Small Molecule Inhibitor Screen Against the Histone Demethylase JMJD1C to Develop a Targeted Therapy for Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Abstract
Our research will develop new drugs for Acute Myeloid Leukemia. This falls within the Therapy Focus Area of fiscal year 2022 Rare Cancers Research Program. Acute myeloid leukemia is an aggressive cancer from the bone marrow, where blood is made. There are many subtypes of leukemia. One subtype is mixed lineage leukemia (MLL)-rearranged leukemia. In this type, an important gene breaks and is then connected wrongly to other genes. These rearranged genes lead to cancer-causing proteins that drive leukemia. MLL-rearranged leukemia makes up over 70% of infant leukemia and 10% of all leukemia. Patients with MLL-rearranged leukemia have worse survival rates compared to other leukemia subtypes. Current drugs to treat this disease are toxic. Even when current drugs work at the start of treatment, the leukemia comes back more than half of the time. All these problems show the need for better drugs. We want to find new drugs. Our previous research showed that a protein called JMJD1C is required for leukemia. There is more of this protein in MLL-rearranged leukemia compared to other subtypes. Lab mice with leukemia that do not have this protein survive longer. Stopping this protein with new drugs might help human leukemia patients. We are looking at a small unique region of the protein where we think new drugs will work well. We anticipate it will take approximately a decade to develop a drug that works in this way. Our work contributes to rare cancer research by developing a new drug for MLL-rearranged leukemia. In the future, this drug could work on its own or in combination with current drugs. In summary, we focus on blood cancer in general and MLL-rearranged leukemia in particular. We want to discover drugs that treat this disease in new ways.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 04, 2024
- Source ID
- HT94252310695
Entities
People
- Nan Zhu
Organizations
- United States Army