Promising UVA research that could yield new treatments for the deadliest blood cancer has received $13 million from the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute.
UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center Director Thomas P. Loughran Jr., MD, and his collaborators will use the funding to better understand and characterize sphingolipids, molecules found inside acute myeloid leukemia cells. The scientists believe that they may be able to replace one type of sphingolipid, called ceramides, with a substitute that will kill the cancer.
Loughran, Charles Chalfant, PhD, and David Feith, PhD, were awarded the $13 million based on UVA's long track record of advancing our understanding of AML, a rare but particularly dangerous form of blood cancer.
Loughran and his collaborators, including Kevin Janes, PhD, and Bishal Paudel, PhD, previously found that they could measure sphingolipids in patients’ cells to determine whether the patients would be resistant to chemotherapy and should consider alternative treatments or a clinical trial. The new grant funding will let our researchers take their next steps. For example, UVA’s Michael Keng, MD, will lead a multisite study evaluating the potential of nanotechnology to deliver select ceramides to AML cells.
“We’ve made great progress understanding how AML works and how patients respond to treatment differently,” Dr. Loughran said. “This project will build on that, drawing on disciplines ranging from hematology to the engineering of nanotechnology to deliver new therapies directly to cancer cells. We’re thrilled to continue this collaborative work to reduce the impact of this devastating disease.”