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Marco Davila, MD, PhD

Specialty: Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy
Program: Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy

Call 1-888-MOFFITT
(1-888-663-3488)

Call 1-888-MOFFITT
(1-888-663-3488)


Locations: Moffitt Cancer Center
Overview

Cancer Focus: Leukemia

Dr. Marco Davila is a medical oncologist in the Department of Blood and Marrow Transplantation.  His clinical focus is utilizing cell therapies to treat patients with hematologic malignancies.  He obtained his MD and PhD degrees at the Duke University School of Medicine and trained in medicine and medical oncology at NY Presbyterian Weill-Cornell and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, respectively.  He is a clinical expert with significant experience with gene-engineered T cell therapies that are revolutionizing cancer therapy.  It is Dr. Davila’s goal to translate innovative laboratory development for the benefit of patients at the Moffitt Cancer Center.  Dr. Davila’s research has been acknowledged with grants and/or awards from the American Society of Hematology, Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, American Society of Clinical Oncology, and American Society for Clinical Investigation.  

Education & Training

Board Certification:

  • Medical Oncology
  • Internal Medicine

Fellowship:

  • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center - Medical Oncology

Residency:

  • New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center - Medicine
  • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center - Medical Oncology

Medical School:

  • Duke UniversityMD
Awards
Start Year: 2015 End Year: 2020 Clinical Investigator Award, Sponsor: Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
Start Year: 2015 End Year: 2015 TRiO Achiever, Sponsor: TASSSP
Start Year: 2014 End Year: 2014 Young Physician-Scientist Award, Sponsor: American Society for Clinical Investigation
Start Year: 2012 End Year: 2016 Amos Medical Faculty Scholar, Sponsor: American Society of Hematology
Start Year: 2011 End Year: 2011 TRiO Achiever, Sponsor: Texas Christian University
Start Year: 2010 End Year: 2010 K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Career Development Award, Sponsor: National Cancer Institute
Start Year: 2010 End Year: 2010 Young-Investigator Award, Sponsor: American Society of Clinical Oncology
Start Year: 2009 End Year: 2009 Mortimer J. Lacher Fellow, Sponsor: Lymphoma Research Foundation
Start Year: 2003 End Year: 2003 Bernard Amos Immunology Graduate Student Research Award, Sponsor: Duke University
Participating Trials

If you believe you are eligible for one of these trials or studies, please call
813-745-6100 or toll-free 1-800-679-0775.

Publications

  • Hashmi H, Mirza AS, Darwin A, Logothetis C, Garcia F, Kommalapati A, Mhaskar RS, Bachmeier C, Chavez JC, Shah B, Pinilla-Ibarz J, Khimani F, Lazaryan A, Liu H, Davila ML, Locke FL, Nishihori T, Jain MD. Venous thromboembolism associated with CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy in large B-cell lymphoma. Blood Adv. 2020 Sep.4(17):4086-4090. Pubmedid: 32877523. Pmcid: PMC7479945.
  • Shrestha B, Walton K, Reff J, Sagatys EM, Tu N, Boucher JC, Li G, Ghafoor T, Felices M, Miller J, Pidala J, Blazar BR, Anasetti C, Betts BC, Davila ML. Human CD83-targeted chimeric antigen receptor T cells prevent and treat graft-versus-host disease. J Clin Invest. 2020 Jul.130(9):4652-4662. Pubmedid: 32437331. Pmcid: PMC7456225.
  • Gang M, Marin ND, Wong P, Neal CC, Marsala L, Foster M, Schappe T, Meng W, Tran J, Schaettler M, Davila ML, Gao F, Cashen AF, Bartlett NL, Mehta-Shah N, Kahl B, Kim M, Cooper ML, DiPersio JF, Berrien-Elliott MM, Fehniger TA. CAR-modified memory-like NK cells exhibit potent responses to NK-resistant lymphomas. Blood. 2020 Jul. Pubmedid: 32614951.
  • Faramand R, Jain M, Staedtke V, Kotani H, Bai R, Reid K, Lee SB, Spitler K, Wang X, Cao B, Pinilla J, Lazaryan A, Khimani F, Shah B, Chavez JC, Nishihori T, Mishra A, Mullinax J, Gonzalez R, Hussaini M, Dam M, Brandjes BD, Bachmeier CA, Anasetti C, Locke FL, Davila ML. Tumor Microenvironment Composition and Severe Cytokine Release Syndrome (CRS) Influence Toxicity in Patients with Large B-Cell Lymphoma Treated with Axicabtagene Ciloleucel. Clin Cancer Res. 2020 Jul.26(18):4823-4831. Pubmedid: 32669372. Pmcid: PMC7501265.
  • Dean EA, Mhaskar RS, Lu H, Mousa MS, Krivenko GS, Lazaryan A, Bachmeier CA, Chavez JC, Nishihori T, Davila ML, Khimani F, Liu HD, Pinilla-Ibarz J, Shah BD, Jain MD, Balagurunathan Y, Locke FL. High metabolic tumor volume is associated with decreased efficacy of axicabtagene ciloleucel in large B-cell lymphoma. Blood Adv. 2020 Jul.4(14):3268-3276. Pubmedid: 32702097. Pmcid: PMC7391155.
  • Shrestha B, Zhang Y, Yu B, Li G, Boucher JC, Beatty NJ, Tsai HC, Wang X, Mishra A, Sweet K, Lancet JE, Kelley L, Davila ML. Generation of Antitumor T Cells For Adoptive Cell Therapy With Artificial Antigen Presenting Cells. J Immunother. 2020 Apr.43(3):79-88. Pubmedid: 31834208. Pmcid: PMC7077957.
  • Logue JM, Zucchetti E, Bachmeier CA, Krivenko GS, Larson V, Ninh D, Grillo G, Cao B, Kim J, Chavez JC, Baluch A, Khimani F, Lazaryan A, Nishihori T, Liu HD, Pinilla-Ibarz J, Shah BD, Faramand R, Coghill AE, Davila ML, Dholaria BR, Jain MD, Locke FL. Immune reconstitution and associated infections following axicabtagene ciloleucel in relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma. Haematologica. 2020 Apr. Pubmedid: 32327504.
  • Hashmi H, Bachmeier C, Chavez JC, Song J, Hussaini M, Krivenko G, Nishihori T, Kotani H, Davila ML, Locke FL, Jain MD. Haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis has variable time to onset following CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy. Brit J Haematol. 2019 Oct.187(2):e35-e38. Pubmedid: 31410842.
  • Sim AJ, Jain MD, Figura N, Chavez JC, Shah BD, Khimani F, Lazarayan A, Krivenko G, Davila ML, Liu HD, Falchook AD, Dahiya S, Rapoport AP, Kim SU, Locke FL, Robinson TJ. Radiation Therapy as a Bridging Strategy for CAR T Cell Therapy With Axicabtagene Ciloleucel in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2019 Dec.105(5):1012-1021. Pubmedid: 31175906. Pmcid: PMC6872916.
  • Brandjes BD, Davila ML. Adding chimeric antigen receptor-induced killer cells to the medical oncology shelf. J Clin Invest. 2019 Dec.129(12):5077-5078. Pubmedid: 31638599. Pmcid: PMC6877296.
  • Sallman DA, Brayer J, Sagatys EM, Lonez C, Breman E, Agaugué S, Verma B, Gilham DE, Lehmann FF, Davila ML. NKG2D-based chimeric antigen receptor therapy induced remission in a relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia patient. Haematologica. 2018 Sep;103(9):e424-e426. Pubmedid: 29703727. Pmcid: PMC6119132.
  • Cornetta K, Duffy L, Feldman SA, Mackall CL, Davila ML, Curran KJ, Junghans RP, Tang JY, Kochenderfer JN, O'Cearbhaill R, Archer G, Kiem HP, Shah NN, Delbrook C, Kaplan R, Brentjens RJ, Rivière I, Sadelain M, Rosenberg SA. Screening Clinical Cell Products for Replication Competent Retrovirus: The National Gene Vector Biorepository Experience. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev. 2018 Sep.10:371-378. Pubmedid: 30211249. Pmcid: PMC6134358.
  • Li G, Boucher JC, Kotani H, Park K, Zhang Y, Shrestha B, Wang X, Guan L, Beatty N, Abate-Daga D, Davila ML. 4-1BB enhancement of CAR T function requires NF-κB and TRAFs. JCI Insight. 2018 Sep.3(18). Pubmedid: 30232281. Pmcid: PMC6237232.
  • Christley S, Scarborough W, Salinas E, Rounds WH, Toby IT, Fonner JM, Levin MK, Kim M, Mock SA, Jordan C, Ostmeyer J, Buntzman A, Rubelt F, Davila ML, Monson NL, Scheuermann RH, Cowell LG. VDJServer: A Cloud-Based Analysis Portal and Data Commons for Immune Repertoire Sequences and Rearrangements. Front Immunol. 2018 May;9:976. Pubmedid: 29867956. Pmcid: PMC5953328.
  • Pidala J, Beato F, Kim J, Betts B, Jim H, Sagatys E, Levine JE, Ferrara JL, Ozbek U, Ayala E, Davila M, Fernandez HF, Field T, Kharfan-Dabaja MA, Khaira D, Khimani F, Locke FL, Mishra A, Nieder M, Nishihori T, Perez L, Riches M, Anasetti C. IL-12/IL-23p40 neutralization blocks Th1/Th17 response after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. Haematologica. 2018 Mar;103(3):531-539. Pubmedid: 29242294. Pmcid: PMC5830373.
  • Brentjens R, Davila ML. CAR T cells, immunologic and cellular therapies in hematologic malignancies. Best Pract Res Clin Haematol. 2018 Jun;31(2):115-116. Pubmedid: 29909911.
  • Geyer MB, Manjunath SH, Evans AG, Park JH, Davila ML, Cutler CS, Wang X, Wang Y, Senechal B, Rivière I, Sadelain M, Liesveld JL, Brentjens RJ. Concurrent therapy of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia utilizing CD19-targeted CAR T-cells. Leuk Lymphoma. 2018 Jul;59(7):1717-1721. Pubmedid: 29043880. Pmcid: PMC6037308.
  • Jain MD, Davila ML. Concise Review: Emerging Principles from the Clinical Application of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapies for B Cell Malignancies. Stem Cells. 2018 Jan;36(1):36-44. Pubmedid: 29024301.
  • Park JH, Rivière I, Gonen M, Wang X, Sénéchal B, Curran KJ, Sauter C, Wang Y, Santomasso B, Mead E, Roshal M, Maslak P, Davila M, Brentjens RJ, Sadelain M. Long-Term Follow-up of CD19 CAR Therapy in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. N Engl J Med. 2018 Feb.378(5):449-459. Pubmedid: 29385376. Pmcid: PMC6637939.
  • Johnson MO, Wolf MM, Madden MZ, Andrejeva G, Sugiura A, Contreras DC, Maseda D, Liberti MV, Paz K, Kishton RJ, Johnson ME, de Cubas AA, Wu P, Li G, Zhang Y, Newcomb DC, Wells AD, Restifo NP, Rathmell WK, Locasale JW, Davila ML, Blazar BR, Rathmell JC. Distinct Regulation of Th17 and Th1 Cell Differentiation by Glutaminase-Dependent Metabolism. Cell. 2018 Dec.175(7):1780-1795.e19. Pubmedid: 30392958. Pmcid: PMC6361668.
  • Staedtke V, Bai RY, Kim K, Darvas M, Davila ML, Riggins GJ, Rothman PB, Papadopoulos N, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B, Zhou S. Disruption of a self-amplifying catecholamine loop reduces cytokine release syndrome. Nature. 2018 Dec.564(7735):273-277. Pubmedid: 30542164. Pmcid: PMC6512810.
  • Davila ML. CAR T cells find strength in polyfunction. Blood. 2018 Aug;132(8):769-770. Pubmedid: 30139827.
  • Sholle ET, Davila MA, Kabariti J, Schwartz JZ, Varughese VI, Cole CL, Campion TR. A scalable method for supporting multiple patient cohort discovery projects using i2b2. J Biomed Inform. 2018 Aug.84:179-183. Pubmedid: 30009991.
  • Lonez C, Verma B, Hendlisz A, Aftimos P, Awada A, Van Den Neste E, Catala G, Machiels JH, Piette F, Brayer JB, Sallman DA, Kerre T, Odunsi K, Davila ML, Gilham DE, Lehmann FF. Study protocol for THINK: a multinational open-label phase I study to assess the safety and clinical activity of multiple administrations of NKR-2 in patients with different metastatic tumour types. BMJ Open. 2017 Nov;7(11):e017075. Pubmedid: 29133316. Pmcid: PMC5695348.
  • Betts BC, Pidala J, Kim J, Mishra A, Nishihori T, Perez L, Ochoa-Bayona JL, Khimani F, Walton K, Bookout R, Nieder M, Khaira DK, Davila M, Alsina M, Field T, Ayala E, Locke FL, Riches M, Kharfan-Dabaja M, Fernandez H, Anasetti C. IL-2 promotes early Treg reconstitution after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. Haematologica. 2017 May;102(5):948-957. Pubmedid: 28104702. Pmcid: PMC5477614.
  • Locke FL, Davila ML. Regulatory challenges and considerations for the clinical application of CAR-T cell anti-cancer therapy. Expert Opin Biol Ther. 2017 Jun.17(6):659-661. Pubmedid: 28454503.
  • Sallman DA, Davila ML. Is Disease-Specific Immunotherapy a Potential Reality for MDS?. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk. 2017 Jul;17S:S26-S30. Pubmedid: 28760299.
  • Ghosh A, Smith M, James SE, Davila ML, Velardi E, Argyropoulos KV, Gunset G, Perna F, Kreines FM, Levy ER, Lieberman S, Jay HV, Tuckett AZ, Zakrzewski JL, Tan L, Young LF, Takvorian K, Dudakov JA, Jenq RR, Hanash AM, Motta AC, Murphy GF, Liu C, Schietinger A, Sadelain M, van den Brink MR. Donor CD19 CAR T cells exert potent graft-versus-lymphoma activity with diminished graft-versus-host activity. Nat Med. 2017 Feb;23(2):242-249. Pubmedid: 28067900. Pmcid: PMC5528161.
  • Li G, Park K, Davila ML. Gammaretroviral Production and T Cell Transduction to Genetically Retarget Primary T Cells Against Cancer. Methods Mol Biol. 2017 Dec;1514:111-118. Pubmedid: 27787796.
  • Davila ML, Brentjens RJ. CD19-Targeted CAR T cells as novel cancer immunotherapy for relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Clin Adv Hematol Oncol. 2016 Oct;14(10):802-808. Pubmedid: 27930631. Pmcid: PMC5536094.
  • Abate-Daga D, Davila ML. CAR models: next-generation CAR modifications for enhanced T-cell function. Mol Ther Oncolytics. 2016 May;3:16014. Pubmedid: 27231717. Pmcid: PMC4871190.
  • Davila ML, Sadelain M. Biology and clinical application of CAR T cells for B cell malignancies. Int J Hematol. 2016 Jul;104(1):6-17. Pubmedid: 27262700. Pmcid: PMC5512169.
  • Oluwole OO, Davila ML. At The Bedside: Clinical review of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for B cell malignancies. J Leukoc Biol. 2016 Dec;100(6):1265-1272. Pubmedid: 27354412.
  • Bouhassira DC, Thompson JJ, Davila ML. Using gene therapy to manipulate the immune system in the fight against B-cell leukemias. Expert Opin Biol Ther. 2015 Mar;15(3):403-416. Pubmedid: 25666545. Pmcid: PMC4586131.
  • Davila ML, Papapetrou EP. CARs Move To the Fast Lane. Mol Ther. 2014 Mar.22(3):477-478. Pubmedid: 28141992. Pmcid: PMC3944338.
  • Davila ML, Riviere I, Wang X, Bartido S, Park J, Curran K, Chung SS, Stefanski J, Borquez-Ojeda O, Olszewska M, Qu J, Wasielewska T, He Q, Fink M, Shinglot H, Youssif M, Satter M, Wang Y, Hosey J, Quintanilla H, Halton E, Bernal Y, Bouhassira DC, Arcila ME, Gonen M, Roboz GJ, Maslak P, Douer D, Frattini MG, Giralt S, Sadelain M, Brentjens R. Efficacy and toxicity management of 19-28z CAR T cell therapy in B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Sci Transl Med. 2014 Feb;6(224):224ra25. Pubmedid: 24553386. Pmcid: PMC4684949.
  • Davila ML, Bouhassira DC, Park JH, Curran KJ, Smith EL, Pegram HJ, Brentjens R. Chimeric antigen receptors for the adoptive T cell therapy of hematologic malignancies. Int J Hematol. 2014 Apr;99(4):361-371. Pubmedid: 24311149. Pmcid: PMC4684946.
  • Davila ML, Kloss CC, Gunset G, Sadelain M. CD19 CAR-targeted T cells induce long-term remission and B Cell Aplasia in an immunocompetent mouse model of B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. PLoS One. 2013 Oct;8(4):e61338. Pubmedid: 23585892. Pmcid: PMC3621858.
  • Davila ML, Hofstetter WL. Endoscopic management of Barrett's esophagus with high-grade dysplasia and early-stage esophageal adenocarcinoma. Thorac Surg Clin. 2013 Nov;23(4):479-489. Pubmedid: 24199698.
  • Brentjens RJ, Davila ML, Riviere I, Park J, Wang X, Cowell LG, Bartido S, Stefanski J, Taylor C, Olszewska M, Borquez-Ojeda O, Qu J, Wasielewska T, He Q, Bernal Y, Rijo IV, Hedvat C, Kobos R, Curran K, Steinherz P, Jurcic J, Rosenblat T, Maslak P, Frattini M, Sadelain M. CD19-targeted T cells rapidly induce molecular remissions in adults with chemotherapy-refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Sci Transl Med. 2013 Mar;5(177):177ra38. Pubmedid: 23515080. Pmcid: PMC3742551.
  • Davila ML, Brentjens R. Chimeric antigen receptor therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia: what are the challenges?. Hematol Oncol Clin North Am. 2013 Apr;27(2):341-353. Pubmedid: 23561477. Pmcid: PMC3615434.
  • Davila ML, Brentjens R, Wang X, Rivière I, Sadelain M. How do CARs work?: Early insights from recent clinical studies targeting CD19. Oncoimmunology. 2012 Dec.1(9):1577-1583. Pubmedid: 23264903. Pmcid: PMC3525612.
  • Brentjens RJ, Rivière I, Park JH, Davila ML, Wang X, Stefanski J, Taylor C, Yeh R, Bartido S, Borquez-Ojeda O, Olszewska M, Bernal Y, Pegram H, Przybylowski M, Hollyman D, Usachenko Y, Pirraglia D, Hosey J, Santos E, Halton E, Maslak P, Scheinberg D, Jurcic J, Heaney M, Heller G, Frattini M, Sadelain M. Safety and persistence of adoptively transferred autologous CD19-targeted T cells in patients with relapsed or chemotherapy refractory B-cell leukemias. Blood. 2011 Nov;118(18):4817-4828. Pubmedid: 21849486. Pmcid: PMC3208293.
  • Lieberman AE, Kuraoka M, Davila M, Kelsoe G, Cowell LG. Conserved cryptic recombination signals in Vkappa gene segments are cleaved in small pre-B cells. BMC Immunol. 2009 Jun;10:37. Pubmedid: 19555491. Pmcid: PMC2711918.
  • Davila M, Liu F, Cowell LG, Lieberman AE, Heikamp E, Patel A, Kelsoe G. Multiple, conserved cryptic recombination signals in VH gene segments: detection of cleavage products only in pro B cells. J Exp Med. 2007 Dec;204(13):3195-3208. Pubmedid: 18056287. Pmcid: PMC2150985.
  • Cowell LG, Davila M, Ramsden D, Kelsoe G. Computational tools for understanding sequence variability in recombination signals. Immunol Rev. 2004 Aug;200:57-69. Pubmedid: 15242396.
  • Cowell LG, Davila M, Kepler TB, Kelsoe G. Identification and utilization of arbitrary correlations in models of recombination signal sequences. Genome Biol. 2003 Jun;3(12):RESEARCH0072. Pubmedid: 12537561. Pmcid: PMC151174.
  • Cowell LG, Davila M, Yang K, Kepler TB, Kelsoe G. Prospective estimation of recombination signal efficiency and identification of functional cryptic signals in the genome by statistical modeling. J Exp Med. 2003 Jan.197(2):207-220. Pubmedid: 12538660. Pmcid: PMC2193808.
  • Davila ML, Sauter C, Brentjens R. CD19-Targeted T Cells for Hematologic Malignancies: Clinical Experience to Date. Cancer J. 21(6):470-474. Pubmedid: 26588678. Pmcid: PMC4656120.

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