Carol Kruse, Ph.D.
Professor & Director,
Brain Tumor Research Program

Dr. Carol Kruse's Publications
ckruse@skcc.org

Phone: (858) 450-5990,ext. 292

Brain Tumor Research Program

The goals of this laboratory are directed toward an understanding of the immunology of the brain that will allow development of alternative therapies for treating patients with primary malignant brain tumors. We use glioma cell culture as a model system, in addition to syngeneic rat and human xenograft glioma models. Current basic research projects involve the isolation and characterization of immunotherapy resistant glioma cell models and the study of T regulatory cell populations to better define ways of overcoming immunoresistance/immunosuppression.

Our translational and clinical research studies have focused on gene- and immuno-therapy approaches. Allogeneic tumor cell lines are being explored as sources of tumor associated antigens, which can be the target of tumor cell or dendritic cell vaccines. In collaboration with UCLA investigators, we will conduct a Phase I clinical trial involving cellular therapy of recurrent gliomas. Patients will be given repeated intratumoral infusions of alloreactive cytotoxic T lymphocytes. As well, we are engineering alloreactive CTL as vector producing cells. The alloreactive CTL will be used to distribute replication competent retroviruses within the brain to reach the infiltrating tumor cells. The retroviral vectors will code for suicide genes; thus, the tumor cells transduced and expressing the suicide gene will die when prodrug is administered. Another project is focused on enhancing delivery of proapoptotic siRNA and ribozymes to gliomas by blood brain barrier disruption and convection enhanced delivery techniques.