Research Summaries

Department of Neurosurgery
Brain Tumor Research Laboratory
221 Longwood Ave., Rm 121
Boston, MA 02115
Tel: (617) 278-0177
Fax: (617) 232-9029
pblack@partners.org

http://blacklab.bwh.harvard.edu/

Laboratory Staff: 

5 visiting professors, 2 instructors, 5 postdoctoral fellows, 1 Assistant Professor

Research Profile:

The Brain Tumor Laboratory provides a unique environment for basic science researchers, medical students, international research fellows and neurosurgeons to take a multidisciplinary approach to understanding basic biology, and to developing new therapies to treat brain tumors. The current research focuses on the two types of tumors: gliomas and meningiomas. The studies we perform seek to address a broad range of issues including basic questions of tumor behavior and biology, development of targeted treatments for specific types of tumors, and understanding how overall patient health or environmental exposures may contribute to brain tumor growth. By examining all of these questions in parallel, using a wide variety of experimental methods we hope to get a more comprehensive understanding of how brain tumors are initiated and how to control their growth. It is our belief that ultimately, by taking such a broad approach, we will find the necessary clues that are critical to designing better treatments for brain tumors.

Ongoing projects in which students and fellows can be involved include:

1. Development of novel local delivery systems for the treatment of human brain tumors including encapsulation and nanoparticles.
2. The use of stem cells for the dissemination of therapeutic genes to gene products to previously inaccessible infiltrating tumor cells.
3. Investigate on a molecular level the reasons why stem cells migrate to infiltrating tumor cells.
4. The use of magnetic resonance imaging to monitor the response of human gliomas to novel therapeutics.
5. Characterization of novel anti-angiogenic agents.
6. Generate a meningioma animal model to investigate the efficacy of novel therapeutics.

References:

1. Carroll RS. Brown M, Zhang J, DiRenzo J, Font De Mora J, Black PM. Expression of steroid cofactors is associated with progesterone receptor expression in meningiomas. Clinical Cancer Research 2000; 6:3570-3575.
2. Joki T, Heese O, Nikas DC, Bello L, Zhang J, Stine KK, Seyfried NT. Abe T, Chen LB, Carroll RS, Black PM. Expression of Cyclooxygenase-2 in human gliomas and in vitro inhibition by a specific COX-2 inhibitor, NS-398. Cancer Research 2000; 60:4926-4931.
3. Joki T, Machluf M, Atala A, Zhu J, Seyfried NT, Dunn IF, Abe T, Carroll RS, Black PM. Continuous release of endostatin from microencapsulated engineered cells for tumor therapy. Nature Biotechnology 2001; 19(1):35-39.
4. Bello L, Zhang J, Nikas DC, Straseer JF, Villani RM, Cheresh DA, Carroll RS, Black PM. Alpha(v) beta3 and alpha (v) beta 5 integrin expression in meningiomas. Neurosurgery 2001 Nov 47 (5):1185-1195.
5. Joki T, Carroll RS, Dunn IF, Zhang J, Abe T, Black PM. Assessment of Alterations in Gene Expression in Recurrent Malignant Gliomas After Radiotherapy Using Complementary Deoxyribonucleic Acid Microarrays. Neurosurgery 2001; Jan; 48(1):195-201.
6. Bello L, Zhang J, Nikas DC, Strasser JF, Villani RM, Cheresh DA, Carroll RS, Black PM. Alphavbeta 3 and alphavbeta 5 integrin expression in gliomas. Neurosurgery, 2001; 49: 380-390.
7. Bello L, Carrabba G, Giussani C, Lucini V, Cerutti F, Scaglione F, Landrè J, Pluderi M, Tomei G, Villani R, Carroll RS, Bikfalvi A, Black PM. Low dose chemotherapy combined with an anti angiogenic drug reduces human glioma growth in vivo. Cancer Research 2001; 61:7501-7506.
8. Bello L, Valeria Lucini V, Carrabba G, Giussani C, Machluf M, Mauro Pluderi M, Nikas D, Jianping Zhang J, Tomei G, Villani RM, Carroll RS, Bikfalvi A, Peter McL Black PM. Simultaneous inhibition of glioma angiogenesis, cell proliferation and invasion by a natural occurring fragment of human metalloproteinase-2. Cancer Research 2001; 61:8730-8736.
9. Bello L, Giussani C, Carrabba G, Pluderi M, Lucini V, Pannacci M, Tomei G, Villani R, Scaglione F, Carroll RS, Bifalvi A. Suppression of malignant glioma recurrence in a newly developed animal model by endogenous inhibitor. Clinical Cancer Research, 2002; 11:3539-3548.
10. Bello L, Lucini V, Giussani C, Carrabba G, Pluderi M, Scaglione F, Tomei G, Villani R, Bikfalvi A, Black PM, Carroll RS. IS20I, a specific alphavBeta3 integrin inhibitor, reduces glioma growth in vivo. Neurosurgery, 2003; 52:177-186.
11. Nutt CL, Mani DR, Betensky RA, Tamayo P, Cairncross JG, Lass, C, Pohl U, Hartmann C, McLaughlin ME, Batchelor TT, Black PM, Deimling A, Pomeroy SL, Golub TR, Louis. Gene Expression bases classification of malignant gliomas correlates better with survival than histological classification. Cancer Research , 2003; 63: 1602-1607.