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Research Interests
Dr. Ball’s research focuses on the development of monoclonal antibody (mAb)-targeted immunotherapy and its translation to the treatment of patients with malignancy. His lab produced mAbs to myeloid-associated antigens expressed on myeloid leukemia cells. These antibodies have been used clinically for the diagnosis and treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).He has conducted multi-center clinical trials using antibody-mediated purging using the AML cells from the marrow of patients with leukemia prior to transplantation, after high dose chemotherapy. He has also developed in vivo therapeutics using an anti-CD15 mAb and a bispecific antibody. This bispecific antibody (251xH22) mediates antibody–directed cellular cytotoxicity(ADCC) of AML cells mediated by normal leukocyte cells including natural killer cells, monocytes and granulocytes. They determined that there are direct signals transduced by binding of the anti-CD33 monoclonal antibody that lead to death of AML cells mediated in part by the protein kinase Syk. This led to an investigator-initiated multi-center Phase I/II clinical trial combining 5-azacytidine (that increases Syk expression) and the anti-CD33 monoclonal antibody Mylotarg. His laboratory has also been working the generation of cytotoxic T cells in vitro in a novel culture system. Based on this pre-clinical work, they developed a clinical trial wherein patients with AML undergoing autologous stem cell transplantation are administered autologous cytotoxic T cells following the transplant with the goal of reducing the relapse rate. Dr. Ball is principal investigator on numerous clinical trials active at UCSD Medical Center ranging from Phase I investigator-initiated to Phase III trials. He has been a recipient of a NCI and NHLBI-sponsored UO1 grant from the NIH. He recently completed a study of a novel treatment of relapse following allogeneic stem cell transplantation. The infusion of a monoclonal antibody directed to the cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) was tested in series of patients with relapse for safety and efficacy. The study demonstrated the safety of this approach and some promising signs of efficacy. Dr. Ball has been the elected Secretary of the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and a member of the steering committee of the BMT Clinical Trials Network.

Education and Training
BS - Biochemistry, University of Maryland - 1968-1972
MD - Case Western Reserve University - 1972-1976
Resident - Hartford Hospital - 1976-1979
Fellow - Hematology & Oncolog, University Hospitals of Cleveland - 1979-1981
Fellow - Hematology & Oncology, Dartmouth- Hitchcock Medical Center - 1982-1983