Clara N Curiel

Clara N Curiel

Director, Cutaneous Oncology Program
Division Chief, Dermatology
Member of the Graduate Faculty
Professor, BIO5 Institute
Professor, Medicine - (Tenure Track)
Primary Department
Department Affiliations
Contact
(520) 626-0307

Research Interest

Clara Curiel-Lewandroski, PhD, is the director of the Pigmented Lesion Clinic and Multidisciplinary Cutaneous Oncology Program, both part of the University of Arizona Cancer Center Skin Cancer Institute. She completed two research fellowships, the first in the Department of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School, and the second at the Ludwig Boltzman Institute and Immunobiology of the Skin at Miinster University in Germany. Dr. Curiel is certified by the American Board of Dermatology.Dr. Curiel-Lewandroski’s research focus is on melanoma chemoprevention, early detection of melanoma, cutaneous T cell lymphomas and skin cancer. She studied the extended use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, particularly aspirin, and their ability to possibly decrease the risk of cutaneous medanoma (CM) development. CM is responsible for more than 77 percent of skin cancer deaths.

Publications

Sznajder, J. I., Ridge, K., Peluffo, G., Curiel, C. N., & Rutschman, D. (1994). Alveolar Na/K ATPase activity increases following mechanical ventilation induced pulmonary edema. Chest, 105(3Suppl), 116s-7.
Li, F. P., Fletcher, J. A., Heinrich, M. C., Garber, J. E., Sallan, S. E., Curiel-Lewandrowski, C., Duensing, A., van de Rijn, M., Schnipper, L. E., & Demetri, G. D. (2005). Familial gastrointestinal stromal tumor syndrome: phenotypic and molecular features in a kindred. Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, 23(12), 2735-43.

Members of a family with hereditary gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) and a germline KIT oncogene mutation were evaluated for other potential syndrome manifestations. A tumor from the proband was analyzed to compare features with sporadic GISTs.

Covington, M. F., Curiel, C. N., Lattimore, L., Avery, R. J., & Kuo, P. H. (2017). FDG-PET/CT for Monitoring Response of Melanoma to the Novel Oncolytic Viral Therapy Talimogene Laherparepvec. Clinical nuclear medicine, 42(2), 114-115.

61-year-old woman with stage IIIa (T3a N1a M0) left lower leg melanoma with lesions suggestive of in-transit metastases 8 months following wide local excision and femoral nodal dissection. FDG-PET/CT demonstrated 5 FDG-avid in-transit nodal metastases in the distal left leg, confirmed on biopsy. Talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) oncolytic immunotherapy consisting of intralesional injections of modified herpes simplex virus-expressing granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor was completed over 6 months. Subsequent FDG-PET/CT demonstrated reduced or resolved FDG activity in the treated in-transit metastases and a new FDG-avid left thigh in-transit metastasis. FDG-PET/CT can monitor response to T-VEC and potentially other novel viral immunotherapies.

Nelson, K. C., Grossman, D., Kim, C. C., Chen, S. C., Curiel-Lewandrowski, C. N., Grichnik, J. M., Kirkwood, J. M., Leachman, S. A., Marghoob, A. A., Swetter, S. M., Venna, S. S., & Ming, M. E. (2018). Management Strategies of Academic Pigmented Lesion Clinic Directors in the United States. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
Curiel-Lewandrowski, C., Curiel-Lewandrowski, C., Speetzen, L. S., Speetzen, L. S., Cranmer, L., Cranmer, L., Warneke, J. A., Warneke, J. A., Loescher, L. J., & Loescher, L. J. (2011). Multiple primary cutaneous melanomas in Li-Fraumeni syndrome. Archives of dermatology, 147(2), 248-50.