Robert McKenna

,

Credentials

MD

Research Summary

Dr. McKenna is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology. As a hematopathologist who has conducted research in the field over four decades, he employs current laboratory techniques to improve clinical capabilities for diagnosing and classifying hematologic diseases including leukemias and lymphomas. The goal of his research is to contribute to advances in diagnostics, classification, and understanding of the pathobiology of these diseases through a variety of methods. Among the methods are traditional cell morphological analysis, immunophenotyping, flow cytometry, and more recently molecular genetics. Advances in diagnosis and classification using these methods can help guide clinicians in choosing the optimal course of treatment for patients.

Recently McKenna has collaborated in research studies ranging from characterization of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemias with aberrant immunophenotypes to cases of Langerhans cell histiocytosis in acute leukemias to post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders involving Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Some patients develop lymphoproliferative disease following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation or organ transplantation. Most of these cases involve EBV infection. McKenna and his colleagues identified patients with EBV-positive mucocutaneous ulcer (MCU), lesions that occur in the skin, oral cavity, or gastrointestinal tract. They suggest that MCU may warrant consideration as a distinct category in the classification of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders.

Publications

• Yohe S, Chenault C, Torlakovic E, Asplund S, McKenna RW. Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis in Acute Leukemias of Ambiguous or Myeloid Lineage in Adult Patients: support for a possible clonal relationship. Mod Pathol; 27: 651-656, 2014.
• Hart M, Thakral B, Yohe S, Balfour HH, Singh C, Spears M, McKenna RW. EBV-Positive Mucocutaneous Ulcer in Organ Transplant Recipients: A Localized Indolent Post-Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder. Am J Surg Pathol. 38: 1522-9, 2014.
• Tasso, David M.; Dunning, Karla K.; McKenna, Robert W.; Pambuccian, Stefan E. Erythroblastosis in the peritoneal fluid of a newborn. Diagnostic Cytopathology; 41(5): 431-433, 2013.
• Takahashi, Takao; Shivapurkar, Narayan M.; Reddy, Jyotsna L.; Shigematsu, Hisayuki; Miyajima, Kuniharu; Suzuki, Makoto; Toyooka, Shinichi; Zöchbauer-Müller, Sabine; Drach, Johannes W.; Parikh, Gunjan; Zheng, Yingye; Feng, Ziding; Kroft, Steven H.; Timmons, Charles F.; McKenna, Robert W.; Gazdar, Adi F.Retraction: DNA methylation profiles of lymphoid and hematopoietic. Malignancies. Clinical Cancer Research 19(1):307,2013.