Interrogation of Requisite Niche Factors for Leukemia Cell Survival at Single-Cell Resolution
Abstract
Cancer is typically a disease of uncontrolled cell growth in the body. However, for nearly a century, cancer researchers have been stifled in their attempts to cure various cancers by being unable to consistently grow cancer cells outside of the body to find weaknesses within cancer cells. The fact that cancer cells with the same set of gene mutations grow very well in the body, but not when taken out of the body indicates that inside the body there are signals provided to the cancer cells that keep them alive and growing unchecked. The goal of this proposed project is to find all of the possible signals that are provided to cancer cells in the body. This information can then be used for two important purposes: The first is that knowing these signals cancer cells receive in the body will allow researchers to duplicate these signals and more efficiently grow cancer cells outside of the body so that weaknesses of cancer cells can be found more effectively. The second is that knowing what signals cancer cells need to survive in the body opens up an entirely new way of treating cancers: by blocking these signals and causing the cancer cells to die. The principal investigator of this proposed project is Dr. Hojun Li, a pediatric oncologist who specializes in performing bone marrow transplants for children with high-risk leukemias. In addition to treating kids with poor prognosis leukemias, Dr. Li also recently started his own research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. His ultimate career goals are to continue taking care of kids with leukemia, and also run a large research laboratory that discovers new, improved treatments for leukemia that not only work better, but also do less harm to the rest of the body than what is caused by current chemotherapy treatments. This Career Development Award will be incredibly important in giving Dr. Li the resources he needs to pursue game-changing scientific research in the field of blood cancers, and the momentum he needs to ultimately produce life-altering treatments to cure cancer in patients. As part of this Career Development Award, Dr. Li will also be mentored by a number of world famous scientists at a world-class institution that has produced eight National Medal of Science winners and five Nobel Prize winners. If Dr. Li is successful in performing the research he has proposed in his application, he will be widely recognized for opening an entire new pathway of cancer research, and will be well on his way to helping lead efforts in the field to develop transformative cures for a variety of different cancers. The ultimate application of the proposed research will be the development, in the next 5 to 10 years, of a novel treatment, or several treatments, for the deadliest form of leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia. These novel treatments will specifically result in killing of the leukemia cells, while leaving the rest of the body alone. This will hopefully allow more patients to be cured, as only one out of every four patients is cured right now. Just as importantly, these novel treatments will hopefully allow patients with acute myeloid leukemia to have less severe toxicities and a better quality of life while being treated for cancer. More broadly however, the methods of studying cancer that this proposed research will establish, will ultimately be useful to researchers studying all types of cancer, letting them to make faster discoveries about how best to eliminate cancer cells. In particular, given that acute myeloid leukemia makes up 1% of all cancer diagnoses each year, and the tremendous toll that the diagnosis and treatment of acute myeloid leukemia takes on the entire family, it is highly likely that a large fraction of the overall population will be affected by this disease. For active duty Service members, Veterans, and military beneficiaries, there will be great benefit to improving outcomes an
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Dec 05, 2021
- Source ID
- W81XWH2110283
Entities
People
- Hojun Li
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- United States Army