Januario E. Castro, M.D.
Project Involvement: Project 3 - Immunology
Dr. Castro is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Blood and Marrow Transplantation Division. His main research interest is the study of immune responses against leukemia and lymphoma that can be used for treatment of these clinical conditions. He has found that patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia have a status of immunological anergy that impedes proper antigen presentation and T-cells mediated rejection of the leukemia clone(s). He has also observed that leukemia anergy can be reversed, in vitro, by activation of CLL B-cells via transduction with CD40 ligand (CD154) or by incubation with DNA oligodeoxynucleotides. Currently, Dr. Castro is studying the characteristics of this process in which they break leukemia tolerance and the potential applications in clinical trials.
Dr. Castro completed his Hematology/Oncology fellowship at UCSD, is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and in Hematology and Oncology. He has published multiple peer reviewed papers, abstracts, and invited articles, reviews and book chapters. His research interests are Immunotherapy, gene therapy and mechanism of apoptosis applied to CLL.