Charles Spruck earned his BS in Biology at UCLA and PhD in Molecular Biology at the University of Southern California. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla and was recruited to the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in San Diego as an Assistant Professor in 2003. He joined Sanford Burnham Prebys in 2010.
Education and Training
2003: Post-doc, The Scripps Research Institute
1986: PhD, University of Southern California
1995; BS, University of California at Los Angeles
Prestigious Funding Awards / Major Collaborative Grants
NIH/NCI DoD BCRP CBCRP TRDRP
Honors and Recognition
ACS Scholar
Related Disease
Breast Cancer, Cancer, Lung Cancer, Molecular Biology
Phenomena or Processes
Cancer Biology, Cancer Epigenetics, Cell Biology, Cell Cycle Progression, Cell Signaling, Genomic Instability, Innate Immunity, Metastasis, Posttranslational Modification, Proteolytic Pathways
Research Models
Cultured Cell Lines, Human Cell Lines, Mouse, Mouse Cell Lines
Techniques and Technologies
Cell Biology, Drug Discovery, Gene Knockout (Complete and Conditional), In vivo Modeling
“Despite recent advances in treatment, patients with advanced metastatic cancers have few treatment options. Our lab is focused on developing new effective and non-toxic treatments for these patients.”
Dr. Spruck’s laboratory is focused on developing new, effective, and non-toxic treatments for patients with advanced cancers. The lab focuses on defining the molecular networks that regulate cancer cell division and drive metastasis progression. Recent studies have focused on viral mimicry as a therapeutic approach in cancer, which involves the activation of dormant endogenous retroviruses and retrotransposons in cancer cells to enhance immunogenicity and the effectiveness of immune checkpoint blockade immunotherapy and DNA damaging therapies. The laboratory utilizes various biochemical and molecular approaches, CRISPR gene editing, and animal models of cancer. An emphasis is on studies of breast, lung, prostate, and brain tumors.
Charles Spruck’s Research Report
Developing viral mimicry therapeutic approaches for cancer: Approximately 45% of the human genome is composed of repetitive elements (REs), including endogenous retroviruses and retrotransposons, that are normally transcriptionally silenced in somatic cells. Recent studies suggest that the transcriptional awakening of ERVs/retrotransposons beyond a threshold level of tolerance in cancer cells induces antiviral responses that can enhance the efficacy of certain therapies, including immunotherapy. We recently discovered a novel epigenetic regulatory pathway, FBXO44/SUV39H1, that is essential for ERV/retrotransposon silencing in cancer cells. Preclinical studies showed that FBXO44/SUV39H1 inactivation induces viral mimicry in cancer cells, leading to increased immunogenicity, decreased tumorigenicity, and enhanced the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade therapy. We are currently exploring therapeutic approaches to target this pathway, and others like it, to prevent tumor growth and enhance immunotherapy response. We are also exploring the role of reactivated REs in human diseases.
Targeting metastatic tumors: Metastasis is a major cause of mortality in cancer. Through genomic screens and biochemical studies, we are identifying novel molecular pathways that drive cancer cell motility, invasion, and metastasis. Recently, we identified a novel molecular axis, FBXO7/EYA2-SCF(FBXW7), that promotes cancer cell motility and cancer stem cell self-renewal and suppresses cancer cell immunogenicity. Targeting this axis prevented metastasis progression, reduced the cancer stem cell population, and stimulated anti-tumor immune responses in preclinical mouse breast cancer models.
- Apr 24, 2023
Charles Spruck awarded $1.7M to advance “ancient virus” treatment for prostate cancer
Apr 24, 2023The approach uses ancient viruses, embedded in our genomes, to trick the body into thinking it has an infection. With…
- Jun 30, 2022
Three Sanford Burnham Prebys faculty receive promotions
Jun 30, 2022The promoted faculty, all from the Institute’s NCI-designated Cancer Center, include Ani Deshpande, PhD, Brooke Emerling, PhD and Charles Spruck,…
- Mar 15, 2022
Tricking the body to treat breast cancer
Mar 15, 2022With the help of two new grants from the National Institutes of Health totaling more than $4.4 million, Charles Spruck,…
- Nov 3, 2021
Boosting immunotherapy in aggressive brain cancer
Nov 3, 2021Institute have collaborated the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute to reveal a new approach to enhance the effects of immunotherapy in…
- Feb 11, 2021
Mining “junk DNA” reveals a new way to kill cancer cells
Feb 11, 2021Scientists unearth a previously unknown vulnerability for cancer and a promising drug candidate that leverages the approach Scientists at Sanford…
- Oct 20, 2016
Hearst Foundation’s new fellowship funds innovative research to fight breast cancer
Oct 20, 2016Mark Goldberg, PhD, is working on a potential way to turn cancer stem cells into harmless cells. He and his…
Select Publications
Showing 3 of 3FBXO44 promotes DNA replication-coupled repetitive element silencing in cancer cells.
Shen JZ, Qiu Z, Wu Q, Finlay D, Garcia G, Sun D, Rantala J, Barshop W, Hope JL, Gimple RC, Sangfelt O, Bradley LM, Wohlschlegel J, Rich JN, Spruck C
Cell 2021 Jan 21 ;184(2):352-369.e23A FBXO7/EYA2-SCF(FBXW7) axis promotes AXL-mediated maintenance of mesenchymal and immune evasion phenotypes of cancer cells.
Shen JZ, Qiu Z, Wu Q, Zhang G, Harris R, Sun D, Rantala J, Barshop WD, Zhao L, Lv D, Won KA, Wohlschlegel J, Sangfelt O, Laman H, Rich JN, Spruck C
Mol Cell 2022 Mar 17 ;82(6):1123-1139.e8Transcription Elongation Machinery Is a Druggable Dependency and Potentiates Immunotherapy in Glioblastoma Stem Cells.
Qiu Z, Zhao L, Shen JZ, Liang Z, Wu Q, Yang K, Min L, Gimple RC, Yang Q, Bhargava S, Jin C, Kim C, Hinz D, Dixit D, Bernatchez JA, Prager BC, Zhang G, Dong Z, Lv D, Wang X, Kim LJY, Zhu Z, Jones KA, Zheng Y, Wang X, Siqueira-Neto JL, Chavez L, Fu XD, Spruck C, Rich JN
Cancer Discov 2022 Feb ;12(2):502-521