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Research and Clinical Interests

Dr. Demaria's main interest is cancer immunotherapy and the development of combination treatments with local ionizing radiation. Radiation has adjuvant effects that can be exploited to enhance anti-tumor immune responses. Her lab is currently investigating at the cellular and molecular levels the mechanisms mediating the effects of radiation on the tumor microenvironment and how they change the relationship between tumor and host immune system. Her clinical interest is breast cancer.

Selected Publications

Dewan MZ, Galloway AE, Kawashima N, Dewyngaert JK, Babb JS, Formenti SC, Demaria S. Fractionated but not single-dose radiotherapy induces an immune-mediated abscopal effect when combined with anti-CTLA-4 antibody. Clin Cancer Res. 2009 Sep 1;15(17):5379-88. Epub 2009 Aug 25. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 19706802. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-09-0265. PMCID: 2746048.

Formenti SC, Demaria S. Systemic effects of local radiotherapy. Lancet Oncol. 2009 Jul;10(7):718-26. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 19573801. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(09)70082-8.

Pilones KA, Kawashima N, Yang AM, Babb JS, Formenti SC, Demaria S. Invariant natural killer T cells regulate breast cancer response to radiation and CTLA-4 blockade. Clin Cancer Res. 2009 Jan 15;15(2):597-606. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 19147765. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-08-1277.

Formenti SC, Demaria S. Local control by radiotherapy: is that all there is? Breast Cancer Res. 2008 Nov 5;10(6):215. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 19014406. doi: 10.1186/bcr2160.

Matsumura S, Wang B, Kawashima N, Braunstein S, Badura M, Cameron TO, Babb JS, Schneider RJ, Formenti SC, Dustin ML, Demaria S. Radiation-induced CXCL16 release by breast cancer cells attracts effector T cells. J Immunol. 2008 Sep 1;181(5):3099-107. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 18713980. PMCID: PMC2587101.

Formenti SC, Demaria S. Effects of chemoradiation on tumor-host interactions: the immunologic side. J Clin Oncol. 2008 Mar 20;26(9):1562-3; author reply 1563. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 18349411. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2007.15.5499.

Demaria S, Formenti SC. Sensors of ionizing radiation effects on the immunological microenvironment of cancer. Int J Radiat Biol. 2007 Aug 28;1-7. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 17852561.

Newcomb EW, Demaria S, Lukyanov Y, Shao Y, Schnee T, Kawashima N, Lan L, Dewyngaert JK, Zagzag D, McBride WH, Formenti SC. The combination of ionizing radiation and peripheral vaccination produces long-term survival of mice bearing established invasive GL261 gliomas. Clin Cancer Res. 2006 Aug 1;12(15):4730–7. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 16899624.

Demaria S, Bhardwaj N, McBride WH, Formenti SC. Combining radiotherapy and immunotherapy: a revived partnership. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2005 Nov 1;63(3):655-66. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 16199306.

Demaria S, Santori FR, Ng B, Liebes L, Formenti SC, Vukmanovic S. Select forms of tumor cell apoptosis induce dendritic cell maturation. J Leukoc Biol. 2005 Mar;77(3):361–8. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 15569694.

Zagzag D, Salnikow K, Chiriboga L, Yee H, Lan L, Ali MA, Garcia R, Demaria S, Newcomb EW. Downregulation of major histocompatibility complex antigens in invading glioma cells: stealth invasion of the brain. Lab Invest. 2005 Mar;85(3):328-41. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 15716863.

Demaria S, Kawashima N, Yang AM, Devitt ML, Babb JS, Allison JP, Formenti SC. Immune-mediated inhibition of metastases after treatment with local radiation and CTLA-4 blockade in a mouse model of breast cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2005 Jan 15;11(2 Pt 1):728-34. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 15701862.

Dong Y, Demaria S, Sun X, Santori FR, Jesdale BM, De Groot AS, Rom WN, Bushkin Y. HLA-A2-restricted CD8+-cytotoxic-T-cell responses to novel epitopes in Mycobacterium tuberculosis superoxide dismutase, alanine dehydrogenase, and glutamine synthetase. Infect Immun. 2004 Apr;72(4):2414-5. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 15039371.

Demaria S, Ng B, Devitt ML, Babb JS, Kawashima N, Liebes L, Formenti SC. Ionizing radiation inhibition of distant untreated tumors (abscopal effect) is immune mediated. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2004 Mar 1;58(3):862-70. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 14967443.

Demaria S, Volm MD, Shapiro RL, Yee HT, Oratz R, Formenti SC, Muggia F, Symmans WF. Development of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in breast cancer after neoadjuvant paclitaxel chemotherapy. Clin Cancer Res. 2001 Oct;7(10):3025-30. Cited in Pubmed; PMID 11595690.

Selected Books

Bushkin Y, Watanabe H, Demaria S. Extracellular processing of MHC class I antigens. In: Wilkes DS, Burlingham WJ, editors. Immunobiology of Organ Transplantation. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers; 2004. pp. 53–65.

Organizational Associations

American Association for Cancer Research; Radiation Research Society

Selected Awards

1989-1992 The Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Cancer Research Fund Award (DRG1050)
1993-1995 United States Public Health Service AIDS Training Grant
2000-2001 Clinical Oncology Faculty Award (K12)
2001-2006 Clinical Investigator Award (NIH/NCI K08 CA89336)
2002-2005 The New York City Council Speaker's Fund for Biomedical Research: Toward the Science of Patient Care Award
2003-2005 Breast Cancer Research Award from The Chemotherapy Foundation made possible by The Joyce and Irving Goldman Family Foundation
2005 Travel scholarship to 2005 ASCI/AAP Joint Meeting

Hospital Affiliations

Tisch Hospital