Prof. Ido Wolf, an ICA funded researcher, specializes at tumors of the gastrointestinal tract and endocrinological malignancies.
His team has discovered a protein that appears to arrest the development of pancreatic cancer. The protein, klotho, could potentially be effective against other aggressive cancers as well.Researchers at the Cancer Research Center at Sheba Medical Center studied the behavior of klotho, a natural hormone secreted by the brain and kidneys that is known to slow down the aging process. When the protein was injected, cancerous growths stopped spreading and began to shrink. The researchers first noticed that healthy pancreatic cells contained klotho, whereas cancerous cells did not. Scientists hope that testing pancreatic cells for klotho may provide an earlier sign of the presence of cancer.Prof. Wolf heads the Oncology Division of Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center.
Prof. Wolf did his B. Med. Sc. and M.D. studies at the Faculty of Health Science, Ben Gurion University of the Negev and specialized in internal medicine and medical oncology at the Sheba Medical Center.
He completed his MA at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, under the supervision of Prof. Rony Seger, Department of Cellular Regulation, Weizmann Institute of Science; and did a postdoctoral fellowship at the Division of Hematology Oncology, Cedar-Sinai Medical Center, UCLA School of Medicine under the supervision of Prof. HP Koeffler. He also serves as a Lt. Col. at the reserve forces of the IDF Medical Corps.