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Henry Smilowitz

Professor of Radiology
smilowitz@nso1.uchc.edu
860-679-2710

Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Neuroscience Graduate Program
Accepting Lab Rotation Students: Summer '09, Fall '09, Spring '10

Areas of Interest

a. Development of novel brain tumor therapies for experimental advanced imminently lethal malignant gliomas in rats and mice using a combination of radiation therapy (megavoltage photon radiosurgery or boron neutron-capture therapy or microbeam radiation therapy) and immunoprophylaxis or gene-mediated immunoprophylaxis.

b. Use of gold nanoparticles for tumor imaging, vascular imaging and as a radiation enhancer for tumor therapy.

Lab Rotation Projects

Our laboratory is involved in a number of research projects in the fields of cancer, cancer immunotherapy, cancer therapy, tumor and vascular imaging:

1. Experimental Therapeutics of Brain Tumors:
We introduce glioma cells into rat brains and allow the tumors to occupy about 2% of the rat brain (analogous to human Glioblastoma multiforme at the time of diagnosis) before therapy is started. We first treat with a form of radiation therapy followed by a form of experimental immunotherapy that we are developing. A variety of immunological assays are performed in addition to survival studies. A subcutaneous tumor challenge assay is also used to help develop new immunotherapy strategies. We are also developing a similar experimental therapy system for advanced brain tumors in mice.

2. Gold Enhanced Radiation Therapy & Vascular and Tumor Imaging:
We are working collaboratively with a company on Long Island that has developed a novel preparation of gold nano-particles. These relatively non-toxic particles can be injected iv at very high doses and are excreted by the kidney. We are working on several projects to develop novel therapies and diagnostic tests that can be performed with these agents:

Gold Enhanced Radiation Therapy: We have shown that these particles can greatly increase the radiation dose a tumor receives and therefore are useful as a radiation enhancer. We are currently working on a head and neck cancer therapy project using gold nanoparticles.
Gold Enhanced Imaging: We are also working on several imaging projects including the development of a virtual colonoscopy, breast cancer imaging and gold-based angiography.

Publications

Selected Publications

Smilowitz, H.M., Weissenberger, J.,O'Neill, R.,Brown, J., Weis , J. and Laissue, J.A. 2007. Orthotopic Transplantation of v-src Expressing Glioma Cell Lines into Immunocompetent Mice: Establishment of a New Transplantable in vivo Model for Malignant Gliomas. J. Neurosurgery
106: 1-8.

Smilowitz, H.M., T. Graham, M. Ji, G. Tellides, M. Oaks, J.F. Hainfeld, D.N. Slatkin. 2007. The combination of x- ray - mediated radiosurgery and immunoprophylaxis for advanced intracerebral F98 gliomas in rats: efficacy of Treg depletion and uric acid. Centenial meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research April 14-18, 2007, Los Angeles, California.

Hainfeld, J.F., D.N. Slatkin, T. Focella, H.M. Smilowitz. 2006. Gold Nanoparticles as X-Ray Contrast Agents. British Journal of Radiology. 79: 248-253.

Smilowitz, H.M., D.N. Slatkin, N. Lubimova, H. Blattman, E. Brauer-Krisch, A. Bravin, M. Di Michiel, J. Stepanek, G. Le Duc, J.-O. Gebbers, J.A. Laissue. 2006. Synergy of Gene-Mediated Immunoprophylaxis and Microbeam Radiation Therapy (MRT) for Advanced Intracerebral Rat 9L Gliosarcomas. J. Neuro-Oncology 78:135-143. Electronic Publication http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11060-005-9094-9

Hainfeld, J.F., D. N. Slatkin, H.M. Smilowitz. 2004. Gold Nanoparticles Greatly Enhance X-ray Cancer Therapy in Mice. Physics in Medicine and Biology 49: N309.
Note: This paper has been selected for inclusion in Institute of Physics (IOP) Select, Institute of Physics, London, England (http://www.iop.org/Select/)

Smilowitz, H.M., J.A. Coderre, M.M. Nawrocky, A. Pinkerton, W. Tu and D.N. Slatkin. 2002. The Combination of X-Ray-Mediated Radiosurgery and Gene-Mediated Immunoprophylaxis for an Advanced Intracerebral Gliosarcoma in Rats. J. Neuro-Oncology. 57: 9-18.

Miura, M., D.D. Joel, H.M. Smilowitz, M.M. Nawrocky, P.L. Micca, D.A. Hoch, J.A. Coderre and D.N. Slatkin. 2001. Biodistribution of Copper Carboranyltetraphenylporphyrins in Rodents Bearing Human or Isogeneic Neoplasms. J. Neuro-Oncology, 52: 111-117.

Laissue, J.A., H. Blattmann, M. Di Michiel, D.N. Slatkin, N. Lyubimova, R. Guzman, W. Zimmermann, T. Bley, P. Kircher, R. Stettler, R. Fatzer, A. Jaggy, H.M. Smilowitz, E. Brauer, A. Bravin, G. Le Duc, C. Nemoz, M. Renier, W. Thomlinson,J. Stepanek and H.P. Wagner. 2001. The Weaning Piglet Cerebellum: A Surrogate for Tolerance to MRT (Microbeam Radiation Therapy) in Pediatric Neuro-Oncology. In. Penetrating Radiation Systems and Applications III, H. Roehrig, F. P. Doty, R. C. Schirato, E.J. Morton, Editors. Proceedings of SPIE, 4508: 65-73.

View more publications, see Pubmed listing.

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