Dr. Charles Chu is a highly experienced and internationally recognized researcher in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and related lymphoid malignancies. His doctoral research in Genetics at the University of California, Berkeley concerned bacterial genes involved in DNA recombination in Eschericia...
Dr. Charles Chu is a highly experienced and internationally recognized researcher in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and related lymphoid malignancies. His doctoral research in Genetics at the University of California, Berkeley concerned bacterial genes involved in DNA recombination in Eschericia coli. Subsequently, Dr. Chu received postdoctoral training in immunology at the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease in the laboratory of Dr. William E. Paul, where he studied immunoglobulin class switching and interleukin-four induced genes. After joining the faculty at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Dr. Chu became interested in CLL. In 2016 he was appointed to the faculty of the Wilmot Cancer Institute at the University of Rochester Medical Center as a Research Associate Professor of Medicine.
Faculty Appointments
Research Associate Professor
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Department of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology (SMD)
Credentials
Post-doctoral Training & Residency
Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Immunology with Dr. William E. Paul at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 1988 - 1996
Education
PhD | University of California -- Berkeley.Genetics.1988
BA | University of Chicago.Biology.1981
Research
My laboratory research is primarily focused on chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common adult leukemia in the Western world, with an estimated 20,110 new cases and 4,660 deaths for the year 2017 in the United States of America alone.
CLL is derived from a B lymphocyte, a cell that ...
My laboratory research is primarily focused on chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common adult leukemia in the Western world, with an estimated 20,110 new cases and 4,660 deaths for the year 2017 in the United States of America alone.
CLL is derived from a B lymphocyte, a cell that normally produces antibodies that fight infections in the body. Individual B cells generally do not live long and typically make up a small fraction of white blood cells. However, in CLL, a single B cell abnormally begins to grow uncontrollably, resulting in a population of identical B cells, or a clonal expansion. This CLL clone grows and expands until it eventually makes up the majority of white blood cells. Because CLL is clonal, all the leukemic cells make the same antibody molecule.
Research by my lab and others have demonstrated that the characteristics of the unique antibody molecule found in individual CLL patients is key to understanding this disease. Furthermore, interfering with the signaling pathway downstream of this antibody in CLL cells leads to their elimination. While drugs that interfere with this pathway have provided some outstanding clinical responses in CLL, they have not proven to be curative. Therefore, my laboratory is undertaking further translational research into other mechanisms and cell types found in the leukemia microenvironment to aid in the treatment of CLL and other lymphoid malignancies.
Xochelli A, Baliakas P, Kavakiotis I, Agathangelidis A, Sutton LA, Minga E, Ntoufa S, Tausch E, Yan XJ, Shanafelt TD, Plevova K, Boudjogra M, Rossi D, Davis Z, Navarro A, Sandberg Y, Vojdeman FJ, Scarfò L, Stavroyianni N, Sudarikov A, Veronese S, Tzenou T, Karan Djurasevic T, Catherwood MA, Kienle D, Chatzouli M, Facco M, Bahlo J, Pott C, Pedersen LB, Mansouri L, Smedby KE, Chu CC, Giudicelli V, Lefranc MP, Panagiotidis P, Juliusson G, Anagnostopoulos A, Vlahavas I, Antic D, Trentin L, Montillo M, Niemann CU, Dohner H, Langerak AW, Pospisilova S, Hallek M, Campo E, Chiorazzi N, Maglaveras N, Oscier D, Gaidano G, Jelinek DF, Stilgenbauer S, Chouvarda I, Darzentas N, Belessi C, Davi F, Hadzidimitriou A, Rosenquist R, Ghia P, Stamatopoulos K
Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.. 2017 September 123 (17):5292-5301. Epub 05/23/2017.
Baliakas P, Hadzidimitriou A, Sutton LA, Minga E, Agathangelidis A, Nichelatti M, Tsanousa A, Scarfò L, Davis Z, Yan XJ, Shanafelt T, Plevova K, Sandberg Y, Vojdeman FJ, Boudjogra M, Tzenou T, Chatzouli M, Chu CC, Veronese S, Gardiner A, Mansouri L, Smedby KE, Pedersen LB, van Lom K, Giudicelli V, Francova HS, Nguyen-Khac F, Panagiotidis P, Juliusson G, Angelis L, Anagnostopoulos A, Lefranc MP, Facco M, Trentin L, Catherwood M, Montillo M, Geisler CH, Langerak AW, Pospisilova S, Chiorazzi N, Oscier D, Jelinek DF, Darzentas N, Belessi C, Davi F, Rosenquist R, Ghia P, Stamatopoulos K
The Lancet. Haematology.. 2014 November 1 (2):e74-84. Epub 11/03/2014.
Hwang KK, Trama AM, Kozink DM, Chen X, Wiehe K, Cooper AJ, Xia SM, Wang M, Marshall DJ, Whitesides J, Alam M, Tomaras GD, Allen SL, Rai KR, McKeating J, Catera R, Yan XJ, Chu CC, Kelsoe G, Liao HX, Chiorazzi N, Haynes BF
Cesano A, Perbellini O, Evensen E, Chu CC, Cioffi F, Ptacek J, Damle RN, Chignola R, Cordeiro J, Yan XJ, Hawtin RE, Nichele I, Ware JR, Cavallini C, Lovato O, Zanotti R, Rai KR, Chiorazzi N, Pizzolo G, Scupoli MT
Haematologica.. 2013 April 98 (4):626-34. Epub 11/09/2012.
Patten PE, Chu CC, Albesiano E, Damle RN, Yan XJ, Kim D, Zhang L, Magli AR, Barrientos J, Kolitz JE, Allen SL, Rai KR, Roa S, Mongini PK, MacCarthy T, Scharff MD, Chiorazzi N
Blood.. 2012 December 6120 (24):4802-11. Epub 10/15/2012.
Agathangelidis A, Darzentas N, Hadzidimitriou A, Brochet X, Murray F, Yan XJ, Davis Z, van Gastel-Mol EJ, Tresoldi C, Chu CC, Cahill N, Giudicelli V, Tichy B, Pedersen LB, Foroni L, Bonello L, Janus A, Smedby K, Anagnostopoulos A, Merle-Beral H, Laoutaris N, Juliusson G, di Celle PF, Pospisilova S, Jurlander J, Geisler C, Tsaftaris A, Lefranc MP, Langerak AW, Oscier DG, Chiorazzi N, Belessi C, Davi F, Rosenquist R, Ghia P, Stamatopoulos K
Blood.. 2012 May 10119 (19):4467-75. Epub 03/13/2012.
Ghiotto F, Marcatili P, Tenca C, Calevo MG, Yan XJ, Albesiano E, Bagnara D, Colombo M, Cutrona G, Chu CC, Morabito F, Bruno S, Ferrarini M, Tramontano A, Fais F, Chiorazzi N
Seiler T, Woelfle M, Yancopoulos S, Catera R, Li W, Hatzi K, Moreno C, Torres M, Paul S, Dohner H, Stilgenbauer S, Kaufman MS, Kolitz JE, Allen SL, Rai KR, Chu CC, Chiorazzi N
Blood.. 2009 October 22114 (17):3615-24. Epub 08/18/2009.
Clark AJ, Sandler SJ, Willis DK, Chu CC, Blanar MA, Lovett ST
Cold Spring Harbor symposia on quantitative biology.. 1984 49 :453-62. Epub 1900 01 01.
Books
15th International Congress of Immunology
(2014)
Chapter: Detection of de novo IGHV mutations by ultra-deep sequencing from in vitro activated B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells: Evidence for activation-induced deaminase function
