Catherine S. Diefenbach

I am a Lymphoma Immunology Focused Translational Researcher.

Catherine S. Diefenbach, M.D.

New York University School of Medicine

I remember when I first learned that in Hodgkin lymphoma, unlike almost any other malignancy, the malignant tumor cells comprise less than 0.1% of the total tumor volume, and the remainder of the tumor bulk are the patient's dendritic cells, macrophages, T cells and B cells. This inspired my desire to understand how lymphoma manipulates the immune system for its own growth and survival, and to address this in a myriad of ways both at the bench and at the beside.

Dr. Diefenbach is an Associate Professor in the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the NYU Perlmutter Cancer Center (PCC) of NYU Langone Health. She serves as the Clinical Director of Lymphoma and the Translational Director of Hematology. Dr. Diefenbach first became interested in tumor immunology in her fellowship, but her primary clinical interest is in lymphoma and lymphoid malignancies. Throughout her career, she has been fascinated by the relationship between the tumor microenvironment and systemic immunity in lymphoid malignancies. Her research focuses on global immune effects of the lymphoma microenvironment, both at the bench and the bedside. On the clinical side, she has developed multiple innovative early-phase, investigator-initiated therapeutic clinical trials and pioneered the introduction of immunotherapy to Hodgkin lymphoma through her development of the first protocol in relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma, combining checkpoint blockade with antibody-drug conjugate targeted therapy, sponsored by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG-ACRIN) and NCI-CTEP.

Dr. Diefenbach's currently funded research project focuses on the relationship of the composition and diversity of the gut microbiome to systemic immunity and clinical outcome in the most common aggressive lymphoma, diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). DLBCL is a significant clinical problem, with only 60% of patients cured; the methods by which lymphoma cells evade host defenses is poorly understood. Growing evidence in solid tumors suggests that gut microbiota play important roles in regulating immunity and that diversity and species of gut bacteria may impact the response to treatment. The proposed study is the first large-scale prospective and longitudinal evaluation of the relationship between the gut microbiota in DLBCL, systemic immunity, and treatment response. This research has the potential to significantly advance lymphoma research by identifying new mechanisms of treatment failure in DLBCL, and it may provide the biologic insights for new personalized therapeutics for patients with relapsed disease.


Grant Listing
Project Title Grant Number Program Director Publication(s)
A prospective evaluation of the gut microbiome as a mediator of lymphoma treatment outcome and systemic immunity
1R01CA269617-01
Kelly Filipski


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Last Updated: 12/20/2022 01:27:29