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Advances in Cancer Research and Treatment in 2020

Progress in new cancer treatments is accelerating so rapidly that the standard of care for many cancer patients is changing right before our very eyes.

Since 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a remarkable 53 therapies just to treat patients with blood cancers, and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) has helped advance 46 of these treatments.

I have no reason to believe the next few years won’t be as productive and groundbreaking as the last few. With that, here are some of my predictions for 2020:

Interrogation of glutathione biology in relapsed acute myeloid leukemia stem cells

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a devastating blood cancer. Most AML patients will initially respond to standard therapy; however, for many patients the disease recurs resulting in patient death. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop new therapeutic strategies for relapsed AML patients. The objective of our proposal is to understand and target properties specific to relapsed AML cells with the overall goal of improving relapsed AML patient outcomes.

Improving the outcomes of young Black adults diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia

Young Black patients diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have significantly shorter survival compared to White patients. To comprehensively assess genetic, genomic and biologic contributors to the race-associated survival disparity, we propose a complementary approach that addresses major knowledge gaps in our current understanding of AML biology in Black patients, including the overdue characterization of the Black AML genome and subsequent delineation of biologic response to treatment.

BRAF inhibition as an alternative to chemotherapy in the treatment strategy of hairy cell leukemia

Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is very sensitive to chemotherapy, whose toxicity to the bone marrow and the immune system is however concerning. We have established vemurafenib plus rituximab as a very effective chemotherapy-free regimen in relapsed/refractory HCL (NEJM, in press). Here, we will test it in a clinical trial against a chemotherapy-based standard of care represented by cladribine plus rituximab, aiming at lower toxicity and similar efficacy.

Development of peptide-drug conjugates for the treatment of Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukaemia (CMML)

We are aiming to bring a new treatment option to patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) by utilising CCL2-drug conjugates that specifically target and eliminate cancerous cells. Our leading conjugate shows potent and selective efficacy in killing CMML cells. The proposed work will help us understand how this drug works, which patients are most likely to benefit and how it can be combined with current treatments to achieve the greatest patient benefit.

Epigenetic heterogeneity in age-related clonal hematopoiesis and acute myeloid leukemia

Our focus is to unravel how clonal hematopoiesis (CH) progresses to leukemia. We will investigate how epigenetic heterogeneity affects Tet2-mutant hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) during aging. We plan to simultaneously trace HSC clonal identity and clonal history by genetic barcode and single-cell multi-omics and determine their epigenetic configurations adaptive in the aged, inflammatory bone marrow. The long-term goal is to create innovative therapeutics to mitigate CH and prolong health span.

Random Acts of Light Day Serves As an Annual Reminder of Our Goal to Create a World without Blood Cancers

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is out to prove the benefit of everyday kindness, on the third annual National Random Acts of Light Day, set for June 13. In conjunction with LLS’s Light The Night campaign, Random Acts of Light aims to create awareness and educate the public about the critical need to fund research to find cures for blood cancer patients, and ensure they have access to lifesaving treatments.