Disease Focus: Solid Tumors
Genetically-modified neural stem cells for treatment of high-grade glioma
Our proposal details assembly of a multidisciplinary Disease Team whose goal will be to take into the clinic a novel and promising stem cell-based strategy for selectively targeting invasive tumor cells in high-grade glioma. These tumor cells form small foci scattered throughout the brain that are resistant to standard treatments and are the tumor in […]
CD61-driven stemness program in epithelial cancer
Tumors contain a heterogeneous mix of cancer cells with distinct features, including subsets of particularly aggressive stem-like cells. Since a single cancer stem cell can self-renew, divide, and differentiate to reconstitute the heterogeneity of an entire tumor, the ability of one cell to evade therapy or surgical resection could lead to tumor re-growth and disease […]
A Phase I dose escalation and expansion clinical trial of the novel first-in-class Polo-like Kinase 4 (PLK4) inhibitor, CFI-400945 in patients with advanced solid tumors
Cancer is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Many believe that progress in drug development has not been as rapid as one would have predicted based on the significant technological advancements that have led to improved molecular understanding of this disease. There are numerous explanations for the lag in clinical success with new […]
Clinical Investigation of a Humanized Anti-CD47 Antibody in Targeting Cancer Stem Cells in Hematologic Malignancies and Solid Tumors
Most normal tissues are maintained by a small number of stem cells that can both self-renew to maintain stem cell numbers, and also give rise to progenitors that make mature cells. We have shown that normal stem cells can accumulate mutations that cause progenitors to self-renew out of control, forming cancer stem cells (CSC). CSC […]
Clinical Development of an N-cadherin Antibody to Target Cancer Stem Cells
Metastatic disease and the castration resistance remain tremendous challenges in the treatment of prostate cancer. New targeted treatments, such as the ant-testosterone medication enzalutamide, have improved the survival of men with advanced disease, but a majority develops treatment resistance. The field of cancer stem cells hypothesizes that treatment resistance emerges because stem cells are inherently […]
White matter neuroregeneration after chemotherapy: stem cell therapy for “chemobrain”
Chemotherapy for cancer is often life saving, but it also causes a debilitating syndrome of impaired cognition characterized by deficits in attention, concentration, information processing speed, multitasking and memory. As a result, many cancer survivors find themselves unable to return to work or function in their lives as they had before their cancer therapy. These […]
Trop2 dependent and independent mechanisms of self-renewal in human cancer stem cells
Progress from our group and others has led to the identification of normal prostate tissue stem cells and the definition of important signaling pathways that regulate their growth and maintenance. Human cancers utilize these same pathways to promote malignancy and drive tumor progression. Our recent studies have uncovered an important regulatory molecule (Trop2) that is […]
Genetic Re-programming of Stem Cells to Fight Cancer
Science has made great progress in the treatment of certain cancers with targeted and combination therapies, yet prolonged remissions or cures are rare because most cancer therapies only inhibit cell growth and/or reduce such growth but do not stop the cancer. The study investigators propose to develop an Investigational New Drug (IND) and fully enroll […]
Targeting glioma cancer stem cells with receptor-engineered self-renewing memory T cells
While current treatment strategies for high-grade glioma can yield short term benefits, their inability to eradicate the highly tumorigenic cancer stem cell population results in disease recurrence in the vast majority of patients. Stem cells and some cancer cells (the targets of our therapy) share many common characteristics, including the ability to self-renew and grow […]
Recombinant Bispecific Antibody Targeting Cancer Stem Cells for the Therapy of Glioblastoma
Glioblastoma multiforme is the most prevalent and aggressive type of brain tumor, and devastating to any patient unfortunate enough to receive its diagnosis. As the most populous state in the nation, more Californians are diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme than any other state. Over the past 20 years, surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy have been utilized […]