Leomar Y Ballester, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Anatomical Pathology, Division of Pathology-Lab Medicine Div
About Dr. Leomar Y Ballester
My education consists of a B.S. in Biological Sciences at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, an M.D. degree at the UPR School of Medicine and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the Department of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University. Subsequently I joined the National Cancer Institute for Residency training in Anatomic Pathology (where I also served as chief resident). This was followed by fellowships in Molecular Genetic Pathology at Baylor College of Medicine and Neuropathology at the Houston Methodist/MD Anderson program. I am board certified by the American Board of Pathology in Anatomic Pathology, Neuropathology, and Molecular Genetic Pathology. I joined the Departments of Pathology and Translational Molecular Pathology at MD Anderson with goal of focusing on CNS tumors. As a neuropathologist, I am interested in the biology, diagnosis and treatment of brain cancer. As a molecular pathologist, I am interested in developing and implementing clinical molecular diagnostic assays. My research interests involve the combination of histology and genomics to study the pathogenesis of brain tumors, identify clinically useful biomarkers and translate cancer genomic discoveries into clinical diagnostic assays. In addition to my clinical responsibilities in neuropathology and molecular genetic pathology, I am the principal investigator of a research laboratory focusing on brain tumor biomarkers and I was recently awarded a K08 grant from NCI to study CSF biomarkers in patient with CNS malignancies.
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, Division of Pathology-Lab Medicine Div, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Associate Professor (Joint appointment), Department of Translational Molecular Pathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Associate Professor, Department of Translational Molecular Pathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2011 | UPR School of Medicine, San Juan, PR, MD |
| 2007 | Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, US, Genetics/Pharmacology, Ph.D |
| 2001 | University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, PR, Biology, BS |
Postgraduate Training
| 2015-2017 | Clinical Fellowship, Neuropathology, Houston Methodist Hospital/MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas |
| 2014-2015 | Clinical Fellowship, Molecular Genetic Pathology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas |
| 2011-2014 | Clinical Residency, Anatomic Pathology, NIH/NCI, Bethesda, Maryland |
| 2007-2011 | Research Fellowship, Neuroscience, UPR School of Medicine, San Juan |
Licenses & Certifications
| 2017 | American Board of Pathology Certification in Neuropathology |
| 2015 | American Board of Pathology Certification in Molecular Genetic Pathology |
| 2014 | American Board of Pathology Certification in Anatomic Pathology |
| 2013 | Texas Medical Board |
Experience & Service
Faculty Academic Appointments
Assistant Professor, Department of Translational Molecular Pathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2021 - 2023
Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2021 - 2023
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, McGovern Medical School, Houston, TX, 2017 - 2021
Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology/Laboratory Medicine, McGovern Medical School, Houston, TX, 2017 - 2021
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2017 - 2021
Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities
Medical Director, Department of Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, 2024 - Present
Co-director, Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Department of Pathology/Laboratory Medicine, McGovern Medical School, Houston, TX, 2019 - 2021
Extramural Institutional Committee Activities
Member, Vogel Award Committee, USCAP, 2025 - Present
Member, Tissue Oversight Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2024 - Present
Member, Data and Biospecimen Access Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2023 - Present
Member, CAP Molecular Oncology Committee, CAP, 2022 - Present
Member, Faculty Senate, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2022 - Present
Member, UTHealth- Faculty Senate, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2019 - 2021
Member, UTHealth- Graduate School Education Committee (GSEC), The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2018 - 2021
Honors & Awards
| 2023 | Shirley Stein Scientific Endowment Research Award |
| 2020 - 2021 | Dean’s Teaching Award, McGovern Medical School |
| 2020 | Chair Excellence Award, MD Anderson Cancer Center. Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine |
| 2019 | Young Investigator Forum, Neuro-oncology Award |
| 2018 | Top Doctors 2018, Houstonia |
| 2018 | US Brain Research Cooperative Program Grant, Japan |
| 2017 | Microgrant program, Houston Methodist Hospital, Department of Pathology |
| 2013 | American Society of Dermatopathology Mentorship Award |
| 2012 | Finalist in Oral Abstract Competition at the 2012 American Society of Clinical Pathology, ASCP |
| 2010 | Haxhiu- N.E.U.R.O.N (New, Exciting, Unique Research on Neuroscience) |
| 2002 | T32 NS07491 Training Program in Ion Channel and Transporter Biology |
| 2000 | Minority Access to Research Careers, NIH MARC USTAR Program |
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations & Talks
National Presentations
- 2025. The Role of Liquid Biopsies in the Diagnosis and Monitoring of Central Nervous System Tumors. Invited. AANP Molecular Neuropathology Course: CNS Tumors, US.
- 2025. Comparative Transcriptome and Methylome Analyses between Patients with Merkel Cell Polyomavirus Positive and Negative. Invited. USCAP. Boston, MA, US.
- 2024. The Role of Molecular Alterations in the Diagnosis and Grading of CNS Tumors. Invited. AANS Tumor Section Webinar, US.
- 2024. Brain Tumor Diagnosis in the Molecular Era: What the Neurosurgeon and Neuro-Oncologist Need to Know. Invited. College of American Pathologists (CAP) Annual Meeting 2024. Northfield, IL, US.
- 2021. CSF Biomarkers for the Diagnosis and Monitoring of Patients with CNS Tumors. Invited. 3rd Annual International Society of Liquid Biopsy Virtual Congress, US.
- 2019. Laboratory of Pathology lecture series: Molecular neuropathology lecture. Conference. NIH/NCI, US.
- 2016. WHO 2016: The Increasingly Important Role of Molecular Diagnostics in Neuropathology. Conference. Texas Children’s Hospital, US.
- 2016. WHO 2016: The Increasingly Important Role of Molecular Diagnostics in Neuropathology. Invited. Texas Children’s Hospital Pathology Research Seminar, US.
- 2016. WHO 2016: The Increasingly Important Role of Molecular Diagnostics in Neuropathology. Conference. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, US.
- 2016. Laboratory of Pathology: Molecular Pathology; from single gene testing to whole-exome sequencing. Conference. NIH/NCI, US.
- 2015. Immunohistochemical markers in diffuse intrinsic brainstem gliomas. Invited. NIH/NCI, US.
- 2014. Laboratory of Pathology lecture series: Molecular pathology in the diagnosis of solid tumors. Conference. NIH/NCI, US.
- 2014. Morphologic characteristics and immunohistochemical profile of Diffuse Brainstem Gliomas. Invited. NIH/NCI, US.
International Presentations
- 2025. The Important Role of Molecular Alterations in the Diagnosis and Grading of CNS Tumors. Invited. The Puerto Rico Academy of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Annual Meeting. San Juan, PR.
- 2025. Navigating Intraoperative Consultation for CNS Lesions. Invited. The Puerto Rico Academy of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Annual Meeting. San Juan, PR.
- 2024. Liquid biopsy; Concepts and Applications. Invited. Latin-American Society of Pathology and Argentina Society of Pathology (SLAP/SAP), AR.
- 2023. Analysis of CSF cfDNA with the Oncomine Precision Assay in the Genexus Integrated Sequencer. Invited. Oncomine Scientific Gala. Porto, PT.
- 2022. Invited Speaker. Invited. XXXIV International Congress of the International Academy of Pathology. Sidney, AU.
- 2022. Liquid biopsy; Concepts and Applications. Invited. 33rd Brazilian Congress of Pathology and 26th Brazilian Congress of Cytopathology. Foz do Iguaçu, BR.
- 2021. Invited Speaker. Invited. 64th Philippine Society of Pathology Meeting. Manilla, PH.
- 2019. CSF liquid biopsy for patients with CNS tumors. Invited. International Academy of Pathology Meeting, Thailand branch, TH.
- 2019. Neuropathology section, CSF liquid biopsy for patients with CNS tumors. Invited. Latin-American Society of Pathology. Lima, PE.
- 2018. Co-Chair of the Neuropathology Section. Conference. International Academy of Pathology Meeting. Aman, JO.
- 2017. Neuropathology Section, Case Presentation. Invited. Latin-American Society of Pathology. Cartagena, CO.
- Diffuse Gliomas Lecture "VII Jornada Neuro Oncologia 2022". Invited. Diffuse Gliomas Lecture "VII Jornada Neuro Oncologia 2022". Santiago, CL.
Formal Peers
- 2021. Molecular Neuropathology. Visiting. Houston, TX, US.
- 2021. Non-glial tumors. Visiting. Houston, TX, US.
Grant & Contract Support
| Date: | 2026 - 2031 |
| Title: | Advancing Sonobiopsy Technology for Clinical Translation in Brain Tumors |
| Funding Source: | NIH |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | FP00027931 |
| Date: | 2026 - 2031 |
| Title: | Transforming care through a GEMINI (Glioma Epigenetic and MRI Imaging for Novel Insights) Clinical Trial |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | PI |
| ID: | FP00024245_Res1 |
| Date: | 2026 - 2029 |
| Title: | MicroRNA Theranostics in Rare Melanomas and in Prevention of Melanoma Metastasis |
| Funding Source: | DOD |
| Role: | Collaborator |
| ID: | FP00028019 |
| Date: | 2025 - 2028 |
| Title: | Endovascular intracranial venous blood liquid biopsy for diagnosis of malignant brain tumors |
| Funding Source: | Lindonlight Collective |
| Role: | PI |
| ID: | FP00028153 |
| Date: | 2025 - 2026 |
| Title: | SPORE in Brain Cancer |
| Funding Source: | NCI |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | FP00019269_Con1 |
| Date: | 2025 - 2026 |
| Title: | Translational Genomics and Precision Medicine in Cancer Training Program |
| Funding Source: | NCI |
| Role: | Mentor |
| ID: | FP00016270_Res1_Con1 |
| Date: | 2025 - 2029 |
| Title: | Translational Genomics and Precision Medicine in Cancer Training Program |
| Funding Source: | NIH |
| Role: | Mentor |
| ID: | FP00016270_Res1_Rev1 |
| Date: | 2024 - 2029 |
| Title: | Pre-Analytical Factors Affecting the Detection of Tumor-Derived Biomarkers in Cerebrospinal Fluid |
| Funding Source: | NIH |
| Role: | PI |
| ID: | FP-00021509 |
| Date: | 2024 - 2029 |
| Title: | CSF Metabolites as Biomarkers for Patients with Glioblastoma |
| Funding Source: | NIH |
| Role: | PI |
| ID: | FP-00021746 |
| Date: | 2024 - 2029 |
| Title: | Define the role of IL6-JAK1-STAT3 axis in mediating disease progression in SMARCB1-loss bladder cancer |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-I |
| Date: | 2024 - 2029 |
| Title: | Integrated liquid biopsy and advanced MRI for glioblastoma surveillance |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-I |
| Date: | 2023 - 2028 |
| Title: | Targeting metabolomic and immunologic vulnerabilities for epoxide hydrolase 2-loss bladder cancer |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-I |
| Date: | 2023 - 2024 |
| Title: | Validation of the Oncomine Precision Assay in the Genexus Integrated Sequencer for Analysis of CSF cfDNA (RCTS # 62459) |
| Funding Source: | ThermoFischer Scientific |
| Role: | PI |
| ID: | FP00020262 |
| Date: | 2022 - 2023 |
| Title: | Elucidating the Relationship Between Mutations, Methylation, Gene Expression and Metabolism in Gliomas |
| Funding Source: | MDACC |
| Role: | Principal Investigator-MDACC |
| Date: | 2022 - 2024 |
| Title: | The Role of Acetylcholine Receptors in Merkel Cell Polyoma Virus-induced Merkel Cell Carcinoma from Various Ethnicities |
| Funding Source: | MDACC |
| Role: | Co-I |
| Date: | 2022 - 2023 |
| Title: | Differences in Expression of Ion Channels in Molecular Subtypes of Infiltrating Gliomas |
| Funding Source: | MDACC |
| Role: | Principal Investigator-MDACC |
| Date: | 2021 - 2022 |
| Title: | Analysis of CSF miRNA and Metabolites for Molecular Characterization and Monitoring of Patients with Infiltrating Gliomas |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Principal Investigator-MDACC |
| ID: | 2P50CA127001 |
| Date: | 2020 - 2025 |
| Title: | Development and Validation of a CSF Liquid Biopsy for Molecular Characterization and Monitoring of Patients with Central Nervous System Tumors |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | PI |
| ID: | K08 CA241651 |
| Date: | 2019 - 2023 |
| Title: | Intrathecal delivery of radiation sensitizing nanoparticles in pediatric neuro-oncology |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NICHD |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | R01 HD099543 |
| Date: | 2019 - 2021 |
| Title: | Optimizing oncolytic virus therapy for glioblastoma |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | R61NS112410 |
| Date: | 2019 - 2023 |
| Title: | Targeting leptomeningeal metastasis in medulloblastoma |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NINDS |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | R01 NS111292 |
| Title: | Next generation sequencing analysis of glioblastoma patients treated with TTFields |
| Funding Source: | Novocure |
| Role: | Principal Investigator-MDACC |
| Title: | Company approached us to perform CSF-ctDNA analysis of patients with medulloblastoma as part of a phase 1 clinical trial |
| Funding Source: | Y-mAbs Therapeutics, Inc |
| Role: | Principal Investigator-MDACC |
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Goethe, E, Alfattal, R, Srinivasan, S, Dasgupta, P, Puduvalli, VK, Weathers, S, Ballester, L, Weinberg, J, Prabhu, SS, Ferguson, SD, Gubbiotti, M. High-grade glioma with pleomorphic and pseudopapillary features. Acta Neuropathologica Communications 13(1), 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40826136.
- Torres, J, Bundrant, BE, Dono, A, Pichardo-Rojas, PS, Hsu, SH, Amsbaugh, MJ, Zhu, JJ, Blanco, AI, Riascos, R, Tandon, N, Ballester, L, Esquenazi, Y. Cystic glioblastoma IDH-wildtype. Journal of neuro-oncology 175(2):515-523, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40610845.
- Dono, A, Pichardo-Rojas, D, Mendoza Mora, L, Pichardo-Rojas, PS, Marin-Castañeda, LA, Carrillo, A, Coria Medrano, A, Esquenazi, Y, Ballester, L. MTAP immunohistochemistry as a surrogate marker of CDKN2A loss in brain tumors. Journal of neuropathology and experimental neurology 84(7):600-610, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40249413.
- Cunningham, CR, Dimopoulos, YP, García-Quiñones, IM, Milton, D, Delgado-Vélez, M, Cho, WC, Prieto, V, Lasalde-Dominicci, JA, Ballester, L, Aung, PP. Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Expression in Merkel Cell Carcinoma Is Associated With Clinical and Histopathologic Parameters. Journal of cutaneous pathology 52(4):317-323, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 39814046.
- Lam, K, Ozkizilkaya, HI, Milton, D, Dono, A, Liu, Y, Kundu, S, Kumar, VA, Johnson, JM, Esquenazi, Y, Patel, C, Ballester, L. Molecular alterations in IDH-mutant astrocytoma. Neuro-Oncology Advances 7(1), 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40575414.
- Yang, RK, Alvarez, HA, Lucas, AS, Roy Chowdhuri, S, Rashid, A, Chen, H, Ballester, L, Sweeney, K, Routbort, MJ, Patel, KP, Luthra, R, Medeiros, LJ, Toruner, GA. Microsatellite instability and high tumor mutational burden detected by next generation sequencing are concordant with loss of mismatch repair proteins by immunohistochemistry. Cancer Genetics 290-291:44-50, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 39700818.
- Amara, CS, Kami Reddy, KR, Yuntao, Y, Chan, Ys, Piyarathna, DB, Dobrolecki, LE, Shih, DJ, Shi, Z, Xu, J, Huang, S, Ellis, MJ, Apolo, AB, Ballester, L, Gao, J, Hansel, DE, Lotan, Y, Hodges, HC, Lerner, SP, Creighton, CJ, Sreekumar, A, Zheng, WJ, Msaouel, P, Kavuri, SM, Putluri, N. The IL6/JAK/STAT3 signaling axis is a therapeutic vulnerability in SMARCB1-deficient bladder cancer. Nature communications 15(1), 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38355560.
- Wang, DH, Fujita, Y, Dono, A, Rodriguez-Armendariz, AG, Shah, M, Putluri, N, Pichardo-Rojas, PS, Patel, C, Zhu, JJ, Huse, J, Parker Kerrigan, BC, Lang Jr, FF, Esquenazi, Y, Ballester, L. The genomic alterations in glioblastoma influence the levels of CSF metabolites. Acta Neuropathologica Communications 12(1), 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38243318.
- Dono, A, Zhu, P, Takayasu, T, Arevalo, O, Riascos, R, Tandon, N, Ballester, L, Esquenazi, Y. Extent of Resection Thresholds in Molecular Subgroups of Newly Diagnosed Isocitrate Dehydrogenase–Wildtype Glioblastoma. Neurosurgery 95(4):932-940, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38687046.
- Reddy, KK, Piyarathna, DB, Park, JH, Putluri, V, Amara, CS, Kamal, AM, Xu, J, Kraushaar, D, Huang, S, Jung, SY, Eberlin, LS, Johnson, JR, Kittles, RA, Ballester, L, Parsawar, K, Minhaj Siddiqui, M, Gao, J, Gramer, AL, Bollag, R, Terris, MK, Lotan, Y, Creighton, CJ, Lerner, SP, Sreekumar, A, Kaipparettu, BA, Putluri, N. Mitochondrial reprogramming by activating OXPHOS via glutamine metabolism in African American patients with bladder cancer. JCI Insight 9(17), 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 39253977.
- Sura, GH, Ballester, L. Incorporation of DNA methylation profiling into the cytopathology laboratory. Cancer Cytopathology 132(9):543-546, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38488294.
- Shehabeldin A, Rohra P, Sellen LD, Zhao J, Alqaidy D, Aramin H, Hameed N, Perez YE, Lai Z, Tong YT, Milton DR, Edgerton ME, Fuller G, Hansel D, Prieto VG, Ballester LY, Aung PP. Utility of Whole Slide Imaging for Intraoperative Consultation: Experience of a Large Academic Center. Arch Pathol Lab Med, 2024. e-Pub 2024.
- Dono A, Zhu P, Takayasu T, Arevalo O, Riascos R, Tandon N, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Dehydrogenase Extent of Resection Thresholds in Molecular Subgroups of Newly Diagnosed Isocitrate - Wildtype Glioblastoma. Neurosurgery, 2024. e-Pub 2024.
- Dono, A, Torres, J, Nunez, L, Arevalo, O, Rodriguez-Quinteros, JC, Riascos, R, Kamali, A, Tandon, N, Ballester, L, Esquenazi, Y. Imaging predictors of 4q12 amplified and RB1 mutated glioblastoma IDH-wildtype. Journal of neuro-oncology 167(1):99-109, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38351343.
- Sura GH, Ballester LY. Incorporation of DNA methylation profiling into the cytopathology laboratory. Cancer Cytopathol, 2024. e-Pub 2024.
- Amara CS, Kami Reddy KR, Yuntao Y, Chan YS, Piyarathna DWB, Dobrolecki LE, Shih DJH, Shi Z, Xu J, Huang S, Ellis MJ, Apolo AB, Ballester LY, Gao J, Hansel DE, Lotan Y, Hodges HC, Lerner SP, Creighton CJ, Sreekumar A, Zheng WJ, Msaouel P, Kavuri SM, Putluri N. The IL6/JAK/STAT3 signaling axis is a therapeutic vulnerability in SMARCB1-deficient bladder cancer. Nat Commun, 2024. e-Pub 2024.
- Dono A, Torres J, Nunez L, Arevalo O, Rodriguez-Quinteros JC, Riascos RF, Kamali A, Tandon N, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Imaging predictors of 4q12 amplified and RB1 mutated glioblastoma IDH-wildtype. J Neurooncol, 2024. e-Pub 2024.
- Shehabeldin A, Rohra P, Sellen LD, Zhao J, Alqaidy D, Aramin H, Hameed N, Perez YE, Lai Z, Tong YT, Milton DR, Edgerton ME, Fuller G, Hansel D, Prieto VG, Ballester LY, Aung PP. Utility of Whole Slide Imaging for Intraoperative Consultation: Experience of a Large Academic Center. Arch Pathol Lab Med 148(6):715-721, 2024. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37756559.
- Arjuna, S, Shah, M, Dono, A, Nunez, L, Pichardo-Rojas, PS, Zhu, JJ, Riascos, R, Luthra, R, Roy Chowdhuri, S, Duose, D, Wang, DH, Lang Jr, FF, Esquenazi, Y, Ballester, L. Rapid detection of mutations in CSF-cfTNA with the Genexus Integrated Sequencer. Journal of neuro-oncology 166(1):39-49, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38160230.
- Zheng, L, Luthra, R, Alvarez, HA, San Lucas, FA, Duose, D, Wistuba, II, Fuller, GN, Ballester, L, Roy Chowdhuri, S, Sweeney, K, Rashid, A, Yang, RK, Chen, W, Liu, A, Wu, Y, Albarracin, C, Patel, KP, Routbort, MJ, Sahin, AA, Ding, Q, Chen, H. Intragenic EGFR::EGFR.E1E8 Fusion (EGFRvIII) in 4331 Solid Tumors. Cancers 16(1), 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38201434.
- Gubbiotti MA, Weinberg JS, Weathers SP, Dasgupta P, Tom MC, Aldape K, Quezado M, Abdullaev Z, Huse JT, Ballester LY. An incidental finding of a high-grade glioma with pleomorphic and pseudopapillary features (HPAP) with PBRM1 mutation. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol, 2024. e-Pub 2024.
- Arjuna S, Shah M, Dono A, Nunez-Rubiano L, Pichardo-Rojas PS, Zhu JJ, Riascos RF, Luthra R, Roy-Chowdhuri S, Duose D, Wang DH, Lang FF, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. Rapid detection of mutations in CSF-cfTNA with the Genexus Integrated Sequencer. J Neurooncol, 2024. e-Pub 2024.
- Wang DH, Fujita Y, Dono A, Rodriguez Armendariz AG, Shah M, Putluri N, Pichardo-Rojas PS, Patel CB, Zhu JJ, Huse JT, Parker Kerrigan BC, Lang FF, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. The genomic alterations in glioblastoma influence the levels of CSF metabolites. Acta Neuropathol Commun, 2024. e-Pub 2024.
- Fowler MJ, Riley CO, Tomasson E, Mehta S, Grande-Allen J, Ballester LY, Sandberg DI, Janssen CF, Sirianni RW. Engineering subarachnoid trabeculae with electrospun poly(caprolactone) (PCL) scaffolds to study leptomeningeal metastasis in medulloblastoma. Biomater Adv 155:213646, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37918168.
- Zheng L, Luthra R, Alvarez HA, San Lucas FA, Duose DY, Wistuba II, Fuller GN, Ballester LY, Roy-Chowdhuri S, Sweeney KJ, Rashid A, Yang RK, Chen W, Liu A, Wu Y, Albarracin C, Patel KP, Routbort MJ, Sahin AA, Ding Q, Chen H. Intragenic EGFR::EGFR.E1E8 Fusion (EGFRvIII) in 4331 Solid Tumors. Cancers (Basel), 2023. e-Pub 2023.
- Pichardo-Rojas PS, Dono A, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Commentary: Novel Postoperative Serum Biomarkers in Atypical Meningiomas: A Multicenter Study. Neurosurgery, 2023. e-Pub 2023.
- Gregory TA, Williford GL, Maronge JM, Alfaro K, Fuller GN, de Groot J, Puduvalli VK, Ballester LY, Majd NK. An expedited strategy for accurate and timely integrated molecular diagnosis of gliomas. Neuro Oncol 25(4):808-809, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 36723868.
- Simbaqueba Clavijo, CA, Aaroe, AE, Rubio, D, Loghin, ME, Treiber, J, Ballester, L, Fuller, GN, Gopakumar, S, Kim, BY, Suarez-Almazor, M. Leptomeningeal Immunoglobulin G4–Related Disease. Annals of Internal Medicine Clinical Cases 2(12), 2023. e-Pub 2023.
- Ozkizilkaya HI, Johnson JM, O'Brien BJ, McCutcheon IE, Prabhu SS, Ghia AJ, Fuller GN, Huse JT, Ballester LY. Intracranial mesenchymal tumor, FET::CREB fusion-positive in the lateral ventricle. Neurooncol Adv 5(1):vdad026, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37051329.
- Haider AS, Ene CI, Palmisciano P, Haider M, Rao G, Ballester LY, Fuller GN. Concurrent IDH1 and IDH2 mutations in glioblastoma: A case report. Front Oncol 13:1071792, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37077830.
- Dono A, Moosvi AM, Goli PS, Bellman AC, Aung PP, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. TERT Immunohistochemistry as a Surrogate Marker for TERT Promoter Mutations in Infiltrating Gliomas. Appl Immunohistochem Mol Morphol 31(5):288-294, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 36952585.
- Dono A, El Achi H, Bundrant BE, Goli PS, Zhu P, Ozkizilkaya HI, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. Infiltrating gliomas with FGFR alterations: Histologic features, genetic alterations, and potential clinical implications. Cancer Biomark 36(2):117-131, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 36530080.
- Kata K, Rodriguez-Quintero JC, Arevalo OD, Zhang JJ, Bhattacharjee MB, Ware C, Dono A, Riascos-Castaneda R, Tandon N, Blanco A, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY, Amsbaugh M, Day AL, Zhu JJ. BRAF/MEK Dual Inhibitors Therapy in Progressive and Anaplastic Pleomorphic Xanthoastrocytoma: Case Series and Literature Review. J Natl Compr Canc Netw 20(11):1193-1202.e6, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36351333.
- Lu G, Zhu P, Rao M, Linendoll N, Buja LM, Bhattacharjee MB, Brown RE, Ballester LY, Tian X, Pilichowska M, Wu JK, Hergenroeder GW, Glass WF, Chen L, Zhang R, Pillai AK, Hunter RL, Zhu JJ. Postmortem study of organ-specific toxicity in glioblastoma patients treated with a combination of temozolomide, irinotecan and bevacizumab. J Neurooncol 160(1):221-231, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36203027.
- Fujita Y, Nunez-Rubiano L, Dono A, Bellman A, Shah M, Rodriguez JC, Putluri V, Kamal AHM, Putluri N, Riascos RF, Zhu JJ, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. IDH1 p.R132H ctDNA and D-2-hydroxyglutarate as CSF biomarkers in patients with IDH-mutant gliomas. J Neurooncol 159(2):261-270, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35816267.
- Dono A, Alfaro-Munoz K, Yan Y, Lopez-Garcia CA, Soomro Z, Williford G, Takayasu T, Robell L, Majd NK, de Groot J, Esquenazi Y, Kamiya-Matsuoka C, Ballester LY. Molecular, Histological, and Clinical Characteristics of Oligodendrogliomas: A Multi-Institutional Retrospective Study. Neurosurgery 90(5):515-522, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35179134.
- DiPeri TP, Demirhan M, Karp DD, Fu S, Hong DS, Subbiah V, Lim J, Ballester LY, Tayar JH, Suarez-Almazor ME, Javle M, Meric-Bernstam F. Corticosteroid-Refractory Myositis After Dual BRAF and MEK Inhibition in a Patient with BRAF V600E-Mutant Metastatic Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma. J Immunother Precis Oncol 5(1):26-30, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35663835.
- Dono A, Nickles J, Rodriguez-Armendariz AG, McFarland BC, Ajami NJ, Ballester LY, Wargo JA, Esquenazi Y. Glioma and the gut-brain axis: opportunities and future perspectives. Neurooncol Adv 4(1):vdac054, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35591978.
- Dono A, Zhu P, Holmes E, Takayasu T, Zhu JJ, Blanco AI, Hsu S, Bhattacharjee MB, Ballester LY, Kim DH, Esquenazi Y, Tandon N. Impacts of genotypic variants on survival following reoperation for recurrent glioblastoma. J Neurooncol. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 34997451.
- Lopez-Garcia CA, Lopez-Rivera V, Dono A, Salazar-Marioni S, Novo JE, Sheth SA, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Hormone exposure and its suppressive effect on risk of high-grade gliomas among patients with breast cancer. J Clin Neurosci 94:200-203, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34863438.
- Dono A, Pothiawala AZ, Lewis CT, Bhattacharjee MB, Ballester LY, Tandon N. Molecular Alterations in Meningioangiomatosis Causing Epilepsy. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 80(11):1043-1051, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34580720.
- Otani Y, Sur HP, Rachaiah G, Namagiri S, Chowdhury A, Lewis CT, Shimizu T, Gangaplara A, Wang X, Vézina A, Maric D, Jackson S, Yan Y, Zhengping Z, Ray-Chaudhury A, Kumar S, Ballester LY, Chittiboina P, Yoo JY, Heiss J, Kaur B, Banasavadi-Siddegowda YK. Inhibiting protein phosphatase 2A increases the antitumor effect of protein arginine methyltransferase 5 inhibition in models of glioblastoma. Neuro Oncol 23(9):1481-1493, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33556161.
- Dono A, Chandra A, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Commentary: The Ki-67 Proliferation Index as a Marker of Time to Recurrence in Intracranial Meningioma. Neurosurgery 89(1):E66-E67, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33826714.
- McCormack RM, Zhu P, Dono A, Takayasu T, Bhatia A, Blanco AI, Tandon N, Ostrom QT, Gonzales A, Moreno S, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Role of Ethnicity and Geographic Location on Glioblastoma IDH1/IDH2 Mutations. World Neurosurg 149:e894-e912, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33516867.
- Dono A, Mitra S, Shah M, Takayasu T, Zhu JJ, Tandon N, Patel CB, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. PTEN mutations predict benefit from tumor treating fields (TTFields) therapy in patients with recurrent glioblastoma. J Neurooncol 153(1):153-160, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33881725.
- Dono A, Lopez-Rivera V, Chandra A, Lewis CT, Abdelkhaleq R, Sheth SA, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Predictors of outcome in pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma. Neurooncol Pract 8(2):222-229, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33898055.
- Patrizz A, Dono A, Zhu P, Tandon N, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Tumor recurrence or treatment-related changes following chemoradiation in patients with glioblastoma: does pathology predict outcomes?. J Neurooncol 152(1):163-172, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33481149.
- Dono A, Zhu P, Zorofchian S, Takayasu T, Quezado MM, Rios A, Powers A, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. Variable expression of CXCR4 in molecular subtypes of infiltrating gliomas. Clin Neuropathol 40(2):98-107, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33300867.
- Dono A, Amsbaugh M, Martir M, Smilie RH, Riascos RF, Zhu JJ, Hsu S, Kim DH, Tandon N, Ballester LY, Blanco AI, Esquenazi Y. Genomic alterations predictive of response to radiosurgery in recurrent IDH-WT glioblastoma. J Neurooncol 152(1):153-162, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33492602.
- Lopez-Rivera V, Dono A, Lewis CT, Chandra A, Abdelkhaleq R, Sheth SA, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Extent of resection and survival outcomes of geriatric patients with glioblastoma: Is there benefit from aggressive surgery?. Clin Neurol Neurosurg 202:106474, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33454497.
- Chandra A, Lopez-Rivera V, Dono A, Brandel MG, Lewis C, O'Connor KP, Sheth SA, Ballester LY, Aghi MK, Esquenazi Y. Comparative Analysis of Survival Outcomes and Prognostic Factors of Supratentorial versus Cerebellar Glioblastoma in the Elderly: Does Location Really Matter?. World Neurosurg 146:e755-e767, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33171326.
- Shah M, Takayasu T, Zorofchian Moghadamtousi S, Arevalo O, Chen M, Lan C, Duose D, Hu P, Zhu JJ, Roy-Chowdhuri S, Riascos RF, Chen H, Luthra R, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. Evaluation of the Oncomine Pan-Cancer Cell-Free Assay for Analyzing Circulating Tumor DNA in the Cerebrospinal Fluid in Patients with Central Nervous System Malignancies. J Mol Diagn 23(2):171-180, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33531134.
- Dono A, Takayasu T, Yan Y, Bundrant BE, Arevalo O, Lopez-Garcia CA, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. Differences in Genomic Alterations Between Brain Metastases and Primary Tumors. Neurosurgery 88(3):592-602, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33369669.
- Dono A, Ramesh AV, Wang E, Shah M, Tandon N, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. The role of RB1 alteration and 4q12 amplification in IDH-WT glioblastoma. Neurooncol Adv 3(1):vdab050, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34131647.
- Dono A, Takayasu T, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Adult diffuse midline gliomas: Clinical, radiological, and genetic characteristics. J Clin Neurosci 82(Pt A):1-8, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33317715.
- Patrizz A, Dono A, Zorofchian S, Hines G, Takayasu T, Husein N, Otani Y, Arevalo O, Choi HA, Savarraj J, Tandon N, Ganesh BP, Kaur B, McCullough LD, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Glioma and temozolomide induced alterations in gut microbiome. Sci Rep 10(1):21002, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33273497.
- Lopez-Rivera V, Dono A, Abdelkhaleq R, Sheth SA, Chen PR, Chandra A, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Treatment trends and overall survival in patients with grade II/III ependymoma: The role of tumor grade and location. Clin Neurol Neurosurg 199:106282, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33045626.
- Takayasu T, Kurisu K, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. Ion Channels and Their Role in the Pathophysiology of Gliomas. Mol Cancer Ther 19(10):1959-1969, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33008831.
- Li J, Zhao S, Lee M, Yin Y, Li J, Zhou Y, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y, Dashwood RH, Davies PJA, Parsons DW, Li XN, Huang Y, Sun D. Reliable tumor detection by whole-genome methylation sequencing of cell-free DNA in cerebrospinal fluid of pediatric medulloblastoma. Sci Adv 6(42), 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33067228.
- Zeineddine HA, Dono A, Kitagawa R, Savitz SI, Choi HA, Chang TR, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy for Hydrocephalus Secondary to Extraventricular Obstruction in Thalamic Hemorrhage: A Case Series. Oper Neurosurg (Hagerstown) 19(4):384-392, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32365205.
- Dono A, Vu J, Anapolsky M, Hines G, Takayasu T, Yan Y, Tandon N, Zhu JJ, Bhattacharjee MB, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. Additional genetic alterations in BRAF-mutant gliomas correlate with histologic diagnoses. J Neurooncol 149(3):463-472, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33009979.
- Takayasu T, Shah M, Dono A, Yan Y, Borkar R, Putluri N, Zhu JJ, Hama S, Yamasaki F, Tahara H, Sugiyama K, Kurisu K, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. Cerebrospinal fluid ctDNA and metabolites are informative biomarkers for the evaluation of CNS germ cell tumors. Sci Rep 10(1):14326, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32868820.
- Dienel A, Ammassam Veettil R, Hong SH, Matsumura K, Kumar T P, Yan Y, Blackburn SL, Ballester LY, Marrelli SP, McCullough LD, McBride DW. Microthrombi Correlates With Infarction and Delayed Neurological Deficits After Subarachnoid Hemorrhage in Mice. Stroke 51(7):2249-2254, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32539672.
- Lopez-Rivera V, Zhu P, Dono A, Lee S, Chen PR, Ballester LY, Sheth SA, Esquenazi Y. Increased Risk of Subsequent Meningioma Among Women with Malignant Breast Cancer. World Neurosurg 139:e271-e285, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32298823.
- Dono A, Patrizz A, McCormack RM, Putluri N, Ganesh BP, Kaur B, McCullough LD, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Glioma induced alterations in fecal short-chain fatty acids and neurotransmitters. CNS Oncol 9(2):CNS57, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32602743.
- Dono A, Wang E, Lopez-Rivera V, Ramesh AV, Tandon N, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Molecular characteristics and clinical features of multifocal glioblastoma. J Neurooncol 148(2):389-397, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32440969.
- Iqbal F, Ballester LY, Aakash N, Sandberg DI, Bhattacharjee MB. 5-Year-Old Girl with Worsening Seizure Disorder. Brain Pathol 30(3):717-718, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32385958.
- Sandberg DI, Kharas N, Yu B, Janssen CF, Trimble A, Ballester LY, Patel R, Mohammad AS, Elmquist WF, Sirianni RW. High-dose MTX110 (soluble panobinostat) safely administered into the fourth ventricle in a nonhuman primate model. J Neurosurg Pediatr:1-9. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32357333.
- Takayasu T, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. Plasma cfDNA in Glioblastoma-Letter. Clin Cancer Res 26(9):2275, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32358024.
- Ballester LY, Meis JM, Lazar AJ, Prabhu SS, Hoang KB, Leeds NE, Fuller GN. Intracranial Myxoid Mesenchymal Tumor With EWSR1-ATF1 Fusion. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 79(3):347-351, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32016322.
- Fischer GM, Vaziri Fard E, Shah MN, Patel RP, Von Allmen G, Ballester LY, Bhattacharjee MB. Filamin A-negative hyaline astrocytic inclusions in pediatric patients with intractable epilepsy: report of 2 cases. J Neurosurg Pediatr:1-7. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32217802.
- Mullarkey MP, Nehme G, Mohiuddin S, Ballester LY, Bhattacharjee MB, Trivedi D, Shah MN, Fuller GN, Zaky W, Sandberg DI. Posttreatment Maturation of Medulloblastoma into Gangliocytoma: Report of 2 Cases. Pediatr Neurosurg 55(4):222-231, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32882694.
- Dono A, Husein N, Ybarra C, Hasbun R, Choi HA, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Real-time intracranial pressure monitoring during high-dose methotrexate treatment for primary central nervous system lymphoma. Cancer Treat Res Commun 25:100234, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33161322.
- Mejbel HA, Arudra SKC, Pradhan D, Torres-Cabala CA, Nagarajan P, Tetzlaff MT, Curry JL, Ivan D, Duose DY, Luthra R, Prieto VG, Ballester LY, Aung PP. Immunohistochemical and Molecular Features of Melanomas Exhibiting Intratumor and Intertumor Histomorphologic Heterogeneity. Cancers (Basel) 11(11), 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31684113.
- Rajan A, Heery CR, Thomas A, Mammen AL, Perry S, O'Sullivan Coyne G, Guha U, Berman A, Szabo E, Madan RA, Ballester LY, Pittaluga S, Donahue RN, Tsai YT, Lepone LM, Chin K, Ginty F, Sood A, Hewitt SM, Schlom J, Hassan R, Gulley JL. Efficacy and tolerability of anti-programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) antibody (Avelumab) treatment in advanced thymoma. J Immunother Cancer 7(1):269, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31639039.
- Zhu P, Du XL, Blanco AI, Ballester LY, Tandon N, Berger MS, Zhu JJ, Esquenazi Y. Impact of facility type and volume in low-grade glioma outcomes. J Neurosurg:1-11. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31561219.
- Morris SL, Zhu P, Rao M, Martir M, Zhu JJ, Hsu S, Ballester LY, Day AL, Tandon N, Kim DH, Shepard S, Blanco A, Esquenazi Y. Gamma Knife Stereotactic Radiosurgery in Combination with Bevacizumab for Recurrent Glioblastoma. World Neurosurg 127:e523-e533, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 30954746.
- Ali FS, Arevalo O, Zorofchian S, Patrizz A, Riascos R, Tandon N, Blanco A, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Cerebral Radiation Necrosis: Incidence, Pathogenesis, Diagnostic Challenges, and Future Opportunities. Curr Oncol Rep 21(8):66, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31218455.
- Vantaku V, Dong J, Ambati CR, Perera D, Donepudi SR, Amara CS, Putluri V, Ravi SS, Robertson MJ, Piyarathna DWB, Villanueva M, von Rundstedt FC, Karanam B, Ballester LY, Terris MK, Bollag RJ, Lerner SP, Apolo AB, Villanueva H, Lee M, Sikora AG, Lotan Y, Sreekumar A, Coarfa C, Putluri N. Multi-omics Integration Analysis Robustly Predicts High-Grade Patient Survival and Identifies CPT1B Effect on Fatty Acid Metabolism in Bladder Cancer. Clin Cancer Res 25(12):3689-3701, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 30846479.
- Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. Telomerase reverse transcriptase alterations in human cancers: Diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic implications. Cancer Cytopathol 127(5):275-277, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 30958625.
- Donaldson K, Buchanich JM, Grigson PS, Deneke E, Donaldson K, Vrana KE, Sacks DB, Kuehn GJ, Cardamone D, Pesce A, Smiley S, Nickley J, Krock K, Thomas R, Wilkerson ML, Farag HA, Challa SR, Tice AM, Wolk DM, Prichard J, Grant ML, Regmi S, Kerbacher B, Quinton LE, Farag HA, Tice AM, Wolk DM, Olson J, Haynes A, Yu E, McCully KS, Assi J, Wong M, Zarrin-Khameh N, Nifong TP, Hawker CD, Carlton GT, Rivera JM, Foulis PR, Zuraw A, Morlote D, Peker D, Reddy V, Harada S, Crutchfield C, Zander D, Barbhuiya MA, Pederson EC, Straub ML, Scott SC, Neibauer TL, Salter WF, Creer MH, Zhu Y, Bornhorst JA, Theobald JP, Algeciras-Schimnich A, Cao L, Knox J, Hardy R, Texas HJ, McGuire MF, Hunter RL, Brown RE, Hicks J, Hicks J, Cai Z, Brown RE, Ali Y, Cheng KC, Katz SR, Ding Y, Vanselow DJ, Yakovlev MA, Lin AY, Clark DP, Vargas P, Xin X, Copper JE, Canfield VA, Ang KC, Wang Y, Xiao X, De Carlo F, van Rossum DB, La Rivière PJ, Newell J, Hossler C, Roche M, Warrick J, Phaeton R, Kesterson J, Donaldson K, Myers C, Barrios R, Mintz P, Robyak K, Hamilton C, McGhee P, Pederson C, Straub M, Scott S, Neibauer T, Salter W, Creer M, Zhu Y, Hamilton C, Robyak K, McGhee P, Pederson C, Straub M, Scott S, Neibauer T, Salter W, Creer M, Zhu Y, Singh N, Morlote D, Vnencak-Jones C, Yemelyanova A, Harada S, Shah M, Moghadamtousi SZ, Lan C, Duose D, Hu P, Esquenazi Y, Luthra R, Ballester LY, Koenig AN, Liu CG, Zhang J, Kalia A, Al-Habib A, Van Arsdall M, Dhingra S, Patel K, Tatevian N. Abstracts of Presentations at the Association of Clinical Scientists 139th Meeting Hershey, PA, May 15-18, 2019. Ann Clin Lab Sci 49(3):403-416, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31308044.
- Zorofchian S, Iqbal F, Rao M, Aung PP, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. Circulating tumour DNA, microRNA and metabolites in cerebrospinal fluid as biomarkers for central nervous system malignancies. J Clin Pathol 72(4):271-280, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 30467241.
- Ballester LY, Moghadamtousi SZ, Leeds NE, Huse JT, Fuller GN. Coexisting FGFR3 p.K650T mutation in two FGFR3-TACC3 fusion glioma cases. Acta Neuropathol Commun 7(1):63, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31036092.
- Jour G, Vasudevaraja V, Prieto VG, Snuderl M, Torres-Cabala CA, Al-Rohil R, Sulman EP, Ballester LY, Aung PP. BCAT1 and miR-2504: novel methylome signature distinguishes spindle/desmoplastic melanoma from superficial malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor. Mod Pathol 32(3):338-345, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 30310175.
- Hong B, Muili K, Bolyard C, Russell L, Lee TJ, Banasavadi-Siddegowda Y, Yoo JY, Yan Y, Ballester LY, Bockhorst KH, Kaur B. Suppression of HMGB1 Released in the Glioblastoma Tumor Microenvironment Reduces Tumoral Edema. Mol Ther Oncolytics 12:93-102, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 30719499.
- Park AK, Kim P, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y, Zhao Z. Subtype-specific signaling pathways and genomic aberrations associated with prognosis of glioblastoma. Neuro Oncol 21(1):59-70, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 30053126.
- Arevalo OD, Soto C, Rabiei P, Kamali A, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y, Zhu JJ, Riascos RF. Assessment of Glioblastoma Response in the Era of Bevacizumab: Longstanding and Emergent Challenges in the Imaging Evaluation of Pseudoresponse. Front Neurol 10:460, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31133966.
- Zorofchian S, El-Achi H, Yan Y, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. Characterization of genomic alterations in primary central nervous system lymphomas. J Neurooncol 140(3):509-517, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30171453.
- Ballester LY, Boghani Z, Baskin DS, Britz GW, Olsen R, Fuller GN, Powell SZ, Cykowski MD. Creutzfeldt astrocytes may be seen in IDH-wildtype glioblastoma and retain expression of DNA repair and chromatin binding proteins. Brain Pathol 28(6):1012-1019, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29509313.
- Ballester LY, Lu G, Zorofchian S, Vantaku V, Putluri V, Yan Y, Arevalo O, Zhu P, Riascos RF, Sreekumar A, Esquenazi Y, Putluri N, Zhu JJ. Analysis of cerebrospinal fluid metabolites in patients with primary or metastatic central nervous system tumors. Acta Neuropathol Commun 6(1):85, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30170631.
- Achi HE, Lally JE, Riascos RF, Zhu JJ, Tandon N, Esquenazi Y, Bhattacharjee MB, Ballester LY. Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma with Associated Demyelination and Creutzfeldt Astrocytes. Ann Clin Lab Sci 48(4):534-537, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30143499.
- Ballester LY, Glitza Oliva IC, Douse DY, Chen MM, Lan C, Haydu LE, Huse JT, Roy-Chowdhuri S, Luthra R, Wistuba II, Davies MA. Evaluating Circulating Tumor DNA From the Cerebrospinal Fluid of Patients With Melanoma and Leptomeningeal Disease. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 77(7):628-635, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29873738.
- Ali FS, Hussain MR, Gutiérrez C, Demireva P, Ballester LY, Zhu JJ, Blanco A, Esquenazi Y. Cognitive disability in adult patients with brain tumors. Cancer Treat Rev 65:33-40, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29533821.
- Ballester LY, Penas-Prado M, Leeds NE, Huse JT, Fuller GN. FGFR1 tyrosine kinase domain duplication in pilocytic astrocytoma with anaplasia. Cold Spring Harb Mol Case Stud 4(2), 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29610389.
- Ballester LY, Cantu MD, Lim KPH, Sarabia SF, Ferguson LS, Renee Webb C, Allen CE, McClain KL, Mohila CA, Punia JN, Roy A, López-Terrada DH, John Hicks M, Fisher KE. The use of BRAF V600E mutation-specific immunohistochemistry in pediatric Langerhans cell histiocytosis. Hematol Oncol 36(1):307-315, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 28219109.
- Zorofchian S, Lu G, Zhu JJ, Duose DY, Windham J, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. Detection of the MYD88 p.L265P Mutation in the CSF of a Patient with Secondary Central Nervous System Lymphoma. Front Oncol 8:382, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30294590.
- Ballester LY, Dunbar E, Guha-Thakurta N, Henson JW, Chandler H, Watkins J, Fuller GN. Primary Leptomeningeal Oligodendroglioma, IDH-Mutant, 1p/19q-Codeleted. Front Neurol 9:700, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30210430.
- Economides MP, Ballester LY, Kumar VA, Jiang Y, Tarrand J, Prieto V, Torres HA, Kontoyiannis DP. Invasive mold infections of the central nervous system in patients with hematologic cancer or stem cell transplantation (2000-2016): Uncommon, with improved survival but still deadly often. J Infect 75(6):572-580, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28919347.
- Kim P, Ballester LY, Zhao Z. Domain retention in transcription factor fusion genes and its biological and clinical implications: a pan-cancer study. Oncotarget 8(66):110103-110117, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 29299133.
- Ballester LY, Huse JT, Tang G, Fuller GN. Molecular classification of adult diffuse gliomas: conflicting IDH1/IDH2, ATRX, and 1p/19q results. Hum Pathol 69:15-22, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28549927.
- Boghani Z, Steele WJ, Cykowski MD, Ballester LY, Britz G. Creutzfeldt Cell Rich Glioblastoma: A Diagnostic Dilemma. Cureus 9(10):e1749, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 29226040.
- Ballester LY, Fuller GN, Powell SZ, Sulman EP, Patel KP, Luthra R, Routbort MJ. Retrospective Analysis of Molecular and Immunohistochemical Characterization of 381 Primary Brain Tumors. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 76(3):179-188, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28395087.
- Lin FY, Bergstrom K, Person R, Bavle A, Ballester LY, Scollon S, Raesz-Martinez R, Jea A, Birchansky S, Wheeler DA, Berg SL, Chintagumpala MM, Adesina AM, Eng C, Roy A, Plon SE, Parsons DW. Integrated tumor and germline whole-exome sequencing identifies mutations in MAPK and PI3K pathway genes in an adolescent with rosette-forming glioneuronal tumor of the fourth ventricle. Cold Spring Harb Mol Case Stud 2(5):a001057, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27626068.
- Ballester LY, Loghavi S, Kanagal-Shamanna R, Barkoh BA, Lin P, Medeiros LJ, Luthra R, Patel KP. Clinical Validation of a CXCR4 Mutation Screening Assay for Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk 16(7):395-403.e1, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27268124.
- Ballester LY, Sarabia SF, Sayeed H, Patel N, Baalwa J, Athanassaki I, Hernandez JA, Fang E, Quintanilla NM, Roy A, López-Terrada DH. Integrating Molecular Testing in the Diagnosis and Management of Children with Thyroid Lesions. Pediatr Dev Pathol 19(2):94-100, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 26366474.
- Ballester LY, Olar A, Roy-Chowdhuri S. Next-generation sequencing of central nervous systems tumors: the future of personalized patient management. Neuro Oncol 18(3):308-10, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 26917589.
- Ballester LY, Luthra R, Kanagal-Shamanna R, Singh RR. Advances in clinical next-generation sequencing: target enrichment and sequencing technologies. Expert Rev Mol Diagn 16(3):357-72, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 26680590.
- Oyola-Cintrón J, Caballero-Rivera D, Ballester LY, Baéz-Pagán CA, Martínez HL, Vélez-Arroyo KP, Quesada O, Lasalde-Dominicci JA. Lateral diffusion, function, and expression of the slow channel congenital myasthenia syndrome αC418W nicotinic receptor mutation with changes in lipid raft components. J Biol Chem 290(44):26790-800, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26354438.
- Aung PP, Ballester LY, Goldberg LJ, Bhawan J. Incidental simultaneous finding of intravascular histiocytosis and reactive angioendotheliomatosis: a case report. Am J Dermatopathol 37(5):401-4, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 25503604.
- Ballester LY, Cowen EW, Lee CC. Adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma associated with follicular mucinosis. Am J Dermatopathol 36(11):901-3, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24614206.
- Yang AI, Khawaja AM, Ballester LY, Pack SD, Abdullaev Z, Patronas NJ, Inati SK, Theodore WH, Quezado MM, Zaghloul KA. Multifocal dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumours associated with refractory epilepsy. Epileptic Disord 16(3):328-32, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 25204011.
- Arnold MA, Ballester LY, Pack SD, Abdullaev Z, Merchant M, Tsokos MG. Primary subcutaneous spindle cell Ewing sarcoma with strong S100 expression and EWSR1-FLI1 fusion: a case report. Pediatr Dev Pathol 17(4):302-7, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24735198.
- Aung PP, Ballester LY, Mahalingam M. Histopathology of Keratoacanthoma Revisited: Utility of Orificial Size as a Diagnostic Adjunct. Int J Surg Pathol 22(4):316-25, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24284133.
- Ahsan S, Raabe EH, Haffner MC, Vaghasia A, Warren KE, Quezado M, Ballester LY, Nazarian J, Eberhart CG, Rodriguez FJ. Increased 5-hydroxymethylcytosine and decreased 5-methylcytosine are indicators of global epigenetic dysregulation in diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. Acta Neuropathol Commun 2:59, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24894482.
- Aung PP, Liu YC, Ballester LY, Robbins PF, Rosenberg SA, Lee CC. Expression of New York esophageal squamous cell carcinoma-1 in primary and metastatic melanoma. Hum Pathol 45(2):259-67, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24290058.
- Aung PP, Ballester LY, Abdullaev Z, Pack SD, Cummins DL, Mahalingam M. ER/PR positive epidermotropic primary cutaneous eccrine carcinoma as a cutaneous manifestation of MEN 2B. J Am Acad Dermatol 69(6):e310-2, 2013. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 24238193.
- Ballester LY, Wang Z, Shandilya S, Miettinen M, Burger PC, Eberhart CG, Rodriguez FJ, Raabe E, Nazarian J, Warren K, Quezado MM. Morphologic characteristics and immunohistochemical profile of diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas. Am J Surg Pathol 37(9):1357-64, 2013. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 24076776.
- Ballester LY, Capó-Vélez CM, García-Beltrán WF, Ramos FM, Vázquez-Rosa E, Ríos R, Mercado JR, Meléndez RI, Lasalde-Dominicci JA. Up-regulation of the neuronal nicotinic receptor α7 by HIV glycoprotein 120: potential implications for HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder. J Biol Chem 287(5):3079-86, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22084248.
- Ballester LY, Vanoye CG, George AL. Exaggerated Mg2+ inhibition of Kir2.1 as a consequence of reduced PIP2 sensitivity in Andersen syndrome. Channels (Austin) 1(3):209-17, 2007. e-Pub 2007. PMID: 18690034.
- Ballester LY, Benson DW, Wong B, Law IH, Mathews KD, Vanoye CG, George AL. Trafficking-competent and trafficking-defective KCNJ2 mutations in Andersen syndrome. Hum Mutat 27(4):388, 2006. e-Pub 2006. PMID: 16541386.
- Lundquist AL, Turner CL, Ballester LY, George AL. Expression and transcriptional control of human KCNE genes. Genomics 87(1):119-28, 2006. e-Pub 2006. PMID: 16303284.
- Chun TU, Epstein MR, Dick M, Andelfinger G, Ballester LY, Vanoye CG, George AL, Benson DW. Polymorphic ventricular tachycardia and KCNJ2 mutations. Heart Rhythm 1(2):235-41, 2004. e-Pub 2004. PMID: 15851159.
- Jeyakumar LH, Ballester LY, Cheng DS, McIntyre JO, Chang P, Olivey HE, Rollins-Smith L, Barnett JV, Murray K, Xin HB, Fleischer S. FKBP binding characteristics of cardiac microsomes from diverse vertebrates. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 281(4):979-86, 2001. e-Pub 2001. PMID: 11237759.
Review Articles
- Dono A, Ballester LY, Primdahl D, Esquenazi Y, Bhatia A. IDH-Mutant Low-grade Glioma: Advances in Molecular Diagnosis, Management, and Future Directions. Curr Oncol Rep 23(2):20, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33492489.
Other Articles
- Pichardo-Rojas, PS, Dono, A, Ballester, L, Esquenazi, Y Commentary. Neurosurgery 93(5):E129-E130, 2023. PMID: 38349084.
Abstracts
- Wang DH, Shah M, Arunja S, Dono A, Patel C, Huse JT, Parker Kerrigan BC, Nguyen SL, Lang FF, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. Differential DNA methylation patterns in the CSF of diffuse gliomas”. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center DPLM 3rd Annual Research Symposium, 2024. e-Pub 2024.
- Vinocha A, Cardona Berdecia V, Wang DH, Arjuna S, Shah MH, Dono A, Putluri N, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. “Differences in gene expression, genome-wide methylation and metabolites in adult diffuse gliomas”. United States & Canadian Academy of Pathology’s 113th Annual Meeting, 2024. e-Pub 2024.
- Muñoz Páez NE, Wang DH, Arunja S, Delgado M, Lasalde-Dominicci JA, Ballester LY, Aung PP. Analyzing the expression of metabolic genes in MCPyV-positive and MCPyV-negative Merkel cell carcinoma. Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS), 2023. e-Pub 2023.
- San Lucas FA, Wang DH, Olvera-Morales AL, Puthooran S, Roy-Chowdhuri S, Chen H, Rashid A, Sweeney K, Yang RK, Toruner G, Patel KP, Routbort MJ, Luthra R, Scheet PA, Alvarez HA, Ballester LY. “Diagnosis of oligodendroglioma IDH-mutant and 1p/19q-codeleted using targeted NGS”. AMP 2023 Annual Meeting & Expo, 2023. e-Pub 2023.
- Wang D, Fujita Y, Rodriguez AG, Dono A, Mauli S, Putluri N, Pirhoushiaran M, Patel C, Zhu JJ, Huse JT, Lang F, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. “Tumor presence and genomic alterations influence CSF metabolites in patients with glioblastoma”. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center TMP 10th Annual Retreat, 2023. e-Pub 2023.
- Putluri S, Kamal AHM, Ballester LY. LC-MS method to measure the D- and L-2-Hydroxyglutarate in Cerebrospinal Fluid. 71st Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics, 2023. e-Pub 2023.
- Liu YA, Torres-Cabala CA, Wang DH, Shah MH, Cho WC, Nagarajan P, Curry JL, Ivan D, Prieto VG, Ballester LY, Aung PP. “Metabolomic profiling in acral melanomas reveals key metabolic pathway gene fold differences compared with non-acral melanomas”. United States & Canadian Academy of Pathology’s 112th Annual Meeting, 2023. e-Pub 2023.
- Ozkizilkaya HI, Lam K, Dono A, Ogunbona OB, Wang D, Goli PS, Wang E, Fuller GN, Patel C, Matsuoka CK, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. Astrocytoma, IDH-mutant Tumors: Is There a Role for Histologic Grading?. Grading? Brain Tumor Center Scientific Retreat, 2023. e-Pub 2023.
- Wang DH, Fujita Y, Rodriguez-Armendariz AG, Dono A, Shah M, Putluri N, Pirhoushiaran M, Riascos RF, Rubiano LN, Johnson JM, Patel C, Zhu JJ, Lang F, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. CSF metabolites correlate with tumor volume and overall survival in patients with diffuse gliomas. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center FY23 Brain Tumor Center Scientific Retreat, 2023. e-Pub 2023.
- Ozkizilkaya HI, Ogunbona OB, Toruner GA, Aung PP, Esquenazi Y, DeMonte F, Ballester LY. MTAP and p16 Immunohistochemistry as Markers for CDKN2A/B Loss in Meningiomas. Brain Tumor Center Scientific Retreat, 2023. e-Pub 2023.
- Shehabeldin A, Rohra P, Sellen LD, Milton DR, Aramin H, Hameed N, Zhao J, Alqaidy D, Zongshan L, Yi T, Estrella Perez Y, Ballester LY, Prieto VG, Aung PP. Assessing the Utility of Whole Slide Imaging for Intraoperative Consultation: Experience of a Large academic Center during COVID-19- Pandemic. College of American Pathologists (CAP) Annual Meeting, 2022. e-Pub 2022.
- Cunnungham CR, Dimopoulos YP, Milton DR, Ballester LY, Aung PP. Expression of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor in Merkel Cell Carcinoma: Its Potential Etiologic and Prognostic Role. The 49th Annual Meeting of The American Society of Dermatopathology (ASDP), 2022. e-Pub 2022.
- Aung PP, Gill P, Lai Z, Zhu K, Cho WC, Vasudevaraja V, Ivan D, Nagarajan P, Cho WC, Ballester LY, Curry JL, Torres-Cabala CA, Prieto VG, Jour G. Multi-omics analysis of digital papillary adenocarcinoma reveals upregulation of MAGEA4 and infrequent zinc finger genes rearrangements. 2022 USCAP Meeting, 2022. e-Pub 2022.
- Gill P, Milton DR, Ballester LY, Cho WC, Nagarajan P, Curry JL, Ivan D, Prieto VG, Davies MA, Torres-Cabala CA, Aung PP. Characterizing the Clinicopathologic and Molecular Landscape of Acral Lentiginous Melanoma: A Retrospective Review of 331 Patients. 2022 USCAP Meeting, 2022. e-Pub 2022.
- Dono A, Amsbaugh M, Martir M, Smilie RH, Riascos-Castaneda RF, Zhu JJ, Hsu S, Kim DH, Tandon N, Ballester LY, Blanco AI, Esquenazi Y. Genomic Alterations Predictive of Response to Radiosurgery in Recurrent IDH-WT Glioblastoma. Congress of Neurological Surgeons. 2021 CNS Annual meeting, 2021. e-Pub 2021.
- Dono A, Ajami N, Ballester LY, Wargo JA, Esquenazi Y. Gut Microbiome Signatures Predict Outcomes in IDH-WT Glioblastoma. American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Congress of Neurological Surgeons. 2021 Tumor Section Symposium, 2021. e-Pub 2021.
- Dono A, Ramesh AV, Wang E, Shah M, Tandon N, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. The role of RB1 Alteration and 4q12 Amplification in IDH-WT Glioblastoma. American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Congress of Neurological Surgeons. 2021 Tumor Section Symposium, 2021. e-Pub 2021.
- Dono A, Ajami N, Ballester LY, Wargo JA, Esquenazi Y. TERT Immunohistochemistry Expression as a Surrogate of TERT Promoter Mutations in Infiltrating Gliomas. American Society of Clinical Pathologists. ASCP 2021 Annual Meeting, 2021. e-Pub 2021.
- Moosvi AM, Dono A, Goli PS, Bellman AC, Aung PP, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. TERT Immunohistochemistry Expression as a Surrogate of TERT Promoter Mutations in Infiltrating Gliomas. ASCP 2021 Annual Meeting, 2021. e-Pub 2021.
- Arevalo O, De Alba L, Dono A, Takayasu T, Esquenazi Y, Ballester L, Zhang X, Soto C, Zhu J, and Riascos R. Prediction of BRAF V600E-Mutation Status Using Preoperative MR Imaging Phenotypes in Glioblastoma. American Society of Neuroradiology 58th Annual Meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Arevalo O, De Alba L, Dono A, Takayasu T, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY, Zhang X, Soto C, Zhu J, Riascos R. Prediction of BRAFV600E-Mutation Status Using Preoperative MR Imaging Phenotypes in Glioblastoma. ASNR 58th Annual Meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Arevalo O, De Alba L, Dono A, Takayasu T, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY, Zhang X, Soto C, Zhu J, Riascos R. Prediction of IDH1/2-Mutation Status in Preoperative MR Imaging Phenotypes in Glioblastoma using the VASARI feature set. ASNR 58th Annual Meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- De Alba L, Arevalo O, Dono A, Takayasu T, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY, Zhang X, Soto C, Zhu J, Riascos R. . Prediction of pTERT-Mutation Status Using Preoperative MR Imaging Phenotypes in Glioblastoma. ASNR 58th Annual Meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Dono A, Vu J, Anapolsky M, Hines G, Takayasu T, Tandon N, Bhattacharjee MB, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. Additional Genetic Alterations Improve the Classification of BRAF-mutant gliomas. American Association of Neuropathologist 96th Annual Meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Achi HE, Dono A, Zhu P, Bundrant BE, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. Diffuse gliomas with FGFR alterations, histopathological features, genetic alterations, and potential clinical implications. American Association of Neuropathologist 96th Annual Meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- De Alba L, Arevalo O, Dono A, Takayasu T, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY, Zhang X, Soto C, Zhu J, and Riascos R. Prediction of pTERT-Mutation Status Using Preoperative MR Imaging Phenotypes in Glioblastoma. American Society of Neuroradiology 58th Annual Meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Arevalo O, De Alba L, Dono A, Takayasu T, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY, Zhang X, Soto C, Zhu J, and Riascos R. Prediction of IDH1/2-Mutation Status in Preoperative MR Imaging Phenotypes in Glioblastoma using the VASARI feature set. American Society of Neuroradiology 58th Annual Meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Takayasu T, Shah M, Yan Y, Zorofchian S, Dono A, Putluri N, Zhu JJ, Yamasaki FA, Sugiyama, Kurisu K, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. Analysis of Cerebrospinal Fluid Circulating Tumor DNA and Metabolites in Patients with Central Nervous System Germ Cell Tumors. American Association of Neurological Surgeons World of Neurosurgery meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Dono A, Lopez-Rivera V, Sheth SA, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Is there Benefit from Radiotherapy After Non-Gross Tumor Resection of Pleomorphic Xanthoastrocytoma?. American Association of Neurological Surgeons World of Neurosurgery meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Zeineddine HA, Dono A, Kitagawa R, Savitz SI, Choi HA, Chang T, Ballester LY, and Esquenazi Y. Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy for Hydrocephalus Secondary to Extra-Ventricular Obstruction in Thalamic Hemorrhage. American Association of Neurological Surgeons World of Neurosurgery meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Takayasu T, Arevalo-Espejo O, Zhu P, Dono A, Tandon N, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Extent of Resection Thresholds in Molecular Subgroups of IDH-wildtype glioblastoma. American Association of Neurological Surgeons World of Neurosurgery meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Lopez-Garcia CA, Dono A, Takayasu T, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. PIK3CA Mutations Identify a Subset of Oligodendrogliomas with Poor Prognosis. United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology 109th Annual Meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Dono A, Alfaro-Munoz K, Yan Y, Lopez-Garcia CA, Soomro Z, Williford G, Takayasu T, Robell L, Majd N, de Groot J, Esquenazi Y, Kamiya-Matsouka C, Ballester LY. Molecular, Histologic and Clinical Characteristics of Oligodendrogliomas: A Multi-institutional Retrospective Study. 2020 Society of Neuro-Oncology Annual Scientific Meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Dono A, Wang E, Lopez-Rivera V, Ramesh AV, Tandon N, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Molecular Characteristics and Clinical Features of Multifocal Glioblastoma. 2020 American Association of Neurosurgeon / Congress of Neurological Surgeons Tumor Section Satellite Meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Lopez-Garcia CA, Lopez-Rivera V, Dono A, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. The relationship of hormone exposure in breast cancer and subsequent risk of high-grade gliomas. 2020 Society of Neuro-Oncology Annual Scientific Meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Dono A, Zhu P, Holmes E, Takayasu T, Blanco AI, Hsu S, Bhattacharjee MB, Zhu JJ, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y, Tandon N. Reoperation in Molecular Subtypes of Recurrent Glioblastoma. 2020 Society of Neuro-Oncology Annual Scientific Meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Dono A, Mitra S, Takayasu T, Zhu JJ, Tandon N, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. PTEN Mutations Predict Benefit from Tumor-Treating Fields Therapy in Patients with Recurrent Glioblastoma. 2020 Society of Neuro-Oncology Annual Scientific Meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Dono A, Patrizz A, McCormack RM, Putluri N, Ganesh BP, Kaur B, McCullough LD, Ballester LY, Esquenazi Y. Glioma Induced Alterations in Fecal Short-Chain Fatty Acids and Neurotransmitters. 2020 American Association of Neurosurgeon / Congress of Neurological Surgeons Tumor Section Satellite Meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Shah M, Zorofchian S, Lan C, Duose D, Hu P, Esquenazi Y, Luthra R, Ballester LY. Detecting Mutations in Cerebrospinal fluid: Liquid Biopsy for Diagnosis of Central Nervous System Metastases. 10th Annual meeting of the Cancer Genome Consortium, 2019. e-Pub 2019.
- Shah M, Zorofchian S, Lan C, Duose D, Hu P, Esquenazi Y, Luthra T, Ballester LY. Detecting Mutations in Cerebrospinal fluid: Liquid Biopsy for Diagnosis of Central Nervous System Metastases. 139th Annual meeting of the Association of Clinical, 2019. e-Pub 2019.
- Ballester LY. The increasingly important role of molecular diagnostics in neuropathology. Department of Pathology Grand Rounds, 2019. e-Pub 2019.
- Dono A, Yan A, Hines G, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. Analysis of Genomic Alterations in 144 Brain Metastases. 2019 SNO Inaugural Brain Metastases Meeting, 2019. e-Pub 2019.
- Ballester, LY, Moghadamtousi, SZ, Leeds, NE, Huse, JT, Fuller, GN. Coexisting FGFR3 p.K650T mutation in two FGFR3-TACC3 fusion glioma cases. 2019 AANP meeting, 2019. e-Pub 2019.
- Belousova T, Jaitly V, Arevalo-Espejo O, Riascos RF, Liu J, Esquenazi Y, Bhattacharjee M, Ballester LY. CSF cytology in the evaluation of primary and metastatic CNS malignancies. AANP meeting, 2018. e-Pub 2018.
- Vaziri-Fard E, Shah MN, von Allmen G, Patel RJ, Ballester LY, Bhattacharjee M. Eosinophilic Cytoplasmic Astrocytic Inclusions in Pediatric Patients with Epilepsy: A Report of 2 Cases. 2018 AANP meeting, 2018. e-Pub 2018.
- Ballester LY, Glitza Oliva IC, Douse DY, Chen MM, Lan C, Haydu LE, Huse JT, Roy-Chowdhuri S, Luthra R, Wistuba II, Davies MA. Evaluating Circulating Tumor DNA from the Cerebrospinal Fluid of Patients with Melanoma and Leptomeningeal Disease. 2018 AANP meeting, 2018. e-Pub 2018.
- Ballester LY. The increasingly important role of molecular diagnostics in neuropathology. 2018 Department of Pathology Grand Rounds, 2018. e-Pub 2018.
- Zorofchian S, Guangrong L, Zhu JJ, Esquenazi Y, Ballester LY. 2018 AANP meeting. Detection of the MYD88 p.L265P mutation in the CSF of a Patient with Central Nervous System Lymphoma, 2018. e-Pub 2018.
- Ballester LY, Gurangong L, Vantaku V, Zorofchian S, Putluri V, Yan Y, Arevalo-Espejo O, Riascos RF, Sreekumar A, Esquenazi Y, Putluri N, Zhu JJ. Metabolomic Analysis of CSF Differentiates Primary and Metastatic CNS Tumors from Non-Neoplastic Disease. AANP meeting, 2018. e-Pub 2018.
- Ballester LY. Evaluating Circulating Tumor DNA from Cerebrospinal Fluid. Cancer Genomics Consortium Summer Meeting, 2017. e-Pub 2017.
- Ballester LY. Evaluating Circulating Tumor DNA from Cerebrospinal Fluid. MD Anderson Cancer Center, Brain Tumor Center Research Retreat, 2017. e-Pub 2017.
- Ballester LY, Douse DY, Lan C, Haydu LE, Huse JT, Roy-Chowdhuri S, Luthra R, Glitza-Oliva IC, Wistuba II, Davies MA. Evaluating Circulating Tumor DNA from Cerebrospinal Fluid. 2017 MD Anderson Cancer Center, Brain Tumor Center Research Retreat, 2017. e-Pub 2017.
- Ballester LY. Evaluating Circulating Tumor DNA from Cerebrospinal Fluid. 2017 MD Anderson Global Academic Programs Annual Conference, 2017. e-Pub 2017.
- Ballester LY, Fuller GN, Powell SZ, Sulman EP, Patel KP, Luthra R, Routbort MJ. Retrospective Analysis of Molecular and Immunohistochemical Characterization of 381 Primary Brain Tumors. 2017 USCAP meeting, 2017. e-Pub 2017.
- Ballester LY, Sarabia SF, Allen CE, Webb CR, Roy A, López-Terrada DH, McClain KL, Hicks MJ, Fisher KE. . BRAF p.V600E Analysis in Pediatric Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis: Is There a Role for Immunohistochemistry. 2015 AMP meeting, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Ballester LY, Sarabia SF, Sayeed S, Patel N, Baalwa J, Fang E, Quintanilla N, Roy A, Lopez-Terrada D. Molecular Characterization of Pediatric Thyroid Carcinomas. 2015 TSP meeting, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Ballester LY, Wang Z, Miettinen M, Rodriguez F, Raabe E, Nazarian J, Eberhart C, Warren K, Quezado M. Overexpression of the Chromatin Remodeling Proteins ARID1A, BRG1 and SMARCD3 in Adult and Pediatric Gliomas. 2015 USCAP meeting, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Ballester LY, Loghavi S, Kanagal-Shamanna R, Barkoh BA, Lin P, Medeiros LJ, Luthra R, Patel KP. Clinical Validation of a CXCR4 Mutation Screening Assay for Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia. 2015 AMP meeting, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Ballester LY, Ellezam B, Adesina AM. Chronic active HSV encephalitis in a patient with a negative HSV test from the CSF. 2014 AMP meeting, 2014. e-Pub 2014.
- Ballester LY. Clinical Cases from the NIH Clinical Center: Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant for Dock8 Deficiency: Past, Present and Future. NIH/NCI, Clinicopathologic Grand Rounds, 2014. e-Pub 2014.
- Ballester LY, Wang Z, Shandylia S, Miettinen M, Burger P, Eberhart C, Rodriguez F, Raabe E, Warren K, Quezado M. Morphologic characteristics and immunohistochemical profile of diffuse intrinsic brainstem gliomas. 2013 USCAP meeting, 2013. e-Pub 2013.
- Ballester LY, Aung PP, Lara-Otero K, Linehan WM, Merino MJ. Do Cutaneous Leiomyomas have similar morphological and molecular alterations to uterine tumors in the Hereditary Leiomyomatosis and Renal Cell Cancer Syndrome (HLRCC)?. 2013 USCAP meeting, 2013. e-Pub 2013.
- Shandilya S, Ballester LY, Wang Z, Miettinen M, Burger P, Eberhart C, Rodriguez F, Raabe E, Quezado M, and Warren K. An Immunohistochemical Profile of Protein Expression in Pediatric Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Gliomas. NIH Summer Research Program Poster Day, 2012. e-Pub 2012.
- Ballester LY, Aung PP, Siddiqui S, Stetler-Stevenson M, Kreitman RJ, Roth M, Filie AC. Relapsed Hairy Cell Leukemia (HCL): Cytological and Immunophenotypical Findings of an Unusual Presentation in Pleural Effusion. 2012 ASCP annual meeting, 2012. e-Pub 2012.
- Aung PP, Lai J, Ballester LY, DiGiovanna JJ, Linehan M, Lee CR, Stern JB, Pinto PA. An Unusual Presentation of Glomeruloid Hemangioma in a Patient with VHL Syndrome: A Case Report and Review of Literature. International Society of Dermatopathology, 2012. e-Pub 2012.
- Ballester LY, Aung PP, Walter BA, Garcia-Macias C, Merino MJ. Overexpression of HER2/neu can be determined by a new HistoSonda® probe. A comparison with traditional methods FISH, CISH, and IHC in urothelial carcinoma (UC). ASCP annual meeting, 2012. e-Pub 2012.
- Ballester LY, García-Beltran W, Ramos FM, Vazquez E, Capo C, Ríos R, Mercado JR, Acevedo L, Lasalde-Dominicci JA. HIV-gp120 Induces Up-regulation of the alpha-7-nAChR; Implications for HIV Associated Dementia. The 8th Conference for Specialized Neuroscience Research Programs, 2010. e-Pub 2010.
- Ballester LY, Capo-Velez CM, Garcia-Beltran WF, Ramos FM, Vazquez-Rosa E, Rios R, Mercado JR, Melendez RI, Lasalde-Dominicci JA. Up-regulation of the Neuronal Nicotinc Receptor alpha-7 by HIV-GP120 Potential Implications for HIV Associated Neurocognitive Disorder. Conference of the Specialized Neuroscience Research Program, 2010. e-Pub 2010.
- Ballester LY, Benson DW, Wong B, Law IH, Mathews KD, Vanoye CG, George AL. Trafficking-competent and Trafficking-defective KCNJ2 Mutations Associated with Andersen Syndrome. NHLBI cardiovascular diversity research supplement awardee session, 2005. e-Pub 2005.
- Ballester LY, Benson DW, Vanoye CG, George AL, Jr. Characterization of Kir2.1 mutations associated with Andersen syndrome. Biophysical Journal, 2003. e-Pub 2003.
- Amara CS, Reddy RKR, Yuntao Y, Piyarathna DWB, Bellman A, Apollo AB, Shih D, Lerner SP, Ballester LY, Pavlos M, Zheng WJ, Sreekumar A, Sm K, Putluri N. Elucidating the role of SMARCB1/INI1 in bladder cancer progression and metastasis. 2022 AACR Conference.
- Hassan MK, Bokar R, Reddy KR, Piyarathna DWB, Amara CS, Bellman A, Ambari CS, Putluri V, Kamal, AHM, Bollag RJ, Terris MK, Ballester LY, Lotan Y, Coarfa C, Putluri N. Gender-specific metabolome in bladder cancer: Role of EPHX2 in in bladder cancer. 2022 AACR Conference.
Book Chapters
- Cykowski, MD, Ballester, L, Fuller, GN. Metastatic disease. In: Greenfield's Neuropathology. 10th. CRC Press, 1843-1853, 2024.
- Fuller GN, Ballester, LY, Gubbiotti, M. Central Nervous System. In: Histology for Pathologists. 6th. Lippincot Williams and Wilkins, 2024.
- Fuller, GN, Ballester, L, Ribalta, T. Brain Tumors, 899-912.e1, 2023.
- Fuller GN, Ballester LY, Ribalta. An Overview of Current Histopathologic and Genetic Classifications of Brain Tumors. In: T. Youmans/Winn Neurologic Surgery. 8th, 2022.
- Fuller GN, Ballester LY. Central Nervous System Section. Brain, spinal cord and meninges. In: Sternberg's Diagnostic Surgical Pathology. 7th, 2022.
- Huse J, Ballester LY. Pathology and Molecular Genetics of Brain Tumors. In: Bradley's Neurology in Clinical Practice. 8th, 2021.
- Ballester LY, Fuller GN, Goodman CJ. The Central Nervous System. In: Rubin's Pathology: Clinicopathologic Foundations of Medicine. 8th, 2019.
- Fuller GN, Ballester LY, Burger PC. Central Nervous System. In: Histology for Pathologists. Lippincot Williams and Wilkins, 2019.
- Ballester LY, Fuller GN. Intraoperative Consultation and Optimal Processing. In: Practical Surgical Neuropathology. Elsevier, 2018.
- Fuller GN, Ballester LY, Perry A. Epithelial, Neuroendocrine and Metastatic Lesions. In: Practical Surgical Neuropathology. Elsevier, 2018.
- Ballester LY, Aung PP, Lee CR. MAPK Pathway in Melanoma. In: Genetics of Melanoma. Springer Publishing, 2016.
- Cykowski M, Ballester LY, and Fuller GN. Brain Metastases. In: Greenfield’s Neuropathology. 10th.
Letters to the Editor
- Gubbiotti, M, Weinberg, JS, Weathers, S, Dasgupta, P, Tom, MC, Aldape, K, Quezado, M, Abdullaev, Z, Huse, J, Ballester, L. An incidental finding of a high-grade glioma with pleomorphic and pseudopapillary features (HPAP) with PBRM1 mutation. Journal of neuropathology and experimental neurology 83: 139-141, 2024.
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified March 19, 2026