Amar Gajjar, MD

Amar Gajjar, MD

Member, St. Jude Faculty
Scott and Tracie Hamilton Endowed Chair in Brain Tumor Research
Co-Chair, Department of Oncology
Director, Neuro-Oncology Division
Co-Leader, Neurobiology & Brain Tumor Program

Departments

Oncology

Divisions

Neuro Oncology

Contact Information

Amar Gajjar, MD
Oncology
Neuro Oncology
MS 260, Room C6024
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
262 Danny Thomas Place
Memphis, TN 38105-3678
Email: amar.gajjar@stjude.org
Phone: (901) 595-2615

Education

MD - Grant Medical College, J.J. Group of Hospitals, Bombay, India


Clinical Interests

My current clinical research interests focus on innovative protocols for the treatment of childhood brain tumors, with a focus on medulloblastomas, PNET and Rhabdoid tumors (ATRT). We just completed a large study (SJMB 96) in which 162 patients were treated. We used a strategy of risk-adapted radiation therapy followed by four cycles of high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell support. We achieved very good results with this approach. Our current study (SJMB 03) opened in September 2003. In this study we are doing extensive biological studies on the tumor tissue so that we can better understand what makes a normal brain cell turn into a tumor cell. We anticipate that this information will help us find new therapies to treat high-risk tumors and allow us to safely reduce therapy in patients that we determine are low-risk patients.

In addition to the biological studies on our SJMB 03 protocol, for the first time ever we are using a neurocognitive rehabilitation strategy to help children preserve their reading skills. This is the first study to prospectively ascertain if such intervention does indeed help children. Additionally, we are doing extensive imaging studies and detailed neuropsychological examinations to better understand the nature of the cognitive deficits so we can devise better strategies to help our children.


Research Interests

I am working with investigators in basic science laboratories to develop new chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of brain tumors. Collaborative studies seek to unravel the mechanisms by which key anticancer drugs work so we can use them more efficiently.


Selected Publications

DeWire M, Sanders R, Ellison D, Patay, Z, McKinnon P, Gajjar A. Bi-Allelic BRCA2 Inactivation in Two Brothers with Embryonal CNS Tumors Diagnosed during Infancy. Pediatric Blood and Cancer 2009 (in press).

Forshew T, Tatevossian R, Lawson A, Ma J, Neale G, Ogunkolade W, Jones T, Aarum J, Dalton J, Bailey S, Chaplin T, Carter R, Gajjar A, Broniscer A, Young A, Ellison D, Sheer D. Activation of the ERK/MAPK pathway: a signature genetic defect in posterior fossa pilocytic astrocytomas. Journal of Pathology DOI: 10.1002/path.2558, 2009.

Qaddoumi I, Sultan I, Gajjar A. Outcome and Prognostic features in pediatric gliomas: A review of 6212 cases from the surveillance, epidemiology and end results (SEER) database. Cancer 2009 (in press).

Wright KD, Gajjar A. New chemotherapy strategies and biological agents in the treatment of childhood ependymoma. Child's Nervous System 1-8, 2009. NIHMSID: NIHMS85887

Furman WL, Navid F, Daw NC, McCarville M Beth, McGregor LM, Rodriguez-Galindo C, Panetta JC, Crews KR, Wu J, Gajjar A, Houghton PJ, Santana VM, Stewart CF. A Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Enhances the Oral Bioavailability of Irinotecan in Pediatric Patients with Refractory Solid Tumors. J Clin Oncol 2009 (in press).

Chintagumpala M, Hassall T, Palmer S, Ashley D, Wallace D, Kasow K, Merchant TE, Krasin MJ, Dauser R, Boop FA, Krance R, Woo S, Cheuk R, Lau C, Gilbertson RJ, Gajjar A. A pilot study of risk adapted craniospinal irradiation followed by dose intensive chemotherapy with stem cell support for treatment of supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumors – results of a prospective multicenter collaborative study SJMB 96. Neuro Oncology 11 (1) 33-40, 2009.

Fouladi M, Gajjar A. Prevention of hearing loss in children receiving Cisplatin chemotherapy. J Clin Oncol 27(2): 318-9, 2009.

Fouladi M, Gururangan S, Moghrabi A, Phillips P, Gronewold L, Wallace D, Sanford RA, Gajjar A, Kun LE, Heideman R. Carboplatin-based primary chemotherapy for infants and young children with CNS tumors. Cancer 2009 (in press).

Uziel T, Karginov F, Xie S, Parker J, Wang YD, Gajjar A, He L, Gilbertson RJ, Hannon G, Roussel M. The mir-17-92 cluster collaborates with the Sonic Hedgehog pathway in medulloblastoma. Proc Natl Aca Sci www.pnas.org_cgi_doi_10.1073_pnas.0809579106. PMCID: PMC2636735

Armstrong GT, Whitton JS, Gajjar A, Kun LE, Chow EJ, Stovall M, Leisenring W, Robison LE, Sklar C. Abnormal Timing of Menarche in Survivors of Central Nervous System Tumors: The Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. Cancer 2009 (in press). NIHMSID: NIHMS113297

Broniscer A, Baker SJ, Stewart CF, Merchant TE, Laningham FH, Schaiquevich P, Kocak M, Morris B, Endersby R, Ellison DW, Gajjar A. Phase I and Pharmacokinetic studies of Erlotinib administered concurrently with radiotherapy for children, adolescents and young adults with high-grade glioma. Clin Cancer Res 15(2):701-7, 2009. PMCID: PMC2629527

Morris EB, Shelso J, Smeltzer MP, Thomas NA, Karimova EJ, Li CS, Merchant TE, Gajjar A, Kaste SC. The use of bone mineral density in a cohort of brain tumor patients. Pediatri Radiol 38: 1285-92, 2008. NIHMSID: NIHMS98774

Sanders RP, Onar A, Boyett JM, Broniscer A, Morris EB, Qaddoumi I, Armstrong GT, Boop FA, Sanford RA, Kun LE, Merchant TE, Gajjar A. M1 Medulloblastoma: High Risk at any Age. J Neurooncol 90(3): 351-5, 2008. PMCID: PMC2597631

Gottardo NG, Gajjar A. Chemotherapy for malignant brain tumors of childhood. J Child Neurol 10:1149-59, 2008.

Fouladi M, Chintagumpala M, Ashley D, Kellie S, Gururangan S, Hassall T, Stewart CF, Gronewold L, Wallace D, Broniscer A, Hale A, Kasow K, Merchant TE, Morris B, Krasin M, Kun LE, Boyett JM, Gajjar A. Amifostine Protects Against Cisplatin-Induced Ototoxicity in Children with Average-Risk Medulloblastoma. J Clin Oncol 26: 3749-3755, 2008. PMCID: PMC2504739

Broniscer A, Laningham FH, Sanders RP, Kun LE, Ellison DE, Gajjar A. Young Children with Diffuse Pontine Glioma Have a Better Outcome. Cancer 113: 566-72, 2008.

Helton KJ, Weeks JK, Phillips NS, Zou P, Kun LE, Khan RB, Gajjar, Fouladi M, Broniscer A, Boop FA, Li CS, Ogg RJ. Diffusion Tensor Imaging of Brainstem Tumors: Axonal Degeneration of Motor and Sensory Tracts. J Neurosurg Pediatrics 1:270-276, 2008.

Hijiya N, Stewart CF, Zhou Y, Rivera GK, Relling MV, Campana D, Pui CH, Gajjar A. Phase II study of topotecan in combination with dexamethasone, asparaginase, and vincristine in pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in first relapse. Cancer 112: 1983-91, 2008.

Gajjar A. High dose chemotherapy for recurrent medulloblastoma – time for a reappraisal. Cancer 112 (8): 1643-45, 2008.

Laughton SA, Merchant TE, Sklar C, Kun LE, Fouladi M, Broniscer A, Morris EB, Sanders R, Krasin MJ, Shelso J, Xiong Z, Wallace D, Gajjar A. Endocrine outcomes for children with embryonal brain tumors following risk-adapted cranio-spinal and conformal site irradiation followed by high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell rescue. J Clin Oncol 26(7): 1112-1119, 2008.

Shih CS, Hale GA, Gronewold L, Tong X, Gilger EA, Srivastava DK, Kun LE, Gajjar A, Fouladi MF. High-Dose Chemotherapy with Autologous Stem Cell Rescue for Children with Recurrent Malignant Brain Tumors. Cancer 112 (6): 1345-53, 2008.

Merchant TE, Kun LE, Krasin MJ, Wallace D, Chintagumpala M, Woo S, Ashley DM, Sexton M, Kellie SJ, Ahern V, Gajjar A. A multi institutional prospective trial of reduced dose craniospinal irradiation (23.4 Gy) followed by conformal posterior fossa (36 Gy) and primary site irradiation (55.8 Gy) and dose- intensive chemotherapy for average-risk medulloblastoma. Int J Radiation Oncology Biol Phys 70(3):782–787, 2008.

Schaiquevich P, Panetta JC, Iacono LC, Freeman BB, Santana VM, Gajjar A, Stewart CF. Population pharmacokinetic analysis of Topotecan in pediatric patients with cancer. Clinical Cancer Research 13(22): 6703-11, 2007.

Broniscer A, Gururangan S, MacDonald TJ, Goldman S Packer RJ, Stewart CF, Wallace D,6 Danks MK, Friedman HS, Poussaint TY, Kun LE, Boyett JM, Gajjar A. Phase I Trial of Single-Dose Temozolomide and Continuous Administration of O6-Benzylguanine in Children with Brain Tumors: a Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium Report. Clinical Cancer Research 13(22) 6712-18, 2007.

Sanders RP, Kocak M, Burger PC, Merchant TE, Gajjar A, Broniscer A. High-grade Astrocytoma in young children. Ped Blood & Cancer Jun 6, 2007. [Epub ahead of print]

Stewart CF, Panetta JC, O’Shaughnessy MA, Throm SL, Fraga CH, Owens T, Liu T, Billups C, Rodriguez-Galindo C, Gajjar A, Furman WL, McGregor LM. UGT1A1 promoter genotype correlates with SN-38 pharmacokinetics but not toxicity in patients receiving protracted irinotecan. J Clin Oncol 25(18):2594-600, 2007.

Morris EB, Gajjar A, Okuma J, Yasu Y, Wallace D, Kun L, Merchant TE, Fouladi M, Broniscer A, Robison L, Hudson MM. Survival and Late Mortality in Long-term Survivors of Pediatric Central Nervous System Tumors. J Clin Oncol 25(12) 1532-1538, 2007.

Palmer S, Reddick WE, Gajjar A. Cognitive Impact of Treatment in Medulloblastoma. J Pediatric Psychology 1-10, 2007.

Broniscer A, Panetta JC, Shaughnessy M, Fraga C, Feng B, Krasin MJ, Gajjar A, Stewart CF. Plasma and cerebrospinal fluid pharmacokinetics of Erlotinib and its active metabolite OSI-420. Clin Cancer Res 13(5): 1511-1515, 2007.

Broniscer A, Baker S, West A, Fraser M, Proko E, Kocak M, Dalton J, Zambetti G, Kun LE, Gajjar A, Gilbertson R, Fuller CE. Clinical and Molecular Characteristics of Malignant Transformation of Low-grade Glioma in Children. J Clin Oncol 25 (6): 682-689, 2007.

Calabrese C, Poppleton H, Kocak M, Hogg TL, Fuller C, Hamner B, Oh E Y, Gaber MW, Finkelstien D, Allen M, Frank A, Bayazitov IT, Zakharenko S, Gajjar A, Davidoff A, Gilberston RJ. A perivascular niche for brain tumor stem cells. Cancer Cell 11: 69-82, 2007.

Last update: June 2009

 

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