Fields of Study

Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

Glioblastoma

Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a neurological condition in which immune cell activation contributes to demyelination, death of myelin-forming oligodendrocytes, axonal loss and neuronal demise. We have several programs on MS, including understanding and stopping the factors that contribute to neurodegeneration in the CNS, promoting the repopulation of oligodendrocytes and remyelination so as to foster some degree of recovery, and investigating lifestyle and other factors that contribute to the immune and degenerative processes. Our work is very translational in that we apply drugs to modulate the pathological processes defined by our preclinical studies, and then take these into clinical trials in collaboration with clinicians. To this end, we have translated minocycline, domperidone and hydroxychloroquine into Phase II and III trials in MS. We are also defining whether natural extracts from plants have immunomodulatory and neuroprotective potential, and whether they can be used as adjunctive treatment in MS.

Glioblastoma

Glioblastoma is an incurable brain tumor that is almost uniformly lethal within a short period of time. We have focused our recent attention to brain tumor initiating cells (BTICs) as these evade therapeutic interventions and cause tumor recurrence. To this end, we have studies ongoing on how the microenvironment, constituted by extracellular matrix molecules, modulate the growth of BTICs and whether targeting the extracellular matrix could constitute a novel approach to glioblastoma therapy. We have also focused on mobilizing the compromised immune responses in order to counterattack BTICs and their more differentiated progenies. We have programs that seek to activate microglia and macrophages so that these innate immune cells can regain their normal functions of suppressing tumor growth. To that end, we have recently described niacin (vitamin B3) to re-stimulate microglia and macrophages which lead to the control of glioblastoma growth in mice. We have obtained funding to bring niacin into a Phase I/IIa clinical trial in glioblastoma, in collaboration with clinicians.