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Don M Benson MD, PhD

Don M Benson MD, PhD
Asst Professor - ClinicalCollege of MedicineDon.Benson@osumc.edu
A445 Starling Loving Hall 320 W 10th Avenue Columbus OH 43210
Phone:614-366-3802Fax: 614-293-7526
  • Innate Immunity

General Research Interest

Natural Killer cell immunotherapy

Research Description

Our laboratory and clinical research programs seek to develop novel treatments for cancer that harness and enhance the immune system’s ability to detect and kill cancer cells.  Natural killer cells, one type of immune cell in the body, are capable of killing cancer cells and much of the research we do focuses on augmenting or recovering the function of these cells to fight cancer.  Our research has been supported by the National Cancer Institute, CLL Global Research Foundation, the American Cancer Society, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, Multiple Myeloma Opportunities for Research and Education, and the Ohio State University / Nationwide Children’s Hospital Collaborative Research Award.

Transinstitutional Work

We collaborate with members of the blood and marrow transplant program as well as cancer researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (Columbus OH), as well as researchers in Marseille, France, Copenhagen, Denmark, Yavne, Israel, and a number of other sites in the United States, including researchers at the University of Tennesee (Knoxville, TN), MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston TX), the Mayo Clinic (Rochester MN), and Karmanos Cancer Center (Detroit MI).  Here at Ohio State, we do research with members of the Pharmacology program, molecular genetics and immunology, and pathology.  We have nearly two dozen open clinical trials for patients with cancer and in the laboratory, we are working on over 5 completely novel, promising cancer therapies for future use in the clinic.

Current Publications

  • Cohen JB, Hall NC, Ruppert AS, Jones JA, Porcu P, Baiocchi R, Christian BA, Penza S, Benson DM Jr, Flynn J, Andritsos LA, Devine SM, Blum KAAssociation of pre-transplantation positron emission tomography/computed tomography and outcome in mantle cell lymphoma.Bone Marrow Transplant in press 4/15/2013
  • He S, Chu J, Wu LC, Mao H, Peng Y, Alvarez-Breckenridge CA, Hughes T, Wei M, Zhang J, Yuan S, Sandhu S, Vasu S, Benson DM Jr, Hofmeister C, He X, Ghoshal K, Devine SM, Caligiuri MA, Yu JMicroRNAs activate natural killer cells through toll-like receptor signaling.Blood in press 4/11/2013
  • Benson DM JrCan NKT cells extinguish smoldering myeloma?Blood 121(3) 418-20 1/17/2013
  • Dunavin NC, Wei L, Elder P, Phillips GS, Benson DM Jr, Hofmeister CC, Penza S, Greenfield C, Rose KS, Rieser G, Merritt L, Ketcham J, Heerema N, Byrd JC, Devine SM, Efebera YAEarly versus delayed autologous stem cell transplant in patients receiving novel therapies for multiple myeloma.Leuk Lymphoma in press 12/31/2012
  • Benson DM Jr, Hofmeister CC, Padmanabhan S, Suvannasankha A, Jagganath S, Abonour R, Bakan C, Andre P, Efebera Y, Tiollier J, Caligiuri MA, Farag SSA phase 1 trial of the anti-KIR antibody IPH2101 in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.Blood 120(22) 4324-33 11/22/2012
  • Godfrey J, Benson DM JrThe role of natural killer cells in immunity against multiple myeloma.Leuk Lymphoma 53(9) 1666-76 9/1/2012
  • Mori S, Crawford BS, Roddy JV, Phillips G, Elder P, Hofmeister CC, Efebera Y, Benson DM JrSerum free light chains in myeloma patients with an intact M protein by immunofixation: potential roles for response assessment and prognosis during induction therapy with novel agents.Hematol Oncol 30(3) 156-62 9/1/2012
  • Benson DM Jr, Byrd JCCS1-directed monoclonal antibody therapy for multiple myeloma.J Clin Oncol 30(16) 2013-5 6/1/2012
  • Jakubowiak AJ, Benson DM, Bensinger W, Siegel DS, Zimmerman TM, Mohrbacher A, Richardson PG, Afar DE, Singhal AK, Anderson KCPhase I trial of anti-CS1 monoclonal antibody elotuzumab in combination with bortezomib in the treatment of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.J Clin Oncol 30(16) 1960-5 6/1/2012
  • Lin L, Benson DM Jr, Deangelis S, Bakan CE, Li PK, Li C, Lin JA small molecule, LLL12 inhibits constitutive STAT3 and IL-6-induced STAT3 signaling and exhibits potent growth suppressive activity in human multiple myeloma cells.Int J Cancer 130(6) 1459-69 3/15/2012
  • Benson DM Jr, Bakan CE, Zhang S, Collins SM, Liang J, Srivastava S, Hofmeister CC, Efebera Y, Andre P, Romagne F, Bléry M, Bonnafous C, Zhang J, Clever D, Caligiuri MA, Farag SSIPH2101, a novel anti-inhibitory KIR antibody, and lenalidomide combine to enhance the natural killer cell versus multiple myeloma effect.Blood 118(24) 6387-91 12/8/2011
  • Hamadani M, Craig M, Phillips GS, Abraham J, Tse W, Cumpston A, Gibson L, Remick SC, Bunner P, Leadmon S, Elder P, Hofmeister C, Penza S, Efebera Y, Andritsos L, Garzon R, Benson DM Jr, Blum W, Devine SMHigher busulfan dose intensity does not improve outcomes of patients undergoing allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplantation following fludarabine, busulfan-based reduced toxicity conditioning.Hematol Oncol 29(4) 202-10 12/1/2011
  • Hofmeister CC, Yang X, Pichiorri F, Chen P, Rozewski DM, Johnson AJ, Lee S, Liu Z, Garr CL, Hade EM, Ji J, Schaaf LJ, Benson DM Jr, Kraut EH, Hicks WJ, Chan KK, Chen CS, Farag SS, Grever MR, Byrd JC, Phelps MAPhase I trial of lenalidomide and CCI-779 in patients with relapsed multiple myeloma: evidence for lenalidomide-CCI-779 interaction via P-glycoprotein.J Clin Oncol 29(25) 3427-34 9/1/2011