Mission impossible: how can we target “Evi1” leukaemias?
Cancer types:
Leukaemia
Project period:
–
Research institute:
Erasmus MC
Award amount:
£262,881
Location:
Netherlands
Professor Delwel and his team hope to find a new way to target a particularly lethal type of leukaemia, Acute Myeloid Leukaemia, which is currently incurable in most patients.
Why is this research needed?
Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) is a cancer that affects blood cells. It can be caused by a number of different things going wrong in how cells work, which can also affect how treatable the cancer is. Professor Delwel, an expert in blood disorders, is particularly interested in a subset of AML cancers caused by issues in a specific gene, which leads to an incurable form of the disease.
The faulty gene is very difficult to target with drugs, and chemotherapy fails for most patients. Professor Delwel wants to change this, and his research could open up new treatment strategies for leukaemia patients who simply don’t have enough options.
Worldwide Cancer Research funds projects that are novel, challenging and not standard. This grant would not have been supported by other societies, which support more 'safe proposals'. I am really, really grateful to Worldwide Cancer Research.
What is the science behind this project?
AML is sometimes caused by a faulty EVI1 gene. This gene plays a role in decoding and copying DNA, and it doesn’t work correctly in about 10% of adult AML patients. Researchers still don’t completely understand how it causes leukaemia, but they know it’s not working alone – it’s part of a complex ecosystem that allows leukaemia cells to thrive.
It’s this inter-connected “food chain” of proteins that rely on each other to destabilize normal healthy cells and cause cancer. Since it has proven impossible to target the EVI1 gene itself, targeting the proteins it interacts with could be a practical solution.
Professor Delwel has already identified 460 proteins that interact with EVI1, and found a way to out-compete the EVI1 gene’s abilities to recruit other proteins and shut down tumour growth. Having tested this in the lab, they now want to find out exactly which of the 460 proteins are involved in this process. Identifying these proteins will reveal which ones are the most important targets for therapies. Targeting key proteins in the “food chain” could break the process, and prevent leukaemia cells from being produced.
What difference could this project make to patients in the future?
The researchers hope that as the project progresses, they will be able to identify drugs that can target the proteins they identify as potential targets. This could allow combination treatments of new drugs alongside conventional chemotherapy or stem cell transplants that actually work for this, as yet, incurable disease. Thanks to your support, this research could lead to urgently needed new treatments for patients with this aggressive leukaemia.
Donate to support more research like this
By choosing to make a donation today you can help us fund more of these bright ideas for new ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat cancer.
Active USA
Leukaemia
This project is finding out more about a key molecule in the growth of acute myeloid leukaemia to hopefully reveal clues to better, more effective treatments.
Researcher: Dr Bruno Di Stefano
Targeting cancer’s weak spot – a new vulnerability for leukaemia
Active United Kingdom
Leukaemia
Infant leukaemia is very difficult to treat so researchers are hoping to better understand its unique biology to reveal vital better and kinder treatments.
Researcher: Professor Katrin Ottersbach
Identifying new treatments for infant leukaemia
Active Australia
Leukaemia
This project hopes to reveal new, better, immunotherapy treatments for leukaemia by boosting a different cell in our immune system from other treatments.
Researcher: Professor Jamie Rossjohn
Revealing the role of natural killer cells in cancer immunity