The Kuo Laboratory
Faculty > John S. Kuo
John S. Kuo
Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery, Director of Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program
j.kuo@neurosurg.wisc.edu
Organ System/Disease Focus
Nervous system/ cancer biology
Aligned Research Focus
Cellular and Molecular Biology of Normal Neural and Cancer-derived stem cells
Research Description
We wish to understand tumorigenesis of brain tumor stem cells (BTSC) by molecular comparison with normal neural stem cells. BTSC exhibit stem-like self renewal and multipotency properties, and initiate tumors with high efficiency in a mouse xenograft model; they are the hypothesized source of rapid tumor recurrence in humans. Molecular analysis of known cell signaling/developmental pathways, and a de novo screen for BTSC-specific genes are being pursued for identifying candidate BTSC tumorigenesis genes.
Our long term goals are to develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for benign and malignant brain tumors.
Selected References
Clark PA, Treisman D, Ebben J, Kuo JS "Developmental signaling pathways in brain tumor stem cells" Developmental Dynamics 236 (12): 3297-3308 (2007)
Ghia A, Tomé WA, Thomas S, Cannon G, Khuntia D, Kuo JS, Mehta MP "Distribution of brain metastases in relation to the hippocampus: implications for neurocognitive functional preservation" Int J Rad Onc Bio Phys 68 (4): 971-977 (2007)
Yokota N, Mainprize TG, Taylor MD, Kohata T, Loreto M, Ueda S, Dura W, Grajkowska W, Kuo JS, Rutka JT "Identification of differentially expressed and developmentally regulated genes in medulloblastoma using suppression subtraction hybridization." Oncogene 23: 3444-3453 (2004)
Kuo JS, Chen JCT, Yu C, Giannotta SL, Zelman V, Petrovich Z, MacPherson D, Apuzzo MLJ "Gamma knife radiosurgery of benign cavernous sinus tumors: quantitative analysis of outcomes." Neurosurgery 54 (6): 1385-1394 (2004)
Rutka JT, Kuo JS, Carter M, Ray A, Ueda S, Mainprize TG "Advances in the surgical treatment of pediatric brain tumors." Expert Reviews in Neurotherapeutics 4 (5): 879-893 (2004)
Kuo JS and Rutka JT "Advances in understanding the molecular biology of brain tumors." Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society 35 (1): 1-11 (2004)