Christopher G. Kanakry, M.D.

Dr. Kanakry’s research has centered upon better understanding the immunologic mechanisms of post-transplantation cyclophosphamide in order to rationally improve transplantation platforms using this approach. He has defined the preferential resistance of regulatory T-cells to post-transplantation cyclophosphamide and showed this to be a key component of post-transplantation cyclophosphamide’s clinical activity in murine models. He also has published multiple clinical studies on the use of post-transplantation cyclophosphamide as single-agent graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis in human leukocyte antigen-matched allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. His current work centers on developing a major histocompatibility complex-haploidentical murine transplant model which he is using to investigate a number of key immunologic areas related to graft-versus-host disease and allogeneic transplantation generally and post-transplantation cyclophosphamide specifically. He also continues to explore basic mechanisms of T-cell activation and alloreactivity. Lastly, Dr. Kanakry is directly involved in translating his laboratory findings to the clinic in ongoing early phase clinical trials.