Research Vision:

My research interest is in the development of novel therapeutics for gastrointestinal and soft tissue malignancies. Specifically, my lab group is utilizing gene therapy and oncolytic virotherapy approaches to improve cancer treatment regimens.

Research Areas:

• Oncolytic adenovirus-based therapeutics

• In vivo bioimaging

• Clinical outcomes for surgical oncology patients

Research Publications:

1. LaRocca CJ, Salzwedel AO, Sato-Dahlman M, Romanenko MV, Andrade R, Davydova J, Yamamoto M. Interferon Alpha-Expressing Oncolytic Adenovirus for Treatment of Esophageal Adenocarcinoma. Ann Surg Oncol. 2021 Dec;28(13):8556-8564. doi: 10.1245/s10434-021-10382-7. Epub 2021 Jul 29. PMID: 34324109; PMCID: PMC8719535.

2. LaRocca CJ, Warner SG. Oncolytic viruses and checkpoint inhibitors: combination therapy in clinical trials. Clin Transl Med. 2018 Nov 14;7(1):35. doi: 10.1186/s40169-018-0214-5. PMID: 30426287; PMCID: PMC6234197.

3. LaRocca CJ, Davydova J. Oncolytic Virotherapy Increases the Detection of Microscopic Metastatic Disease at Time of Staging Laparoscopy for Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma. EBioMedicine. 2016 May;7:15-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2016.05.019. Epub 2016 May 19. PMID: 27322450; PMCID: PMC4909609.

4. LaRocca CJ, Han J, Gavrikova T, Armstrong L, Oliveira AR, Shanley R, Vickers SM, Yamamoto M, Davydova J. Oncolytic adenovirus expressing interferon alpha in a syngeneic Syrian hamster model for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Surgery. 2015 May;157(5):888-98. doi: 10.1016/j.surg.2015.01.006. Epub 2015 Feb 27. PMID: 25731784; PMCID: PMC4417428.

5. LaRocca CJ, Li A, Lafaro K, Clark K, Loscalzo M, Melstrom LG, Warner SG. The impact of financial toxicity in gastrointestinal cancer patients. Surgery. 2020 Jul;168(1):167-172. doi: 10.1016/j.surg.2020.02.006. Epub 2020 Mar 18. PMID: 32197785.