Richard Ambinder, M.D., Ph.D.
Phone: 410 955-5617
Fax: (410) 955-0961
Interests:
- Epstein-Barr Virus and Malignancy
Titles
Director, Division of Hematologic Malignancies, Department of Oncology
Program Leader, Hematological Malignancies and Bone Marrow Transplant, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
James B. Murphy Professor of Oncology
Professor of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences
Professor of Pathology
Professor of Medicine
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Schools/Degrees
M.D., The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Ph.D. (Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences), The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Training
1979-81 Resident, Medicine, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland
1981-82 Fellow, Medicine, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland
1982-84 Fellow, Oncology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
1985-89 Ph.D., Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
Certifications
1979 License to Practice Medicine, State of Maryland 1979 National Board of Medical Examiners
1982 Board Certified in Internal Medicine
1985 Board Certified in Medical Oncology
Clinical Interests
Dr. Ambinder's clinical interests are in the treatment of lymphoma and Kaposi's sarcoma.
Research Summary
Virus-associated tumors are among the most common malignancies in certain populations and certain regions.
Thus, Burkitt’s lymphoma (EBV) and Kaposi’s sarcoma (KSHV) are common in equatorial Africa,
nasopharyngeal carcinoma (EBV) is common in southern Chinese populations or those with southern Chinese
origins, and immunoblastic lymphomas (EBV) are common in immunocompromised patients (organ transplant
recipients, AIDS patients). New approaches to prevention, diagnosis or treatment might thus directly impact
on the world’s cancer problem in an important way.
In addition, these tumors are important as model systems for the development of new approaches. The
presence of the viral genome provides a handle for new approaches to analysis or intervention. Thus, many
immunotherapies target unidentified antigens, making the measurement of relevant immune responses
problematic at best. However, in EBV-associated tumors, the antigens are well defined, and the Ambinder lab
and others are defining the epitope-specific cellular immune responses. Thus, interventions designed to alter
immune response, whether they be vaccine-based interventions, adoptive immunotherapy interventions, or
pharmacologic interventions may all be assessed in terms of relevant surrogate markers in the case of EBV
tumors. In the same way that the treatment of Hodgkin’s lymphoma with radiotherapy and chemotherapy
paved the way for the modern approach to malignancies in general with these modalities, the treatment of
EBV-associated tumors including Hodgkin’s lymphoma may pave the way to the more general use of these
modalities.
Journal Citations
1. Yang J, Lemas VM, Flinn IW, Krone C, Ambinder RF. Application of the ELISPOT Assay to the Characterization of CD8+ Responses to Epstein-Barr Virus Antigens. Blood 95:241-248, 2000. (PMID: 10607708)
2. Cannon JS, Ciufo D, Hawkins AL, Griffin CA, Borowitz MJ, Hayward GS and Ambinder RF. A New Primary Effusion Lymphoma - Derived Cell Line Yields Highly Infectious Kaposi’s Sarcoma Herpesvirus Supernatant. J Virol, 74:10187-10193, 2000. (PMID: 11024147)
3. Yang J, Tao Q, Flinn IW, Murray PG, Post LE, Ma H, Piantadosi S, Caligiuri MA, Ambinder RF. Characterization of Epstein Barr Virus-infected B Cells in Patients with Posttransplantation Lymphoproliferative Disease: Disappearance after Rituximab Therapy does not Predict Clinical Response. Blood, 96:4055-4063, 2000. (PMID: 11110673)
4. Flinn IW, O’Donnell PV, Goodrich A, Vogelsang G, Abrams R, Noga S, Marcellus D, Borowitz M, Jones R, Ambinder RF. Immunotherapy with Rituximab during Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, 6:628-632, 2000. (PMID: 11128813)
5. Moore SM, Cannon JS, Tanhehco YC, Hamzeh FM, Ambinder RF. Induction of Epstein-Barr Virus Kinases to Sensitize Tumor Cells to Nucleoside Analogues. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 45:2082-2091, 2001. (PMID: 11408227)
6. Glaser SL, Clarke CA, Gulley ML, Craig FE, DiGiuseppe JA, Dorfman RF, Mann RB, Ambinder RF. Population-Based Patterns of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Related Hodgkin Lymphoma in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. Cancer, 98:300-309, 2003. (PMID: 12872349)
7. Chan AT, Tao Q, Robertson KD, Flinn IW, Mann RB, Klencke B, Kwan WH, Leung TW, Johnson PJ, Ambinder RF. Azacitidine Induces Demethylation of the Epstein-Barr Virus Genome in Tumors in Patients. J Clin Oncol: 22: 1373-81, 2004. (PMID: 15007085)
8. Glaser SL, Keegan THM, Clarke CA, Trinh M, Dorfman RF, Mann RB, DiGiuseppe JA, Ambinder RF. Exposure to Childhood Infections and Risk of Epstein-Barr Virus-Defined Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in Women. Int J Cancer 115 : 599-605, 2005. (PMID: 15700307)
9. Keegan TH, Glaser SL, Clarke CA, Gulley ML, Craig FE, Digiuseppe JA, Dorfman RF, Mann RB, Ambinder RF. Epstein Barr Virus as a Marker of Survival after Hodgkin's Lymphoma: a Population Based Study. J Clin Oncol. 23: 7604 13, 2005. (PMID: 16186595)
10. Keegan TH, Glaser SL, Clarke CA, Dorfman RF, Mann RB, DiGiuseppe JA, Chang ET, Ambinder RF. Body Size, Physical Activity, and Risk of Hodgkin's Lymphoma in Women. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention 15:1095-1101, 2006. (PMID: 16775165)
11. Fu D X, Tanhehco YC, Chen J, Foss CA, Fox JJ, Lemas V, Chong JM, Ambinder R F, Pomper MG. Virus-Associated Tumor Imaging by Induction of Viral Gene Expression. Clin Cancer Res. 13: 1453-8, 2007. (PMID: 17332288)
12. Glaser SL, Gully ML, Clarke CA, Keegan TH, Chang ET, Shema SJ, Craig FE, DiGiuseppe JA, Dorfman RF, Mann RB, Culver HA, Coszen W, Ambinder, RF. Racial/Ethnic Variation in EBV-Positive Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma in California Populations. Int J Cancer. 123:1499-1507, 2008. (PMID: 18646185)
13. Fu D, Tanhehco Y, Chen J, Foss CA, Fos JF, Chong J, Hobbs RF, Fukayama M, Sgouros G, Kowalski J, Pomper MG, Ambinder RF. Bortezomib-Induced Enzyme-Targeted Radiotherapy in Herpesvirus-Associated Tumors. Nat Med. 14:1118-22, 2008. (PMID: 18776891)
14. Jones RJ, Gocke CD, Kasamon YL, Miller CB, Perkins B, Barber JP, Vala MS, Gerber JM, Gellert LL, Siedner M, Lemas MV, Brennan S, Ambinder RF, Matsui W. Circulating Clonotypic B Cells in Classical Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Blood .113:5920-6, 2009. (PMID: 19188663)
15. Lin L, Lee JY, Kaplan LD, Dezube BJ, Noy A, Krown SE, Levine AM, Yu Y, Hayward GS, Ambinder RF. Effects of Chemotherapy in AIDS-Associated Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma on KSHV DNA in Blood. J Clin Oncol. 27: 2496-502, 2009. (PMID: 1934954)
