Research Summary

Dr. Melike Pekmezci is a pathologist, a doctor who examines samples from the body to detect disease. She specializes in diagnosing tumors and nontumorous abnormalities of the brain, spinal cord and eye.

Pekmezci's research involves using molecular features to classify and grade tumors (growths of abnormal tissue), which helps with predicting how quickly a particular growth may enlarge or spread. She seeks to identify diagnostic and prognostic markers, with the goal of improving management and treatment of conditions related to these tumors.

Pekmezci earned her medical degree from Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine in Ankara, Turkey. She did two-years of postgraduate training in clinical ophthalmology in Gazi University in Ankara, Turkey. She completed a residency in anatomical pathology and fellowships in surgical pathology and neuropathology at UCSF.

Pekmezci is a member of the United States & Canadian Academy of Pathology, American Association of Neuropathologists, Verhoeff-Zimmerman Society, and American Association of Ophthalmic Oncologists and Pathologists. She has published more than 75 peer-reviewed manuscripts on brain and eye diseases, along with numerous case reports, book chapters and reviews.

Education

Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, M.D., 06/2004
Gazi University, Department of Ophthalmology, Resident, 04/2007 (Ophthalmology)
University of California San Francisco, Department of Ophthalmology, Research fellow, 07/2009 (Ophthalmology)
Loyola University Medical Center, Department of Pathology, Resident, 06/2011 (Pathology)
University of California San Francisco, Department of Pathology, Resident, 06/2012 (Pathology)
University of California San Francisco, Department of Pathology, Clinical fellow, 06/2014 (Neuropathology)
University of California San Francisco, Department of Pathology, Clinical Fellow, 06/2015 (Surgical Pathology)
University of California San Francisco, Department of Pathology, Clinical fellow, 06/2016 (Surgical Pathology and Cytopathology)

Selected Publications

  1. Reddy SP, LaHue SC, Goglin S, Chung SA, Poole S, Bove R, Pekmezci M, Tihan T, Gelfand JM. Biopsy-Confirmed Small Vessel Primary CNS Vasculitis: Clinical Features and Impact of Early Intensive Treatment on Remission. Neurol Neuroimmunol Neuroinflamm. 2025 Jul; 12(4):e200397.  View on PubMed
  2. Guney E, Mirchia K, Schmid S, Capper D, Meinhardt J, Cha S, Lee H, Brathwaite C, Altman N, Sloan EA, Sayah A, McGrail K, Caliskan I, Terry M, Perez S, Bollen AW, Tihan T, Pekmezci M, Perry A. CNS angiocentric stromal tumor (CAST), PDGFRA-mutant, a novel entity histologically mimicking meningioangiomatosis and radiologically correlating with giant Virchow-Robin spaces. Acta Neuropathol. 2025 Apr 11; 149(1):33.  View on PubMed
  3. Meer E, Ashraf D, Pekmezci M, Wong NS, Wong SW, Grob S. Significant Periocular Swelling as a Sign of Systemic Amyloidosis. Ophthalmic Plast Reconstr Surg. 2025 Mar 13.  View on PubMed
  4. Lucas CG, Gross AM, Romo CG, Dehner CA, Lazar AJ, Miettinen M, Pekmezci M, Quezado M, Rodriguez FJ, Stemmer-Rachamimov A, Viskochil D, Perry A, Symposium on Atypical Neurofibroma: State of the Science Members
    . Consensus recommendations for an integrated diagnostic approach to peripheral nerve sheath tumors arising in the setting of Neurofibromatosis Type 1. Neuro Oncol. 2025 Mar 07; 27(3):616-624.  View on PubMed
  5. Rodriguez Almaraz E, Guerra GA, Al-Adli NN, Young JS, Dada A, Quintana D, Taylor JW, Oberheim Bush NA, Clarke JL, Butowski NA, de Groot J, Pekmezci M, Perry A, Bollen AW, Scheffler AW, Glidden DV, Phillips JJ, Costello JF, Chang EF, Hervey-Jumper S, Berger MS, Francis SS, Chang SM, Solomon DA. Longitudinal profiling of IDH-mutant astrocytomas reveals acquired RAS-MAPK pathway mutations associated with inferior survival. Neurooncol Adv. 2025 Jan-Dec; 7(1):vdaf024.  View on PubMed
  6. Tasar Kapakli E, Pekmezci M, Katipoglu K, Soylemezoglu F, Gedikoglu G, Tihan T, Kosemehmetoglu K. The diagnostic utility of SOX11 Immunohistochemical expression in malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors and their potential mimickers. Ann Diagn Pathol. 2025 Apr; 75:152447.  View on PubMed
  7. Lucas CG, Al-Adli NN, Young JS, Gupta R, Morshed RA, Wu J, Ravindranathan A, Shai A, Oberheim Bush NA, Taylor JW, de Groot J, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Pekmezci M, Perry A, Bollen AW, Theodosopoulos PV, Aghi MK, Chang EF, Hervey-Jumper SL, Raleigh DR, Molinaro AM, Costello JF, Diaz AA, Clarke JL, Butowski NA, Phillips JJ, Chang SM, Berger MS, Solomon DA. Longitudinal multimodal profiling of IDH-wildtype glioblastoma reveals the molecular evolution and cellular phenotypes underlying prognostically different treatment responses. Neuro Oncol. 2025 Jan 12; 27(1):89-105.  View on PubMed
  8. Kondepudi A, Pekmezci M, Hou X, Scotford K, Jiang C, Rao A, Harake ES, Chowdury A, Al-Holou W, Wang L, Pandey A, Lowenstein PR, Castro MG, Koerner LI, Roetzer-Pejrimovsky T, Widhalm G, Camelo-Piragua S, Movahed-Ezazi M, Orringer DA, Lee H, Freudiger C, Berger M, Hervey-Jumper S, Hollon T. Foundation models for fast, label-free detection of glioma infiltration. Nature. 2025 Jan; 637(8045):439-445.  View on PubMed
  9. Terry M, Nguyen MP, Tang V, Guney E, Bharani KL, Dahiya S, Choutka O, Borys E, Reis G, Blevins L, Aghi MK, Kunwar S, DeGroot J, Raleigh DR, Pekmezci M, Bollen AW, Cha S, Joseph NM, Perry A. High-Grade Progression, Sarcomatous Transformation, and/or Metastasis of Pituitary Neuroendocrine Neoplasms (PitNENs): The UCSF Experience. Endocr Pathol. 2024 Dec; 35(4):338-348.  View on PubMed
  10. Yuen CA, Bao S, Kong XT, Terry M, Himstead A, Zheng M, Pekmezci M. A High-Grade Glioma, Not Elsewhere Classified in an Older Adult with Discordant Genetic and Epigenetic Analyses. Biomedicines. 2024 Sep 08; 12(9).  View on PubMed
  11. Magharious MM, Pekmezci M, Mamlouk MD, Horton JC, Levin MH. Revised Diagnosis From Histiocytic Neoplasm to Optic Chiasm Glioblastoma After Genetic Analysis. J Neuroophthalmol. 2024 Dec 01; 44(4):582-586.  View on PubMed
  12. Craig A, Güney E, Pekmezci M, Bloomer M, Laszik Z, Ohgami RS, Toland A, Vogel H, Forns T, Wang E, Rubenstein J, Wen KW. Utility of PD-1, PD-L1, and IDO-1 Stains in Ocular Extranodal Marginal Zone Lymphoma (MZL) and Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL). Appl Immunohistochem Mol Morphol. 2024 Sep 01; 32(8):395-399.  View on PubMed
  13. Yuen CA, Bao S, Pekmezci M, Mo F, Kong XT. Pembrolizumab in an HIV-infected patient with glioblastoma. Immunotherapy. 2024; 16(12):803-811.  View on PubMed
  14. Yuen CA, Pekmezci M, Bao S, Kong XT. Metastatic glioblastoma to the lungs: a case report and literature review. CNS Oncol. 2024 06 06; 13(1):2351789.  View on PubMed
  15. Pisitpayat P, Mentreddy A, Pekmezci M, Hwang D, Shantha J, Benador-Shen C, Terry M, Pothikamjorn T, Gonzales J. Stromal Keratitis Associated With Cytomegalovirus Anterior Uveitis. Cornea. 2024 Jul 01; 43(7):903-908.  View on PubMed
  16. Liu SJ, Casey-Clyde T, Cho NW, Swinderman J, Pekmezci M, Dougherty MC, Foster K, Chen WC, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Swaney DL, Vasudevan HN, Choudhury A, Pak J, Breshears JD, Lang UE, Eaton CD, Hiam-Galvez KJ, Stevenson E, Chen KH, Lien BV, Wu D, Braunstein SE, Sneed PK, Magill ST, Lim D, McDermott MW, Berger MS, Perry A, Krogan NJ, Hansen MR, Spitzer MH, Gilbert L, Theodosopoulos PV, Raleigh DR. Epigenetic reprogramming shapes the cellular landscape of schwannoma. Nat Commun. 2024 Jan 12; 15(1):476.  View on PubMed
  17. Vasudevan HN, Payne E, Delley CL, John Liu S, Mirchia K, Sale MJ, Lastella S, Nunez MS, Lucas CG, Eaton CD, Casey-Clyde T, Magill ST, Chen WC, Braunstein SE, Perry A, Jacques L, Reddy AT, Pekmezci M, Abate AR, McCormick F, Raleigh DR. Functional interactions between neurofibromatosis tumor suppressors underlie Schwann cell tumor de-differentiation and treatment resistance. Nat Commun. 2024 Jan 12; 15(1):477.  View on PubMed
  18. Hadad S, Gupta R, Oberheim Bush NA, Taylor JW, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Young JS, Wu J, Ravindranathan A, Zhang Y, Warrier G, McCoy L, Shai A, Pekmezci M, Perry A, Bollen AW, Phillips JJ, Braunstein SE, Raleigh DR, Theodosopoulos P, Aghi MK, Chang EF, Hervey-Jumper SL, Costello JF, de Groot J, Butowski NA, Clarke JL, Chang SM, Berger MS, Molinaro AM, Solomon DA. "De novo replication repair deficient glioblastoma, IDH-wildtype" is a distinct glioblastoma subtype in adults that may benefit from immune checkpoint blockade. Acta Neuropathol. 2023 12 11; 147(1):3.  View on PubMed
  19. Williams EA, Ravindranathan A, Gupta R, Stevers NO, Suwala AK, Hong C, Kim S, Yuan JB, Wu J, Barreto J, Lucas CG, Chan E, Pekmezci M, LeBoit PE, Mully T, Perry A, Bollen A, Van Ziffle J, Devine WP, Reddy AT, Gupta N, Basnet KM, Macaulay RJB, Malafronte P, Lee H, Yong WH, Williams KJ, Juratli TA, Mata DA, Huang RSP, Hiemenz MC, Pavlick DC, Frampton GM, Janovitz T, Ross JS, Chang SM, Berger MS, Jacques L, Song JS, Costello JF, Solomon DA. Novel SOX10 indel mutations drive schwannomas through impaired transactivation of myelination gene programs. Neuro Oncol. 2023 12 08; 25(12):2221-2236.  View on PubMed
  20. Kulac I, Yenidogan I, Oflaz Sozmen B, Baygul A, Cha S, Pekmezci M, Tihan T. Pathological perspectives in pilocytic astrocytomas: Extent of resection as the sole critical factor for recurrence-free survival, and the challenge of evaluating conclusions derived from limited data. Free Neuropathol. 2023 Jan; 4.  View on PubMed

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