Rafet Basar, MD
Department of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, Division of Cancer Medicine
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Assistant Professor, Department of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Research, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Assistant Professor, Department of Stem Cell Transplantation - Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2009 | Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University, Duzce, TR, MD |
Postgraduate Training
| 2016-2021 | Research Fellowship, Stem Cell Transplantation - Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas |
| 2010-2015 | Clinical Residency, Internal Medicine, Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul |
Experience & Service
Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities
Associate Director, Technical Research, Institute of Cell Therapy Discovery and Innovation, Department of Stem Cell Transplantation Rsch, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2025 - Present
Associate Director, Translation Research, Cell Engineering Group-GMP Laboratory, Department of Stem Cell Transplantation, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, 2023 - Present
Honors & Awards
| 2023 | STRIDE Brain Metastasis Research Award |
| 2022 | Institutional Research Grant Award, MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2022 | Sprint for Life Research Award |
| 2020 | Leukemia SPORE Career Enhancement Award |
| 2020 | STAT Wunderkind Award 2020, STAT News |
| 2020 | Brain Cancer SPORE Career Enhancement Project Award |
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations & Talks
Local Presentations
- 2019. Clinical Nucleofection Summit. Conference. Lonza. Houston, TX, US.
National Presentations
- 2024. The Choice of Co-Simulation Determines the Fate of CD5 Targeting CAR-NK Cells. Invited. Emerging Cellular Therapies. Santa Fe, New Mexico, US.
- 2019. Combining CD5-targeted chimeric antigen receptor engineering and genetic editing of TGF-βR2 for the treatment of T-cell hematologic malignancies. Invited. American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy Conference. Washington, DC, US.
International Presentations
- 2024. State of off-the-shelf cellular therapies in the clinic: Engineering NK cells for cancer. Invited. European School of Hematology 3rd Translational Research Conference: Chronic Leukocytic Leukemia. Vienna, AT.
- 2023. Case Study: Next Generation Engineering Platforms to Enhance Adoptive NK Cell. Invited. London, GB.
- 2022. CAR Expressing NK Cells for Cancer Retargeting. Invited. T-Cell Based Immunotherapies for Lymphoid Malignancies Meeting. Bologna, IT.
- 2019. Combining CAR Engineering and CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing of a Checkpoint Molecule in NK Cells for the Treatment of B-Cell Malignancies. Invited. 18th Meeting of the Society for Natural Immunity (NK2019). Luxembourg, LU.
- 2019. Combining CD5-targeted Chimeric Antigen Receptor Engineering and Genetic Editing of TGF-BR2 for the Treatment of T-Cell Hematologic Malignancies. Invited. 18th Meeting of the Society for Natural Immunity (NK2019). Luxembourg, LU.
Formal Peers
- 2020. Generation of glucocorticoid resistant SARS-CoV-2 T-cells for adoptive cell therapy. Invited, US.
- 2020. CAR NK Cell Therapy. Invited, US.
- 2020. B cells and tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) promote immunotherapy response. Invited, US.
- 2020. CAR NK Cell Therapy. Invited, US.
- 2020. Minimize, characterize, and quantify off-target genome editing. Invited, US.
Grant & Contract Support
| Date: | 2025 - 2030 |
| Title: | Development of Novel Engineered NK Cell Therapies for Relapsed or Refractory AML |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-PI |
| ID: | R01CA299429_Res1 |
| Date: | 2025 - 2030 |
| Title: | Advancing Next-Generation CAR-NK Therapies Targeting CD5 Positive T Cell Malignancies to the Clinic |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-PI |
| ID: | 14268463 |
| Date: | 2024 - 2029 |
| Title: | TROP2- Directed CAR-NK Cells for the Immunotherapy of Pancreatic Cancer |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-PI |
| ID: | 1R01CA288617-01 |
| Date: | 2023 - 2028 |
| Title: | SIK2 Enhances PARP Inhibitor Sensitivity in Ovarian Cancer |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | 1 P50 CA281701-01 |
| Date: | 2023 - 2028 |
| Title: | Next Generation Engineered NK Cells for Lymphoma Patients after CD19 CAR-T Cell Failure |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-PI |
| ID: | 1R01 CA280827-01 |
| Date: | 2021 - 2024 |
| Title: | SPORE in Brain Cancer |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | 5P50CA127001-12 |
| Date: | 2020 - 2021 |
| Title: | Harnessing innate immunity |
| Funding Source: | UTMDACC CLL Moonshot |
| Role: | Co-I |
| Date: | 2020 - 2023 |
| Title: | CAR Engineering and Genome-Editing Strategies for NK Cell Immunotherapy of AML- Leukemia SPORE |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Principal Investigator-MDACC |
| ID: | FP00012519 |
| Date: | 2020 - 2021 |
| Title: | Off-the-shelf engineered NK cells for the treatment of AML- Administrative Supplement |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | 3R01CA211044-01 |
| Date: | 2020 - 2021 |
| Title: | NK Cell Immunotherapy for colorectal cancer |
| Funding Source: | Colorectal Moonshot |
| Role: | Co-I |
| Date: | 2020 - 2021 |
| Title: | Off-the-shelf Genetically Engineered Natural Killer Therapy for Glioblastoma - Brain SPORE |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Principal Investigator-MDACC |
| ID: | 2P50CA127001 |
| Date: | 2020 - 2021 |
| Title: | Platelet Progenitors for Thrombocytopenia |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | FP00011993IH/NCI |
| Date: | 2020 - 2021 |
| Title: | Next generation engineered NK cells for lymphoma patients after CAR19 T cell failure |
| Funding Source: | B-cell Moonshot |
| Role: | Co-I |
| Date: | 2020 - 2021 |
| Title: | CAR Engineering and Genome-Editing Strategies for NK Cell Immunotherapy of Pancreatic Cancer |
| Funding Source: | Pancreas Moonshot |
| Role: | Co-I |
| Date: | 2020 - 2021 |
| Title: | Off-the-shelf Genetically Engineered Natural Killer Therapy for Glioblastoma |
| Funding Source: | GBM Moonshot |
| Role: | Co-I |
| Date: | 2019 - 2022 |
| Title: | Tailoring CAR-based Immunotherapy Strategies to T Cell Lymphoma |
| Funding Source: | BCM/Stand up to Cancer (SU2C) |
| Role: | Co-PI |
| ID: | #6438 |
| Date: | 2016 - 2021 |
| Title: | Acute Myeloid Leukemia in the Immunosuppressed Microenvironment - Project 2: Immunotherapy for AML Using Off-the-Shelf and Engineered Cord Blood-Derived Natural Killer Cells |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) |
| Role: | Co-I |
| ID: | RP160693 |
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Rafei H, Basar R, Acharya S, Hsu YS, Liu P, Zhang D, Bohn T, Liang Q, Mohanty V, Upadhyay R, Li P, Phadatare P, Dede M, Xiong D, Fan H, Jones CM, Kunz S, Daher M, Nunez Cortes AK, Shanley M, Liu B, Moseley SM, Zhang C, Fang D, Banerjee P, Uprety N, Li Y, Shrestha R, Wan X, Shen H, Woods V, Gilbert AL, Rawal S, Dou J, Tan Y, Park JM, Reyes Silva F, Biederstadt A, Kaplan M, Jiang XR, Biederstadt I, Kumar B, Tiberti S, Moore M, Jin J, Yang RZ, Muniz-Feliciano L, Rosemore S, Lin P, Deyter GM, Fowlkes NW, Jain AK, Marin D, Maitra A, Chen K, Bopp T, Shpall EJ, Rezvani K. CREM is a regulatory checkpoint of CAR and IL-15 signalling in NK cells. Nature 643(8073):1076-1086, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40468083.
- Hayal TB, Mulla AA, Allan DSJ, Duncan BB, Joshi S, Hong SG, Basar R, Rezvani K, Childs RW, Wu C, Dunbar CE. Optimization of lentiviral delivery of barcoded anti-CD20 chimeric antigen receptors into rhesus macaque and human natural killer cells. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev 33(2):101473, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40621477.
- Hayal, TB, Mulla, AA, Allan, DS, Duncan, BB, Joshi, S, Hong, SG, Basar, R, Rezvani, K, Childs, RW, Wu, C, Dunbar, C. Optimization of lentiviral delivery of barcoded anti-CD20 chimeric antigen receptors into rhesus macaque and human natural killer cells. Molecular Therapy Methods and Clinical Development 33(2), 2025. e-Pub 2025.
- Nieto Y, Banerjee P, Kaur I, Basar R, Li Y, Daher M, Rafei H, Kerbauy LN, Kaplan M, Marin D, Griffin L, Barnett M, Bassett R, Uprety N, Shrestha R, Silva FR, Islam S, Ganesh C, Borneo Z, Ramdial J, Ramirez A, Hosing C, Alousi A, Popat U, Qazilbash M, Ahmed S, Iyer S, Sainz TP, Vega F, Fowlkes NW, Alexis K, Emig M, Harstrick A, Overesch A, Shpall EJ, Rezvani K. Allogeneic NK cells with a bispecific innate cell engager in refractory relapsed lymphoma: a phase 1 trial. Nat Med 31(6):1987-1993, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40186077.
- Wang Y, Casarin S, Daher M, Mohanty V, Dede M, Shanley M, Basar R, Rezvani K, Chen K. Agent-based modeling of cellular dynamics in adoptive cell therapy. bioRxiv, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40027823.
- Melo Garcia, L, Gangadharan, A, Banerjee, PP, Li, YE, Zeng, A, Rafei, H, Lin, P, Kumar, B, Acharya, S, Daher, M, Muniz-Feliciano, L, Deyter, GM, Dominguez, G, Park, JM, Reyes Silva, F, Nunez Cortes, AK, Basar, R, Uprety, N, Shanley, M, Kaplan, M, Liu, E, Shpall, E, Rezvani, K. Overcoming CD226-related immune evasion in acute myeloid leukemia with CD38 CAR-engineered NK cells. Cell Reports 44(1), 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 39754720.
- Marques-Piubelli, ML, Kumar, B, Basar, R, Panowski, S, Srinivasan, S, Norwood, K, Prashad, SL, Szenes, V, Balakumaran, A, Arandhya, A, Lu, W, Khan, KB, Duenas, D, McAllen, S, Gomez, JA, Burks, JK, Acharyal, S, Borthakur, G, Wang, WL, Wang, W, Wang, S, Solis Soto, LM, Marin, D, Rezvani, K, Daher, M, Vega Vazquez, F. Increased expression of CD70 in relapsed acute myeloid leukemia after hypomethylating agents. Virchows Archiv 485(5):937-941, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38388965.
- Acharya, S, Basar, R, Daher, M, Rafei, H, Li, P, Uprety, N, Ensley, E, Shanley, M, Kumar, B, Banerjee, PP, Melo Garcia, L, Lin, P, Mohanty, V, Kim, KH, Jiang, XL, Pan, Y, Li, YE, Liu, B, Nunez Cortes, Ak, Zhang, C, Fathi, M, Rezvan, A, Montalvo, MJ, Cha, SL, Reyes Silva, F, Shrestha, R, Guo, X, Kundu, K, Biederstädt, A, Muniz-Feliciano, L, Deyter, GM, Kaplan, M, Jiang, XR, Liu, E, Jain, A, Roszik, J, Fowlkes, NW, Solis Soto, LM, Raso, G, Khoury, J, Lin, P, Vega Vazquez, F, Varadarajan, N, Chen, K, Marin, D, Shpall, E, Rezvani, K. CD28 Costimulation Augments CAR Signaling in NK Cells via the LCK/CD3ζ/ ZAP70 Signaling Axis. Cancer discovery 14(10):1879-1900, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38900051.
- Kumar, B, Singh, A, Basar, R, Uprety, N, Li, YE, Fan, H, Nunez Cortes, Ak, Kaplan, M, Acharya, S, Shaim, H, Xu, AC, Wu, M, Ensley, E, Fang, D, Banerjee, PP, Melo Garcia, L, Tiberti, S, Lin, P, Rafei, H, Munir, MN, Moore, M, Shanley, M, Mendt Vilchez, MC, Kerbauy, LN, Liu, B, Biederstädt, A, Gokdemir, E, Ghosh, S, Kundu, K, Reyes Silva, F, Jiang, XR, Wan, X, Gilbert, AL, Dede, M, Mohanty, V, Dou, J, Zhang, P, Liu, E, Muniz-Feliciano, L, Deyter, GM, Jain, A, Rodriguez-Sevilla, JJ, Colla, S, Garcia-Manero, G, Shpall, E, Chen, K, Abbas, HA, Rai, K, Rezvani, K, Daher, M. BATF is a major driver of NK cell epigenetic reprogramming and dysfunction in AML. Science translational medicine 16(764), 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 39259809.
- Shanley, M, Daher, M, Dou, J, Li, S, Basar, R, Rafei, H, Dede, M, Gumin, J, Pantaleόn Garcίa, J, Nunez Cortes, AK, He, S, Jones, C, Acharya, S, Fowlkes, NW, Xiong, D, Singh, S, Shaim, H, Hicks, SC, Liu, B, Jain, A, Zaman, MF, Miao, Q, Li, YE, Uprety, N, Liu, E, Muniz-Feliciano, L, Deyter, GM, Mohanty, V, Zhang, P, Evans, S, Shpall, EJ, Lang Jr, FF, Chen, K, Rezvani, K. Interleukin-21 engineering enhances NK cell activity against glioblastoma via CEBPD. Cancer cell 42(8):1450-1466.e11, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 39137729.
- He, S, Gubin, M, Rafei, H, Basar, R, Dede, M, Jiang, XL, Liang, Q, Tan, Y, Kim, KH, Gillison, M, Rezvani, K, Peng, W, Haymaker, CL, Hernandez, S, Solis Soto, LM, Mohanty, V, Chen, K. Elucidating immune-related gene transcriptional programs via factorization of large-scale RNA-profiles. iScience 27(6), 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38957791.
- Marin, D, Li, Y, Basar, R, Rafei, H, Daher, M, Dou, J, Mohanty, V, Dede, M, Nieto, Y, Uprety, N, Acharya, S, Liu, E, Wilson, JM, Banerjee, PP, Macapinlac, HA, Ganesh, C, Thall, PF, Bassett Jr, R, Ammari, M, Rao, SS, Cao, K, Shanley, M, Kaplan, M, Hosing, C, Kebriaei, P, Nastoupil, L, Flowers, CR, Moseley, SM, Lin, P, Ang, O, Popat, UR, Qazilbash, MH, Champlin, RE, Chen, K, Shpall, E, Rezvani, K. Safety, efficacy and determinants of response of allogeneic CD19-specific CAR-NK cells in CD19+ B cell tumors. Nature medicine 30(3):772-784, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38238616.
- Nieto, Y, Banerjee, PP, Kaur, I, Kim, KH, Fang, D, Thall, PF, Griffin, L, Barnett, M, Basar, R, Hosing, C, Ramdial, JL, Srour, S, Daher, M, Marin, D, Jiang, X, Chen, K, Champlin, RE, Shpall, E, Rezvani, K. Ex Vivo Expanded Cord Blood Natural Killer Cells Combined with Rituximab and High-Dose Chemotherapy and Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation for B Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Transplantation and Cellular Therapy 30(2):203.e1-203.e9, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38042257.
- Dragomir, M, Fuentes-Mattei, E, Winkle, M, Okubo, K, Bayraktar, R, Knutsen, E, Qdaisat, AZ, Chen, M, Li, Y, Shimizu, M, Pang, L, Liu, K, Liu, X, Anfossi, S, Zhang, H, Koch, I, Tran, AM, Mohapatra, S, Ton, AN, Kaplan, M, Anderson, MW, Rothfuss, SJ, Silasi, R, Keshari, RS, Ferracin, M, Ivan, C, Rodriguez-Aguayo, C, Lopez Berestein, G, Georgescu, C, Banerjee, PP, Basar, R, Li, Z, Horst, D, Vasilescu, C, Bertilaccio, MS, Rezvani, K, Lupu, F, Yeung, SJ, Calin, GA. Anti–miR-93-5p therapy prolongs sepsis survival by restoring the peripheral immune response. Journal of Clinical Investigation 133(14), 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37261908.
- Li, L, Mohanty, V, Dou, J, Huang, Y, Banerjee, PP, Miao, Q, Lohr, JG, Vijaykumar, T, Frede, J, Knoechel, B, Muniz-Feliciano, L, Laskowski, TJ, Liang, S, Moyes, JS, Nandivada, V, Basar, R, Kaplan, M, Daher, M, Liu, E, Li, Y, Acharya, S, Lin, P, Shanley, M, Rafei, H, Marin, D, Mielke, S, Champlin, RE, Shpall, E, Chen, K, Rezvani, K. Loss of metabolic fitness drives tumor resistance after CAR-NK cell therapy and can be overcome by cytokine engineering. Science Advances 9(30), 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37494448.
- Lui, A, Lee, J, Thall, PF, Daher, M, Rezvani, K, Basar, R. A Bayesian feature allocation model for identifying cell subpopulations using CyTOF data. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series C: Applied Statistics 72(3):718-738, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37325776.
- Imahashi, N, Basar, R, Huang, Y, Wang, F, Baran, N, Banerjee, PP, Lu, J, Nunez Cortes, AK, Uprety, N, Ensley, E, Muniz-Feliciano, L, Laskowski, TJ, Moyes, JS, Daher, M, Mendt Vilchez, MC, Kerbauy, LN, Shanley, M, Li, L, Lim, FI, Shaim, H, Li, Y, Konopleva, M, Green, M, Wargo, J, Shpall, E, Chen, K, Rezvani, K. Activated B cells suppress T-cell function through metabolic competition. Journal for immunotherapy of cancer 10(12), 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36543374.
- Dou, J, Liang, S, Mohanty, V, Miao, Q, Huang, Y, Liang, Q, Cheng, X, Kim, SB, Choi, J, Li, Y, Li, L, Daher, M, Basar, R, Rezvani, K, Chen, R, Chen, K. Bi-order multimodal integration of single-cell data. Genome biology 23(1), 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35534898.
- Li, Y, Basar, R, Wang, G, Liu, E, Moyes, JS, Li, L, Kerbauy, LN, Uprety, N, Fathi, M, Rezvan, A, Banerjee, PP, Muniz-Feliciano, L, Laskowski, TJ, Ensley, E, Daher, M, Shanley, M, Mendt Vilchez, MC, Acharya, S, Liu, B, Biederstädt, A, Rafei, H, Guo, X, Melo Garcia, L, Lin, P, Ang, O, Marin, D, Chen, K, Bover, L, Champlin, RE, Varadarajan, N, Shpall, E, Rezvani, K. KIR-based inhibitory CARs overcome CAR-NK cell trogocytosis-mediated fratricide and tumor escape. Nature medicine 28(10):2133-2144, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36175679.
- Kumar, B, Afshar-Kharghan, V, Mendt Vilchez, MC, Sackstein, R, Tanner, MR, Popat, UR, Ramdial, JL, Daher, M, Jimenez, J, Basar, R, Melo Garcia, L, Shanley, M, Kaplan, M, Wan, X, Nandivada, V, Reyes Silva, F, Woods, V, Gilbert, AL, Gonzalez-Delgado, R, Acharya, S, Lin, P, Rafei, H, Banerjee, PP, Shpall, E. Engineered cord blood megakaryocytes evade killing by allogeneic T-cells for refractory thrombocytopenia. Frontiers in immunology 13, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36203567.
- Thompson, PA, Jiang, XL, Banerjee, PP, Basar, R, Garg, N, Chen, K, Kaplan, M, Nandivada, V, Cortes, AN, Ferrajoli, A, Keating, M, Peterson, CB, Andreeff, M, Rezvani, K, Wierda, WG. A phase two study of high dose blinatumomab in Richter’s syndrome. Leukemia 36(9):2228-2232, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35941212.
- Fix, SM, Forget, MA, Sakellariou-Thompson, D, Wang, Y, Griffiths, T, Lee, M, Haymaker, CL, Dominguez, AL, Basar, R, Reyes, C, Kumar, S, Meyer, LA, Hwu, P, Bernatchez, C, Jazaeri, AA. CRISPR-mediated TGFBR2 knockout renders human ovarian cancer tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes resistant to TGF-β signaling. Journal for immunotherapy of cancer 10(7), 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35882447.
- Gaballa, MM, Banerjee, PP, Milton, D, Jiang, XL, Ganesh, C, Khazal, SJ, Nandivada, V, Islam, S, Kaplan, M, Daher, M, Basar, R, Alousi, AM, Mehta, RS, Al-Atrash, G, Khouri, IF, Oran, B, Marin, D, Popat, UR, Olson, AL, Tewari, P, Jain, N, Jabbour, EJ, Ravandi-Kashani, F, Kantarjian, HM, Chen, K, Champlin, RE, Shpall, E, Rezvani, K, Kebriaei, P. Blinatumomab maintenance after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation for B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Blood 139(12):1908-1919, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 34914826.
- Olson A, Lin R, Marin D, Rafei H, Bdaiwi MH, Thall PF, Basar R, Abudayyeh A, Banerjee P, Aung FM, Kaur I, Abueg G, Rao S, Chemaly R, Mulanovich V, Al-Atrash G, Alousi AM, Andersson BS, Anderlini P, Bashir Q, Castro KM, Daher M, Galvan IM, Hosing C, Im JS, Jones RB, Kebriaei P, Khouri I, Mehta R, Molldrem J, Nieto Y, Oran B, Popat U, Qazilbash M, Rondon G, Saini N, Spencer B, Srour S, Washington D, Barnett M, Champlin RE, Shpall EJ, Rezvani K. Third-Party BK Virus-Specific Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte Therapy for Hemorrhagic Cystitis Following Allotransplantation. J Clin Oncol:JCO2002608. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33929874.
- Daher M, Basar R, Gokdemir E, Baran N, Uprety N, Nunez Cortes AK, Mendt M, Kerbauy LN, Banerjee PP, Shanley M, Imahashi N, Li L, FLWI L, Fathi M, Rezvan A, Mohanty V, Shen Y, Shaim H, Lu J, Ozcan G, Ensley E, Kaplan M, Nandivada V, Bdiwi M, Acharya S, Xi Y, Wan X, Mak D, Liu E, Jiang XR, Ang S, Muniz-Feliciano L, Li Y, Wang J, Kordasti S, Petrov N, Varadarajan N, Marin D, Brunetti L, Skinner RJ, Lyu S, Silva L, Turk R, Schubert MS, Rettig GR, McNeill MS, Kurgan G, Behlke MA, Li H, Fowlkes NW, Chen K, Konopleva M, Champlin RE, Shpall EJ, Rezvani K. Targeting a cytokine checkpoint enhances the fitness of armored cord blood CAR-NK cells. Blood 137(5):624-636, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 32902645.
- Liu E, Ang SOT, Kerbauy L, Basar R, Kaur I, Kaplan M, Li L, Tong Y, Daher M, Ensley EL, Uprety N, Nunez Cortes AK, Yang RZ, Li Y, Shaim H, Reyes Silva F, Lin P, Mohanty V, Acharya S, Shanley M, Muniz-Feliciano L, Banerjee PP, Chen K, Champlin RE, Shpall EJ, Rezvani K. GMP-Compliant Universal Antigen Presenting Cells (uAPC) Promote the Metabolic Fitness and Antitumor Activity of Armored Cord Blood CAR-NK Cells. Front Immunol 12:626098, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33717142.
- Miao Q, Wang F, Dou J, Iqbal R, Muftuoglu M, Basar R, Li L, Rezvani K, Chen K. Ab initio spillover compensation in mass cytometry data. Cytometry A. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33342071.
- Basar R, Daher M, Rezvani K. Next-generation cell therapies: the emerging role of CAR-NK cells. Blood Adv 4(22):5868-5876, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33232480.
- Basar R, Uprety N, Ensley E, Daher M, Klein K, Martinez F, Aung F, Shanley M, Hu B, Gokdemir E, Mendt M, Silva FR, Acharya S, Laskowski T, Muniz-Feliciano L, Banerjee P, Li Y, Li S, Garcia LM, Lin P, Shaim H, Yates SG, Marin D, Kaur I, Rao S, Mak D, Lin A, Miao Q, Dou J, Chen K, Champlin R, Shpall EJ, Rezvani K. Generation of glucocorticoid resistant SARS-CoV-2 T-cells for adoptive cell therapy. bioRxiv, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32995792.
- Basar R, Daher M, Uprety N, Gokdemir E, Alsuliman A, Ensley E, Ozcan G, Mendt M, Hernandez Sanabria M, Kerbauy LN, Nunez Cortes AK, Li L, Banerjee PP, Muniz-Feliciano L, Acharya S, Fowlkes NW, Lu J, Li S, Mielke S, Kaplan M, Nandivada V, Bdaiwi M, Kontoyiannis AD, Li Y, Liu E, Ang S, Marin D, Brunetti L, Gundry MC, Turk R, Schubert MS, Rettig GR, McNeill MS, Kurgan G, Behlke MA, Champlin R, Shpall EJ, Rezvani K. Large-scale GMP-compliant CRISPR-Cas9-mediated deletion of the glucocorticoid receptor in multivirus-specific T cells. Blood Adv 4(14):3357-3367, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32717029.
- Liu E, Marin D, Banerjee P, Macapinlac HA, Thompson P, Basar R, Nassif Kerbauy L, Overman B, Thall P, Kaplan M, Nandivada V, Kaur I, Nunez Cortes A, Cao K, Daher M, Hosing C, Cohen EN, Kebriaei P, Mehta R, Neelapu S, Nieto Y, Wang M, Wierda W, Keating M, Champlin R, Shpall EJ, Rezvani K. Use of CAR-Transduced Natural Killer Cells in CD19-Positive Lymphoid Tumors. N Engl J Med 382(6):545-553, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32023374.
- Helmink BA, Reddy SM, Gao J, Zhang S, Basar R, Thakur R, Yizhak K, Sade-Feldman M, Blando J, Han G, Gopalakrishnan V, Xi Y, Zhao H, Amaria RN, Tawbi HA, Cogdill AP, Liu W, LeBleu VS, Kugeratski FG, Patel S, Davies MA, Hwu P, Lee JE, Gershenwald JE, Lucci A, Arora R, Woodman S, Keung EZ, Gaudreau PO, Reuben A, Spencer CN, Burton EM, Haydu LE, Lazar AJ, Zapassodi R, Hudgens CW, Ledesma DA, Ong S, Bailey M, Warren S, Rao D, Krijgsman O, Rozeman EA, Peeper D, Blank CU, Schumacher TN, Butterfield LH, Zelazowska MA, McBride KM, Kalluri R, Allison J, Petitprez F, Fridman WH, Sautès-Fridman C, Hacohen N, Rezvani K, Sharma P, Tetzlaff MT, Wang L, Wargo JA. B cells and tertiary lymphoid structures promote immunotherapy response. Nature 577(7791):549-555, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 31942075.
- Li L, Chen H, Marin D, Xi Y, Miao Q, Lv J, Banerjee PP, Shaim H, Daher M, Basar R, Imahashi N, Jimenez J, Hu B, Mehta RS, Kerbauy LN, Kaplan M, Mendt M, Ozcan G, Gokdemir E, Hernandez Sanabria M, Li Y, Chen K, Wang J, Muniz-Feliciano L, Zhao WL, Champlin RE, Shpall EJ, Rezvani K. A novel immature natural killer cell subpopulation predicts relapse after cord blood transplantation. Blood Adv 3(23):4117-4130, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31821460.
- Cao K, Marin D, Sekine T, Rondon G, Zhao W, Smith NT, Daher M, Wang Q, Li L, Saliba RM, Pingali R, Popat U, Hosing C, Olson A, Oran B, Basar R, Mehta RS, Champlin R, Shpall EJ, Rezvani K. Donor NKG2C Copy Number: An Independent Predictor for CMV Reactivation After Double Cord Blood Transplantation. Front Immunol 9:2444, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30405633.
- Alsuliman A, Muftuoglu M, Khoder A, Ahn YO, Basar R, Verneris MR, Muranski P, Barrett AJ, Liu E, Li L, Stringaris K, Armstrong-James D, Shaim H, Kondo K, Imahashi N, Andersson B, Marin D, Champlin RE, Shpall EJ, Rezvani K. A subset of virus-specific CD161+ T cells selectively express the multidrug transporter MDR1 and are resistant to chemotherapy in AML. Blood 129(6):740-758, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 27821506.
- Soyer OM, Baran B, Ormeci AC, Sahin D, Gokturk S, Evirgen S, Basar R, Firat P, Akyuz F, Demir K, Besisik F, Kaymakoglu S, Karaca C. Role of biochemistry and cytological analysis of cyst fluid for the differential diagnosis of pancreatic cysts: A retrospective cohort study. Medicine (Baltimore) 96(1):e5513, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28072692.
- Khoder A, Alsuliman A, Basar R, Sobieski C, Kondo K, Alousi AM, Szydlo R, Muftuoglu M, Shaim H, Apperley JF, Gokdemir E, Cooper N, Mehta RS, Marin D, Champlin R, Shpall E, Rezvani K. Evidence for B Cell Exhaustion in Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease. Front Immunol 8:1937, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 29375566.
- Shaim H, Estrov Z, Harris D, Hernandez Sanabria M, Liu Z, Ruvolo P, Thompson PA, Ferrajoli A, Daher M, Burger J, Muftuoglu M, Imahashi N, Li L, Liu E, Alsuliman AS, Basar R, Nassif Kerbauy L, Sobieski C, Gokdemir E, Kondo K, Wierda W, Keating M, Shpall EJ, Rezvani K. The CXCR4-STAT3-IL-10 Pathway Controls the Immunoregulatory Function of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Is Modulated by Lenalidomide. Front Immunol 8:1773, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 29379494.
- Alsuliman A, Appel SH, Beers DR, Basar R, Shaim H, Kaur I, Zulovich J, Yvon E, Muftuoglu M, Imahashi N, Kondo K, Liu E, Shpall EJ, Rezvani K. A robust, good manufacturing practice-compliant, clinical-scale procedure to generate regulatory T cells from patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis for adoptive cell therapy. Cytotherapy 18(10):1312-24, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27497700.
- Sarvaria A, Basar R, Mehta RS, Shaim H, Muftuoglu M, Khoder A, Sekine T, Gokdemir E, Kondo K, Marin D, Daher M, Alousi AM, Alsuliman A, Liu E, Oran B, Olson A, Jones RB, Popat U, Hosing C, Champlin R, Shpall EJ, Rezvani K. IL-10+ regulatory B cells are enriched in cord blood and may protect against cGVHD after cord blood transplantation. Blood 128(10):1346-61, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27439912.
- Sekine T, Marin D, Cao K, Li L, Mehta P, Shaim H, Sobieski C, Jones R, Oran B, Hosing C, Rondon G, Alsuliman A, Paust S, Andersson B, Popat U, Kebriaei P, Muftuoglu M, Basar R, Kondo K, Nieto Y, Shah N, Olson A, Alousi A, Liu E, Sarvaria A, Parmar S, Armstrong-James D, Imahashi N, Molldrem J, Champlin R, Shpall EJ, Rezvani K. Specific combinations of donor and recipient KIR-HLA genotypes predict for large differences in outcome after cord blood transplantation. Blood 128(2):297-312, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27247137.
- Basar R, Uzum AK, Canbaz B, Dogansen SC, Kalayoglu-Besisik S, Altay-Dadin S, Aral F, Ozbey NC. Therapeutic apheresis for severe hypertriglyceridemia in pregnancy. Arch Gynecol Obstet 287(5):839-43, 2013. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 23479052.
Review Articles
- Basar R, Daher M, Rezvani K. Next-generation cell therapies: the emerging role of CAR-NK cells. Hematology Am Soc Hematol Educ Program 2020(1):570-578, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33275752.
Other Articles
- Nieto Y, Banerjee P, Kaur I, Basar R, Li Y, Daher M, Rafei H, Kerbauy LN, Kaplan M, Marin D, Griffin L, Barnett M, Bassett R, Uprety N, Shrestha R, Silva FR, Islam S, Ganesh C, Borneo Z, Ramdial J, Ramirez A, Hosing C, Alousi A, Popat U, Qazilbash M, Ahmed S, Iyer S, Sainz TP, Vega F, Fowlkes NW, Alexis K, Emig M, Harstrick A, Overesch A, Shpall EJ, Rezvani K Author Correction: Allogeneic NK cells with a bispecific innate cell engager in refractory relapsed lymphoma: a phase 1 trial. Nat Med, 2025. PMID: 40571757.
- Li, Y, Basar, R, Wang, G, Liu, E, Moyes, JS, Li, L, Kerbauy, LN, Uprety, N, Fathi, M, Rezvan, A, Banerjee, PP, Muniz-Feliciano, L, Laskowski, TJ, Ensley, E, Daher, M, Shanley, M, Mendt Vilchez, MC, Acharya, S, Liu, B, Biederstädt, A, Rafei, H, Guo, X, Melo Garcia, L, Lin, P, Ang, O, Marin, D, Chen, K, Bover, L, Champlin, RE, Varadarajan, N, Shpall, E, Rezvani, K Correction to. Nature medicine 30(3):906, 2024. PMID: 38182787.
Book Chapters
- Rafei, H, Basar, R, Rezvani, K, Daher, M. Chimeric antigen receptor-modified cells for the treatment of solid tumors, 97-131, 2022.
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified August 19, 2025