Theodoros Karantanos, MD, PhD
Blood and Marrow TransplantLeukemiaHematology Oncology
Highlights
Johns Hopkins Affiliations:
- Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Faculty
About Theodoros Karantanos
Primary Academic Title
Assistant Professor of Oncology
Johns Hopkins Physician
Background
Dr. Karantanos graduated from the School of Health Sciences at the University of Athens, Greece and received a Ph.D. in cancer biology. He completed a post-doctoral research fellowship in molecular oncology and cancer therapeutics at MD Anderson Cancer Center/University of Texas. He did his internal medicine residency and Chief residency training at Boston University and his medical oncology fellowship training at Johns Hopkins. As a research fellow at Johns Hopkins he studied malignant hematopoiesis and his work led to the identification of CCRL2, as an inducer of MDS/sAML cells growth and a mediator of azacitidine resistance.
Research Interests
Molecular biology and targeted therapies in high-risk MDS and AML
Lab Website
Research Summary
My research focuses on the dissection of the role of inflammatory signaling and development of novel targeted therapies in high-risk and particularly TP53 mutated MDS/AML. My work incorporates gene editing by CRISPR-Cas9, signal transduction analysis, progenitor assays, drug and CRISPR-Cas9 knockout screens, development of antibody-based therapies and MDS/AML xenograft models.
Our lab studies the molecular biology of inflamamtory signaling regulation in high-risk MDS/AML and investigates novel therapies that can effectively target these pathways using in vitro and in vivo models.
Google Scholar - Publications
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=boJ6-cwAAAAJ
PubMed - Publications
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Karantanos+T&sort=date
Selected Publications
- Naji NS, Pasca S, Chatzilygeroudi T, Toledano-Sanz P, Rimando J, An Y, Hemani Y, Perkins B, Zeng X, Talbot C Jr, Paun B, Abdulmalik A, Lossos C, Boronina TR, Sinanidis I, Tsakiroglou P, Fernandes P, Esteb C, Ambinder AJ, Cole RN, Xian R, Gojo I, Paul S, Levis MJ, DeZern AE, Luznik L, Karanika S, Resar LS, Jones RJ, Bunz F, Gondek L, Arvanitis M, Karantanos T. C-C motif chemokine receptor-like 2 promotes the interferon-γ signaling response in myeloid neoplasms with erythroid differentiation and mutated TP53. Haematologica. 2025 Aug 28. doi: 10.3324/haematol.2025.287740. Online ahead of print.
- Wang T, Quijada D, Ahmedna T, Castillo JR, Naji NS, Peske JD, Karakousis PC, Paul S, Karantanos T, Karanika S. Targeting CCRL2 enhances therapeutic outcomes in a tuberculosis mouse model. Front Immunol. 2025 Mar 20;16:1501329. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1501329. eCollection 2025.
- Karantanos T, Teodorescu P, Arvanitis M, Perkins B, Jain T, DeZern AE, Dalton WB, Christodoulou I, Paun BC, Varadhan R, Esteb C, Rajkhowa T, Bonifant C, Gondek LP, Levis MJ, Yegnasubramanian S, Ghiaur G, Jones RJ. CCRL2 affects the sensitivity of myelodysplastic syndrome and secondary acute myeloid leukemia cells to azacitidine. Haematologica. 2023 Jul 1;108(7):1886-1899. doi: 10.3324/haematol.2022.281444.
- Karantanos T, Teodorescu P, Perkins B, Christodoulou I, Esteb C, Varadhan R, Helmenstine E, Rajkhowa T, Paun BC, Bonifant C, Dalton WB, Gondek LP, Moliterno AR, Levis MJ, Ghiaur G, Jones RJ. The role of the atypical chemokine receptor CCRL2 in myelodysplastic syndrome and secondary acute myeloid leukemia. Sci Adv. 2022 Feb 18;8(7):eabl8952. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abl8952. Epub 2022 Feb 18.
- Sinanidis I, Hochman MJ, Tsai HL, Randall MP, Bonilla B, Varadhan R, Ambinder AJ, Jones RJ, DeZern AE, Karantanos T. Favorable outcomes in MDS and oligoblastic AML-MR after reduced-intensity conditioning allogeneic bone marrow transplantation with post-transplantation cyclophosphamide. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2024 Aug;59(8):1178-1180. doi: 10.1038/s41409-024-02299-y. Epub 2024 May 7.
Patents
C17672 Targeting CCRL2 in MDS and sAML
Honors
- WES/Leukemia Research Foundation Award 9/2025
- HMBMT Pilot Grant, 4/2024
- Leukemia Research Foundation Young Investigator Award, 6/2023
- K08 Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award, NIH/NHLBI, 4/24/23
- Passano Award, Passano Foundation, 3/1/23
- Clinician Scientist Award, Johns Hopkins University, 1/1/23
- MacMillan Pathway to Independence Program, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, 7/1/22
- Research Training Award for Fellows, American Society of Hematology, 7/1/21
- Physician Scientist Johns Hopkins Training Program Grant, 1/1/21
- T32 Training Program in Hematology, Johns Hopkins University, 7/1/19
- Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) Young Investigator Award, 5/1/13
- Hellenic Society of Medical Oncology Young Investigator Award, 7/1/12
Memberships
- American Society of Hematology
- American Society of Clinical Oncology
- American Association for Cancer Research
- American Society of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy
Locations
- The Johns Hopkins Hospital
- 1800 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD 21287
- Get Directions
- phone: 410-955-5000
- fax: 410-955-5001
Expertise
Education
- Fellowship: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Oncology, 2022
- Residency: Boston Medical Center, Internal Medicine, 2017
- Graduate School: National University of Athens School of Medicine, Cancer Biology, PhD, 2016
- Medical Education: National University of Athens School of Medicine, MD, 2011
Board Certifications
- Medical Oncology: American Board of Internal Medicine, 2020
- Internal Medicine: American Board of Internal Medicine, 2017
Insurance
- Aetna
- CareFirst
- Cigna
- First Health
- Geisinger Health Plan
- HealthSmart/Accel
- Johns Hopkins Health Plans
- MultiPlan
- Pennsylvania's Preferred Health Networks (PPHN)
- Point Comfort Underwriters
- Private Healthcare Systems (PHCS)
- Veteran Affairs Community Care Network (Optum-VACCN)