Rongze Lu, PhD

Assistant Professor
Primary Thematic Area
Immunology
M_Neurological Surgery
Secondary Thematic Area
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Research Summary
Identify underlying mechanisms of brain tumor immunosuppression and evasion, with the goal to develop novel immunotherapies for brain cancer.

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Our lab focuses on identifying molecular mechanisms mediating immune suppression and evasion in brain tumors, with the goal of developing novel immunotherapeutics for these diseases. My recent research identified that protein phosphatase 2A negatively regulated T cell and macrophage mediated anti-tumor immunity, and further demonstrated that pharmacological inhibition of PP2A synergized with PD-1 blockade in multiple type of resistant tumors including glioblastoma. Based on those findings, a Phase I/II trial (NCT03027388) of PP2A inhibitor in recurrent glioblastoma is ongoing.

Websites
Lu Lab

Publications

Toward a comprehensive view of cancer immune responsiveness: a synopsis from the SITC workshop.

Journal for immunotherapy of cancer

Bedognetti D, Ceccarelli M, Galluzzi L, Lu R, Palucka K, Samayoa J, Spranger S, Warren S, Wong KK, Ziv E, Chowell D, Coussens LM, De Carvalho DD, DeNardo DG, Galon J, Kaufman HL, Kirchhoff T, Lotze MT, Luke JJ, Minn AJ, Politi K, Shultz LD, Simon R, Thórsson V, Weidhaas JB, Ascierto ML, Ascierto PA, Barnes JM, Barsan V, Bommareddy PK, Bot A, Church SE, Ciliberto G, De Maria A, Draganov D, Ho WS, McGee HM, Monette A, Murphy JF, Nisticò P, Park W, Patel M, Quigley M, Radvanyi L, Raftopoulos H, Rudqvist NP, Snyder A, Sweis RF, Valpione S, Zappasodi R, Butterfield LH, Disis ML, Fox BA, Cesano A, Marincola FM