About

A. Dimitrios Colevas, MD, is a Professor of Medicine (Oncology) at Stanford University, with courtesy appointments in Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery and Radiation Oncology. His research focuses on cancer, particularly head and neck cancer, thyroid cancer, and developmental therapeutics involving investigational new drugs. He is involved in multi-modality treatment approaches and clinical trials for various cancers, including head and neck cancers, medullary thyroid cancer, and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Dr. Colevas has contributed to the development and evaluation of new therapeutic agents and treatment protocols, with an emphasis on investigational drugs and phase trials. His work aims to improve treatment outcomes through innovative clinical research and targeted therapies.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Oncology
• Surgery
• Immunology
• Engineering
• Pathology
• Pharmacology
• Nursing
• Family medicine

Selected publications

• NCCN Guidelines® Insights: Head and Neck Cancers, Version 1.2022

  Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network · 2022 · 522 citations

  • Medicine
  • Oncology
  • Internal medicine

  The NCCN Guidelines for Head and Neck Cancers address tumors arising in the oral cavity (including mucosal lip), pharynx, larynx, and paranasal sinuses. Occult primary cancer, salivary gland cancer, and mucosal melanoma (MM) are also addressed. The specific site of disease, stage, and pathologic findings guide treatment (eg, the appropriate surgical procedure, radiation targets, dose and fractionation of radiation, indications for systemic therapy). The NCCN Head and Neck Cancers Panel meets at least annually to review comments from reviewers within their institutions, examine relevant new data from publications and abstracts, and reevaluate and update their recommendations. These NCCN Guidelines Insights summarize the panel's most recent recommendations regarding management of HPV-positive oropharynx cancer and ongoing research in this area.

  DOI

• Myocarditis Surveillance With High-Sensitivity Troponin I During Cancer Treatment With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

  JACC CardioOncology · 2021 · 116 citations

  • Medicine
  • Internal medicine
  • Engineering
  DOI

• Co-administered antibody improves penetration of antibody–dye conjugate into human cancers with implications for antibody–drug conjugates

  Nature Communications · 2020 · 109 citations

  • Medicine
  • Immunology
  • Pharmacology

  Abstract Poor tissue penetration remains a major challenge for antibody-based therapeutics of solid tumors, but proper dosing can improve the tissue penetration and thus therapeutic efficacy of these biologics. Due to dose-limiting toxicity of the small molecule payload, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are administered at a much lower dose than their parent antibodies, which further reduces tissue penetration. We conducted an early-phase clinical trial (NCT02415881) and previously reported the safety of an antibody-dye conjugate (panitumumab-IRDye800CW) as primary outcome. Here, we report a retrospective exploratory analysis of the trial to evaluate whether co-administration of an unconjugated antibody could improve the intratumoral distribution of the antibody-dye conjugate in patients. By measuring the multiscale distribution of the antibody-dye conjugate, this study demonstrates improved microscopic antibody distribution without increasing uptake (toxicity) in healthy tissue when co-administered with the parent antibody, supporting further clinical investigation of the co-administration dosing strategy to improve the tumor penetration of ADCs.

  DOI

• Predicting Therapeutic Antibody Delivery into Human Head and Neck Cancers

  Clinical Cancer Research · 2020 · 55 citations

  • Medicine
  • Oncology
  • Internal medicine

  PURPOSE: The efficacy of antibody-based therapeutics depends on successful drug delivery into solid tumors; therefore, there is a clinical need to measure intratumoral antibody distribution. This study aims to develop and validate an imaging and computation platform to directly quantify and predict antibody delivery into human head and neck cancers in a clinical study. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Twenty-four patients received systemic infusion of a near-infrared fluorescence-labeled therapeutic antibody followed by surgical tumor resection. A computational platform was developed to quantify the extent of heterogeneity of intratumoral antibody distribution. Both univariate and multivariate regression analyses were used to select the most predictive tumor biological factors for antibody delivery. Quantitative image features from the pretreatment MRI were extracted and correlated with fluorescence imaging of antibody delivery. RESULTS: This study not only confirmed heterogeneous intratumoral antibody distribution in-line with many preclinical reports, but also quantified the extent of interpatient, intertumor, and intratumor heterogeneity of antibody delivery. This study demonstrated the strong predictive value of tumor size for intratumoral antibody accumulation and its significant impact on antibody distribution in both primary tumor and lymph node metastasis. Furthermore, this study established the feasibility of using contrast-enhanced MRI to predict antibody delivery. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a clinically translatable platform to measure antibody delivery into solid tumors and yields valuable insight into clinically relevant antibody tumor penetration, with implications in the selection of patients amenable to antibody therapy and the design of more effective dosing strategies.

  DOI

• Head and Neck Cancers, Version 2.2020, NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology

  Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network · 2020 · 1352 citations

  • Medicine
  • Oncology
  • Internal medicine

  Treatment is complex for patients with head and neck (H&N) cancers with specific site of disease, stage, and pathologic findings guiding treatment decision-making. Treatment planning for H&N cancers involves a multidisciplinary team of experts. This article describes supportive care recommendations in the NCCN Guidelines for Head and Neck Cancers, as well as the rationale supporting a new section on imaging recommendations for patients with H&N cancers. This article also describes updates to treatment recommendations for patients with very advanced H&N cancers and salivary gland tumors, specifically systemic therapy recommendations.

  DOI

Recent grants

• Phase 1 and 2 Molecular and Clinical Pharmacodynamic Trials ETCTN

  NIH · $17.9M · 2014–2027

Frequent coauthors

• Quynh‐Thu Le

  Stanford University

  71 shared

• Maura L. Gillison

  Scripps MD Anderson Cancer Center

  62 shared

• Marshall R. Posner

  61 shared

• Robert L. Ferris

  60 shared

• John A. Ridge

  Fox Chase Cancer Center

  54 shared

• Robert I. Haddad

  Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

  51 shared

• Weining Zhen

  University of Nebraska Medical Center

  50 shared

• Kevin J. Harrington

  Royal Marsden Hospital

  49 shared

Education

• M.D.

  Stanford University

Similar researchers at Stanford University

• Yi Cuih-287
• Zhenan Baoh-224
• Karl Deisserothh-218
• Michael Snyderh-215
• Roger Blandfordh-205