeng Z, Chen JJ, Rondon G, McMullin B, Wang RY, Lu H, Schober WD, Woodworth GG, Gulbis A, Cool R, Qiao W, Thall PF, Andreeff M, Champlin RE. Leukemia Cell Mobilization with Plerixafor Plus G-CSF with Busulfan/Fludarabine and Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation in Patients with AML/MDS Is Associated with Decreased Complete Chimerism and GvHD, and Increased Risk of Relapse. Proceedings of the American Society of Hematology, Blood. 2012. In Press.
4. Hamdi A, Poon LM, Saliba RM, Rondon G, Ledesma C, Qazilbash M, Hosing CM, Jones RB, Popat U, Nieto Y, Alousi AM, Ciurea SO, Shpall EJ, Champlin RE, Kebriaei P. Outcomes of Adults with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) Following Relapse After First Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT). Proceedings of the American Society of Hematology, Blood. 2012. In Press.
5. Bayraktar UD, Saliba RM, Rondon G, Di Stasi A, Kebriaei P, de Lima M, Champlin RE, Ciurea SO. Relevance and Factors Predicting for Early Lymphocyte Recovery After Allogeneic Bone Marrow Stem Cell Transplantation (BMT). Proceedings of the American Society of Hematology, Blood. 2012. In Press.
6. Bostaca I. Ciurea SO, Jescu M. The alcoholic torsade de pointes. Third Virtual Congress of Cardiology, 1/2003.
7. Hamdi A, Fernandez Vina MA, Aung F, Poon LM, Kornblau S, Cao K, Champlin RE, Ciurea SO. Changes in HLA Antigens Is Not a Major Mechanism of Acute Myeloid Leukemia Relapse After Matched Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantatio. 2013 ASBMT Tandem Meetings. Submitted.
8. Poon M, Hamdi A, Shaim H, Xie S, Milton D, Jr Basset R, Rondon G, Shpall EJ, Cooper LJN, Lee DA, Rezvani K, Champlin RE, Ciurea SO. Reconstitution of Lymphocyte Subsets and Outcomes After Matched and Mismatched Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Transplantation. 2013 ASBMT Tandem Meetings. Submitted.

Book Chapters
1. Ciurea SO, Hoffman R. The Polycythemias. In: Oxford Textbook of Medicine, 5th Edition. In Press.
2. Ciurea SO, Hoffman R. Thrombocytosis. In: Oxford Textbook of Medicine, 5th Edition. In Press.

Letters to the Editor
1. Ciurea SO, Champlin RE. Outcomes of Patients Treated and One Human Leukocyte Antigen Mismatched Related Compared with Matched Unrelated Donors. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 17(8):1261, 8/2011. e-Pub 6/21/2011. PMID: 21699878.

Last updated: 2/1/2013