Scholars@Duke
Richard D Lopez

Richard D Lopez

Associate Professor of Medicine
Medicine, Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapy
richard.lopez@duke.edu
Box 3961 Med Ctr, Durham, NC 27710
Cellular Therapy ABMT, Box 3961, Durham, NC 27710

Selected Publications

Exploring Perspectives on Feasibility, Challenges, and Support Needs for Chlorhexidine Gluconate (CHG) Bathing in the Outpatient Setting for Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Recipients: A Qualitative Study.

Journal Article Transplant Cell Ther · September 19, 2025 BACKGROUND: Chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) bathing is recommended for infection prevention in hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) patients. As more centers transition HCT care to outpatient settings, understanding patients' perceptions of CHG bathing f ... Full text Link to item Cite

Food insecurity prior to hematopoietic stem cell transplant is associated with malnutrition and worse outcomes.

Journal Article Bone Marrow Transplant · June 2025 Food insecurity (FI), defined as the lack of continuous access to adequate food, affects 17-55% of cancer patients. Effects may be exacerbated in hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) patients, who face nutritional challenges due to treatment side effe ... Full text Link to item Cite

A retrospective study on beta-blocker use and outcomes in hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients.

Journal Article PeerJ · 2025 Recent studies have linked beta-blocker (BB) use in critical care settings with improved survival outcomes, potentially due to beta-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) blockade and associated anti-inflammatory effects. Given the immune system's role in the developm ... Full text Link to item Cite

Exploring facilitators and barriers to daily chlorhexidine gluconate bathing in adult patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Journal Article Support Care Cancer · November 28, 2024 UNLABELLED: Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is a promising treatment for hematologic malignancies, but intensive conditioning leads to immunosuppression and susceptibility to healthcare-associated infections (HAI). Despite standard prevention meas ... Full text Link to item Cite

Financial Toxicity and Quality of Life in Patients Undergoing Stem-Cell Transplant Evaluation: A Single-Center Analysis.

Journal Article JCO Oncol Pract · March 2024 PURPOSE: We investigated the prevalence of financial toxicity in a population undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) evaluation and measured its impact on post-transplant clinical and health-related quality-of-life outcomes. MATERIALS AND METH ... Full text Link to item Cite

A Phase I Trial of SYK Inhibition with Fostamatinib in the Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease.

Journal Article Transplant Cell Ther · March 2023 Despite the exciting advancement of novel therapies, chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) remains the most common cause of non-relapse mortality after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT). Frontline treatment of cGVHD involves syst ... Full text Link to item Cite

Geriatric Assessment Reveals Actionable Impairments in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Candidates Age 18 to 80 Years.

Journal Article Transplant Cell Ther · August 2022 Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) is a potentially curative treatment for both malignant and nonmalignant hematologic diseases; however, reported rates of treatment-related mortality approach 30%. Outcomes are worse in patients who b ... Full text Link to item Cite

Home-Based Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation in the United States.

Journal Article Transplant Cell Ther · April 2022 Patients undergoing allogeneic (allo) and autologous (auto) hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) require extensive hospitalizations or daily clinic visits for the duration of their transplantation. Home HCT, wherein patients live at home and providers ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cognitive impairment in candidates for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Conference Bone Marrow Transplant · January 2022 Hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) is an increasingly common and curative treatment strategy to improve survival among individuals with malignant and nonmalignant diseases, with over one million HCTs having been performed worldwide. Neurocognitive dysfunc ... Full text Link to item Cite

Female Sex Is Associated with Improved Long-Term Survival Following Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation.

Journal Article Transplant Cell Ther · September 2021 Life expectancy for long-term survivors of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT), defined as those living ≥5 years post-transplantation, is significantly lower compared with that of the age-matched general population despite a relat ... Full text Link to item Cite

Decreased Mortality in 1-Year Survivors of Umbilical Cord Blood Transplant vs. Matched Related or Matched Unrelated Donor Transplant in Patients with Hematologic Malignancies.

Journal Article Transplant Cell Ther · August 2021 Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) has the potential to cure hematologic malignancies but is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Although deaths during the first year after transplantation are often attributable to tr ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Chlorhexidine Gluconate Bathing Reduces the Incidence of Bloodstream Infections in Adults Undergoing Inpatient Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation.

Journal Article Transplant Cell Ther · March 2021 Bloodstream infections (BSIs) occur in 20% to 45% of inpatient autologous and allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) patients. Daily bathing with the antiseptic chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) has been shown to reduce the incidence of BSIs in critica ... Full text Link to item Cite

Assessing the Feasibility of a Novel mHealth App in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Patients.

Journal Article Transplant Cell Ther · February 2021 Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) is a curative treatment option for patients with hematologic conditions but presents many complications that must be managed as a complex, chronic condition. Mobile health applications (mHealth apps) may permit ... Full text Link to item Cite

Phase I dose escalation study of naive T-cell depleted donor lymphocyte infusion following allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

Journal Article Bone Marrow Transplant · January 2021 Prophylactic donor lymphocyte infusions (DLI) are used to augment post-transplant immune recovery to reduce both infectious complications and disease recurrence. Preclinical studies implicate the naive T-cell subset as the primary driver of graft-versus-ho ... Full text Link to item Cite

A phase 2 trial of the somatostatin analog pasireotide to prevent GI toxicity and acute GVHD in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2021 BACKGROUND: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) is an often curative intent treatment, however it is associated with significant gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity and treatment related mortality. Graft-versus-host disease is a significant ... Full text Link to item Cite

Clinical and Neuroimaging Correlates of Post-Transplant Delirium.

Journal Article Biol Blood Marrow Transplant · December 2020 Delirium is common among adults undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT), although the clinical and neuroimaging correlates of post-HCT delirium have not been adequately delineated. We therefore examined the frequency of delirium and neuroi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Morphologic Leukemia-Free State in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Is Sufficient for Successful Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant

Conference Blood · November 5, 2020 Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) improves survival in patients with relapsed or high risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Complete remission (CR) is typically a pre-requisite for transplantation, though many do not achieve a formal CR. ... Full text Cite

Pre-transplant hepatic steatosis (fatty liver) is associated with chronic graft-vs-host disease but not mortality.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2020 Allogeneic-HCT (allo-HCT), while potentially curative, can result in significant complications including graft versus host disease (GVHD). Prior studies suggest that metabolic syndrome may be one risk factor for GVHD. We hypothesized that hepatic steatosis ... Full text Link to item Cite

Evaluation of the Oral SYK Inhibitor Fostamatinib in Patients after Allogeneic Transplantation for Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease

Conference Blood · November 13, 2019 Our group previously showed that B cells signal aberrantly through the B cell receptor (BCR) in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HCT) patients with active chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD). Preclinical mouse studies have demon ... Full text Cite

Pre-Transplant Hepatic Steatosis (fatty liver) Predicts Chronic Graft-Vs-Host Disease but Does Not Affect Mortality

Conference Blood · November 13, 2019 Introduction: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-HCT) remains the only curative treatment for many hematologic conditions. However, significant mortality risk and risk of severe graft-vs-host disease (GvHD) limit its usefulness. So ... Full text Cite

Decreased Mortality after the First Year of Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant in Recipients of Umbilical Cord Blood Vs. Matched Related or Matched Unrelated Donors

Conference Blood · November 13, 2019 Introduction: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HCT) provides a potential cure for a multitude of diseases but can result in high rates of morbidity and mortality. These outcomes have been associated with donor choice, with u ... Full text Cite

Geriatric Assessment Identifies Impairments in Younger Candidates for Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Conference Blood · November 13, 2019 Introduction: Geriatric assessment (GA) is a multidimensional evaluation of patient health and function that may detect impairments not identified as part of routine care, predict treatment-related morbidity and mortality, and inform treatment plan ... Full text Cite

Daily Chlorhexidine Gluconate Bathing Reduces the Rate of Bloodstream Infections in Adults Undergoing Inpatient Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Conference Blood · November 13, 2019 Introduction: While hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has great therapeutic potential, intensive conditioning regimens and variability in time to stem cell engraftment result in a period of pancytopenia and immunosuppression in which p ... Full text Cite

Adult Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation Using Myeloablative Thiotepa, Total Body Irradiation, and Fludarabine Conditioning.

Conference Biol Blood Marrow Transplant · November 2017 Treatment-related mortality (TRM) remains elevated in adult patients undergoing umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT), including an early rise in TRM suggestive of excessive toxicity associated with the standard myeloablative total body irradiation ( ... Full text Link to item Cite

Transplantation of Ex Vivo Expanded Umbilical Cord Blood (NiCord) Decreases Early Infection and Hospitalization.

Journal Article Biol Blood Marrow Transplant · July 2017 Delayed hematopoietic recovery contributes to increased infection risk following umbilical cord blood (UCB) transplantation. In a Phase 1 study, adult recipients of UCB stem cells cultured ex vivo for 3 weeks with nicotinamide (NiCord) had earlier median n ... Full text Link to item Cite

Outcomes of Maintenance Therapy with Bortezomib after Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation for Patients with Multiple Myeloma.

Journal Article Biol Blood Marrow Transplant · February 2017 Comprehensive recommendations for maintenance therapy after autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) for patients with multiple myeloma (MM) have yet to be defined. Bortezomib has been utilized as maintenance therapy after ASCT, but data attesting to th ... Full text Link to item Cite

LKB1 reduces ROS-mediated cell damage via activation of p38.

Journal Article Oncogene · July 2015 Liver kinase B1 (LKB1, also known as serine/threonine kinase 11, STK11) is a tumor suppressor mutated in Peutz-Jeghers syndrome and in a variety of sporadic cancers. Herein, we demonstrate that LKB1 controls the levels of intracellular reactive oxygen spec ... Full text Link to item Cite

Chicago 2014--30 years of γδ T cells.

Journal Article Cell Immunol · July 2015 The international γδ T cell conference takes place every 2 years. After being held in Denver (USA) in 2004, La Jolla (USA) in 2006, Marseille (France) in 2008, Kiel (Germany) in 2010 and Freiburg (Germany) in 2012, the γδ T cell community gathered this tim ... Full text Link to item Cite

Dynamics of Circulating γδ T Cell Activity in an Immunocompetent Mouse Model of High-Grade Glioma.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2015 Human γδ T cells are potent effectors against glioma cell lines in vitro and in human/mouse xenograft models of glioblastoma, however, this effect has not been investigated in an immunocompetent mouse model. In this report, we established GL261 intracrania ... Full text Link to item Cite

Inhibiting inhibitory pathways in human γδ T cells.

Journal Article Blood · August 8, 2013 In this issue of Blood, Gertner-Dardenne et al show that B- and T-lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA) functions as an inhibitory receptor on gd T cells and suggest that disruption of this inhibitory pathway in tumor-reactive gd T cells may result in enhanced anti ... Full text Link to item Cite

An unusual presentation of chronic myelogenous leukemia: a review of isolated central nervous system relapse.

Journal Article J Natl Compr Canc Netw · July 2013 Many effective therapeutic options are available for patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Imatinib, a first-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), is one of several options for patients who present with CML, whether in chronic phase, acce ... Full text Link to item Cite

Peripheral Blood γδ T Cell Response to High-Grade Glioma: Implications for Localized Adoptive Immunotherapy

Conference Blood · November 16, 2012 AbstractAbstract 4114Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) remains impervious to existing therapy. We have recently established that GBM is vulnerable to recognition and lysis by γδ ... Full text Cite

Abstract 530: Circulating γδ T cells are activated and depleted during progression of high-grade gliomas: Implications for γδ T cells therapy of GBM

Journal Article Cancer Research · April 15, 2012 AbstractGlioblastoma multiforme (GBM) remains frustratingly impervious to any existing therapy. We have previously shown that GBM is sensitive to recognition and lysis by ex vivo activated γδ T cells, a mino ... Full text Cite

Alemtuzumab for the prevention and treatment of graft-versus-host disease.

Journal Article Int J Hematol · May 2011 Alemtuzumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody against the CD52 antigen, which is expressed on the surface of various hematopoietic cells such as B and T lymphocytes, and has been widely used for preventing acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in allogen ... Full text Link to item Cite

Preclinical evaluation of ex vivo expanded/activated γδ T cells for immunotherapy of glioblastoma multiforme.

Journal Article J Neurooncol · January 2011 We have previously shown that expanded/activated γδ T cells from healthy donors are cytotoxic to GBM cell lines and primary GBM explants. In this report, we examined the therapeutic effect of intracranial infusion of expanded/activated γδ T cells on human ... Full text Link to item Cite

Alemtuzumab for the prevention and treatment of graft-versus-host disease

Journal Article International Journal of Hematology · 2011 Cite

Adoptively transferred ex vivo expanded gammadelta-T cells mediate in vivo antitumor activity in preclinical mouse models of breast cancer.

Journal Article Breast Cancer Res Treat · July 2010 In contrast to antigen-specific alphabeta-T cells (adaptive immune system), gammadelta-T cells can recognize and lyse malignantly transformed cells almost immediately upon encounter in a manner that does not require the recognition of tumor-specific antige ... Full text Link to item Cite

Characterization and immunotherapeutic potential of gammadelta T-cells in patients with glioblastoma.

Journal Article Neuro Oncol · August 2009 Classical immunotherapeutic approaches to glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) have shown mixed results, and therapies focused on innate lymphocyte activity against GBM have not been rigorously evaluated. We examined peripheral blood lymphocyte phenotype, gammade ... Full text Link to item Cite

Expression of intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 or ICAM-2 is critical in determining sensitivity of pancreatic cancer cells to cytolysis by human gammadelta-T cells: implications in the design of gammadelta-T-cell-based immunotherapies for pancreatic cancer.

Journal Article J Gastroenterol Hepatol · May 2009 BACKGROUND AND AIMS: gammadelta-T cells can recognize and kill malignant cells, particularly those of epithelial origin, through mechanisms which do not require the recognition of tumor-specific antigens (innate immune response). This natural ability of ga ... Full text Link to item Cite

Protective immunosurveillance and therapeutic antitumor activity of gammadelta T cells demonstrated in a mouse model of prostate cancer.

Journal Article J Immunol · May 1, 2008 In contrast to Ag-specific alphabeta T cells, gammadelta T cells can kill malignantly transformed cells in a manner that does not require the recognition of tumor-specific Ags. Although such observations have contributed to the emerging view that gammadelt ... Full text Link to item Cite

189: γδ T cells as immunotherapy for glioblastoma multiforme

Conference Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation · February 2007 Full text Cite

Ex vivo activation and expansion of γδ T cells for immunotherapy of glioblastoma.

Journal Article J Clin Oncol · June 20, 2006 2553 Background: Activated γδ T cells will efficiently kill established glioblastoma (GBM) cell lines in vitro. However, their potential for cell therapy has been limited by their relatively small numbers in the peripheral blood and their sensitivity to ac ... Link to item Cite

Over-expression of fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 in human hepatocellular carcinoma.

Journal Article World J Gastroenterol · September 14, 2005 AIM: To describe the significant over-expression of fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3), which is a signal transduction and cell proliferation related gene in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: Following DNA microarray, Northern blot and quan ... Full text Link to item Cite

Innate anti-breast cancer immunity of apoptosis-resistant human gammadelta-T cells.

Journal Article Breast Cancer Res Treat · September 2005 We previously identified a CD2-initiated signaling pathway which inhibits activation-induced cell death in mitogen-stimulated human gammadelta-T cells permitting the large-scale expansion of these cells. Here we report the innate anti-tumor activity of exp ... Full text Link to item Cite

Ex vivo expanded human Vgamma9Vdelta2+ gammadelta-T cells mediate innate antitumor activity against human prostate cancer cells in vitro.

Journal Article J Urol · May 2005 PURPOSE: We have previously identified a CD2 mediated, interleukin-12 dependent signaling pathway that inhibits activation induced cell death in mitogen stimulated human gammadelta-T cells, permitting the large-scale expansion of these cells. Herein we rep ... Full text Link to item Cite

gammadelta T cells: a new frontier for immunotherapy?

Journal Article Biol Blood Marrow Transplant · March 2005 The use of cytolytic effector cells as therapy for malignant disease has been a central focus of basic and clinical research for nearly 2 decades. Since the original descriptions of in vitro lymphocyte-mediated cytotoxicity against human tumor cells, there ... Full text Link to item Cite

Hypermethylation of growth arrest DNA damage-inducible gene 45 beta promoter in human hepatocellular carcinoma.

Journal Article Am J Pathol · November 2004 Growth arrest DNA damage-inducible gene 45 beta (GADD45beta) has been known to regulate cell growth, apoptotic cell death, and cellular response to DNA damage. Down-regulation of GADD45beta has been verified to be specific in hepatocellular cancer (HCC) an ... Full text Link to item Cite

Down-regulation of growth arrest DNA damage-inducible gene 45beta expression is associated with human hepatocellular carcinoma.

Journal Article Am J Pathol · June 2003 In this study, we describe the growth arrest DNA damage-inducible gene 45beta (GADD45beta), whose expression was significantly down-regulated in the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) microarray study and confirmed by Northern blot analysis. The results sugges ... Full text Link to item Cite

Down-regulation of IL-2 receptor alpha (CD25) characterizes human gammadelta-T cells rendered resistant to apoptosis after CD2 engagement in the presence of IL-12.

Journal Article Cancer Immunol Immunother · January 2002 We recently identified a CD2-mediated, IL-12-dependent signaling pathway that inhibits apoptosis in mitogen-stimulated human gammadelta-T cells. Here we show that gammadelta-T cells which acquire resistance to mitogen-induced apoptosis upregulate IL-12 rec ... Full text Link to item Cite

Human gammadelta-T cells in adoptive immunotherapy of malignant and infectious diseases.

Journal Article Immunol Res · 2002 Human gammadelta-T cells are capable of mediating both innate antitumor and antiviral activity, functions that theoretically might be exploitable in the treatment of a variety of malignant or infectious diseases. Nonetheless, experimental therapies incorpo ... Full text Link to item Cite

CD58/LFA-3 and IL-12 provided by activated monocytes are critical in the in vitro expansion of CD56+ T cells.

Journal Article Cancer Immunol Immunother · February 2001 A small proportion of human CD3+ T lymphocytes are known to co-express CD56, an antigen usually restricted in its expression to natural killer (NK) cells. Whereas the in vivo function of CD3+ CD56+ T cells remains unknown, we and others have previously sho ... Full text Link to item Cite

CD2-mediated IL-12-dependent signals render human gamma delta-T cells resistant to mitogen-induced apoptosis, permitting the large-scale ex vivo expansion of functionally distinct lymphocytes: implications for the development of adoptive immunotherapy strategies.

Journal Article Blood · December 1, 2000 The ability of human gamma delta-T cells to mediate a number of in vitro functions, including innate antitumor and antiviral activity, suggests these cells can be exploited in selected examples of adoptive immunotherapy. To date, however, studies to examin ... Link to item Cite

Adoptive immunotherapy with allogeneic EBV CTL for organ transplant patients with ebv induced lymphoproliferative disease

Journal Article Blood · December 1, 2000 Epstein Barr virus (EBV) induced lymphoproliferative disease (EBV-LPD) following organ transplantation is a complex disorder, ranging from polyclonal lymphoproliferations to monoclonal lymphomas. While decreasing or discontinuing immunosuppression has been ... Cite

Exuberant granulation tissue associated with chronic graft-versus-host disease after transplantation of peripheral blood progenitor cells.

Journal Article J Am Acad Dermatol · November 1999 Angiomatous lesions appearing in chronic graft versus host disease (cGVHD) has been reported previously. We report a case of a patient in whom cutaneous exuberant granulation tissue developed in the course of a cGVHD after allo-peripheral blood progenitor ... Full text Link to item Cite

STAT6-independent production of IL-4 by mast cells.

Journal Article Eur J Immunol · April 1999 The acquisition of an IL-4-producing phenotype in Th2 cells requires IL-4 signaling through the STAT6 pathway during T cell differentiation. In this study we demonstrate that, unlike in naive T cells, IL-4 is not necessary for the development of an IL-4-pr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Engagement of CD2/LFA-2 on activated human peripheral blood T cells results in an IL-12-dependent resistance to Activation-Induced Cell Death (AICD) in γδ T cells

Journal Article FASEB Journal · March 20, 1998 γδ T cells may play an important role in facilitating hematopoietic engraftment across mismatched MHC barriers in both murine and human bone marrow transplant models. Obtaining suitable numbers of these cells to perform the necessary studies or design clin ... Cite

Listeriosis in bone marrow transplant recipient.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · August 1996 Full text Link to item Cite