Marianela Candolfi, VMD, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr. Candolfi joined the Board of Governors Gene Therapeutics Research Institute in February 2005. She is working in new targeted cytotoxic therapies for brain tumors, as well as in the characterization of several intracranial brain tumor models used to develop and test novel brain cancer therapies.
The standard treatments for cancer, chemotherapy and radiation, kill dividing cells indiscriminately. Thus, side effects caused by killing healthy, dividing cells in the patient are common, and occasionally the dose that is sufficient to kill cancer cells harms the patient. Also, cancer cells can develop resistance to these therapies, leading to cancers that return and are untreatable. Dr Candolfi is developing a novel anticancer therapy, based in targeting a toxic molecule specifically to brain cancer cells. We are developing a gutless, high capacity adenovirus vector that produces high levels of this toxin after its delivery into the tumor mass or the tumor cavity after debulking. This toxin is targeted specifically to glioma cells and causes their death without affecting normal surrounding tissue. Thus, cancer cells will be killed without affecting the normal brain. Also, since the vector used has been manipulated to reduce antiviral immune responses, this therapy is expected to exhibit low to negligible immune-mediated toxicity. The success of this approach will be very important in improving anticancer therapies to increase the survival of brain tumor-bearing patients, which, to date, is 6-12 months after tumor diagnosis.
Dr. Candolfi received her VDM in Argentina at the School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Buenos Aires. After being awarded a predoctoral fellowship from the National Council for Sciences and Technology, she earned her doctorate, which was conducted at the School of Medicine of the Universty of Buenos Aires. She studied the process of cell renewal and cell death in the female pituitary gland, and its regulation by sexual hormones.
