Asha B. Pillai, MD

Assistant Member, St. Jude Faculty

Departments

Bone Marrow Transplantation & Cellular Therapy

Contact Information

Asha Pillai, MD
Bone Marrow Transplantation & Cellular Therapy
MS 310, Room D5048E
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
262 Danny Thomas Place
Memphis, TN 38105-3678
Email: asha.pillai@stjude.org

Education

BS – Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University
MD – Indiana University School of Medicine
Pediatric Internship/Residency – Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine
Pediatric Hem/Onc/BMT Fellowship – Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford University
Internal Medicine Internship/Residency – Baylor College of Medicine
Adult Hematology/BMT Fellowship – Stanford Hospital and Clinics, Stanford University

Honors & Awards

• 2012-14  V Scholar, V Foundation for Cancer Research
• 2012 Patients' Choice Outstanding Clinician, National Registry
• 2011-12  Hyundai Scholar, Hyundai Foundation for Pediatric Cancer Research
• 2008-13  K08 Career Development Award, NHLBI
• 2011  Outstanding Pediatric Abstract, ASBMT/CIBMTR Tandem Meetings
• 2009-present  TED Member
• 2007, 2010  Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS) Travel Awards
• 2005-08  National Research Service Award, NHLBI
• 1992  Alpha Omega Alpha
• 1989  Firestone Research Medal, Stanford University

Research Interests

Lab research foci:

• murine and human regulatory T cells
• immunobiology of GVHD, engraftment
• non-myeloablative versus myeloablative conditioning effects on immunoregulation

Translational and clinical research foci:

• Regulatory T cells in transplantation tolerance and immunotherapy
• Clinical prevention of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), and application to HCT for non-malignant disorders
• International development of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and related fields through research, teaching, collaboration, and outreach

Research lab

Selected Publications

Shook D, Triplett B, Srinivasan A, Hartford C, Dallas M, Pillai A, Laver J, Leung W. Successful allogeneic hematopoieticcell engraftment following a minimal conditioning regimen in children with relapsed or refractory solid tumors. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 19(2):291-297, 2012. PMID: 23063628.

Triplett B, Wang C, Yang J, Dallas M, Hartford C, Howard V, Pillai A, Shook D, Srinivasan A, Laver J, Leung W. Effects of conditioning regimens and T-cell depletion in hematopoietic cell transplantation for primary immune deficiency. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 18(8):1273-80, 2012. doi:10.1016/j.bbmt.2012.01.021. PMID: 22842333.

Leung W, Pui C, Coustan-Smith E, Yang J, Pei D, Gan K, Srinivasan A, Hartford C,Triplett B, Dallas M, Pillai A, Shook D, Rubnitz J, Sandlund J, Jeha S, Inaba H, Ribeiro R, Handgretinger R, Laver J, Campana D. Detectable minimal residual diseasebefore hematopoietic cell transplantation is prognostic but does not preclude cure for children with very- high-risk leukemia. Blood 120(2):468-72, 2012. PMID: 22517895.

Morales-Tirado V, Luszczek W,van der Merwe M, Pillai A. Regulatory immunotherapy in bone marrow transplantation. (Invited review). TSW Hematology 11:2620-2634, 2011. doi:10.1100/2011/768948 (www.tswj.com/2011/768948).

Leung W, Campana D, Yang J, Pei D, Coustan-Smith E, Gan K, Rubnitz J, Sandlund J, Ribeiro R, Srinivasan A, Hartford C, Triplett B, Dallas M, Pillai A, Handgretinger R, Laver J, Pui CH. High success of hematopoietic cell transplantation regardless of donor source in children with very-high-risk leukemia. Blood 118(2):223-30, 2011. PMID: 21613256.

Pillai A, Hartford C, Srinivasan A, Triplett B, Dallas M, Wang C, Yang J, Leung W. Favorable preliminary results using TLI/ATG-based immunomodulatory conditioning for matched unrelated donor allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in pediatric severe aplastic anemia. Pediatric Transplantation 15(6):628-34, 2011. PMID: 21762328

Pillai AB, Kohrt HJ, Lowsky R, Strober S. NKT cells, Treg, and their interactions in bone marrow transplantation. (Invited Review). Eur J Immunol 40(7):1862–9, 2010. PMID: 20583031

Pillai A, George T, Dutt S, Strober S. Host natural killer T cells induce an IL-4 dependent expansion of donor CD4 CD25 Foxp3 Tregs that protects against graft-versus-host disease. Blood 113(18):4458-67, 2009. PMID: 19221040

Pillai A, Teo P, George T, Mukhopadhyay A, Dejhbahksh-Jones S, Strober S. Alloantigen recognition is required for CD8-mediated graft anti-tumor activity against murine BCL1 lymphoma after myeloablative bone marrow transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 40 (5):487-97, 2007. PMID: 17603512

Pillai A, George T, Dutt S, Teo P, Strober S. Natural killer T cells can prevent graft-versus host-disease and permit graft anti-tumor activity after bone marrow transplantation. J Immunol 178 (10): 6242-51, 2007. PMID: 17475852

Clayberger C, Luna-Fineman S, Lee JE, Pillai A, Campbell M, Krensky AM. Interleukin-3 is a growth factor for human follicular B-cell lymphoma. J Exp Med 175 (2):371-6, 1992. PMID: 1732410

Last updated: May 2013