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Leukemia & Lymphoma Society provides $46 million for research
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The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society committed $46 million toward research efforts at medical institutions worldwide.
The grants expand the society’s active research portfolio to 254 grants. The society has invested more than $1 billion in cancer research in its nearly 70-year history.
“There is never a good time to get cancer, but it’s a phenomenal time to be fighting it,” Louis J. DeGennaro, PhD, the society’s president and CEO. “[The society] is doing more than any cancer nonprofit to advance the next generation of blood cancer treatments and cures and, in doing so, we are helping patients with other cancers and chronic diseases. Already in 2017, the FDA has approved 13 new blood cancer treatments or new indications, and LLS has supported virtually all of them. Our long-term vision and investment is paying off in our impact for patients.”
The society funded three initiatives as part of its Specialized Center of Research grants.
Recipients were Stephen Nimer, MD, of University of Miami, whose team is studying how to target epigenetic abnormalities in acute myeloid leukemia, myeloproliferative neoplasms and myelodysplastic syndromes; Robert Orlowski, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, whose team are developing immunotherapeutic approaches to prevent precursor diseases from progressing to myeloma and targeted approaches to treat patients with high-risk subtypes of myeloma; and Andreas Strasser, PhD, MSc, FAA, of Walter & Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Australia, whose team is testing multiple approaches to boost apoptosis in certain forms of leukemia, as well as lymphoma and myeloma.
The most recent round of grants will support the next generation of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies and other immunotherapy approaches.
Eric Smith, MD, Ph D, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center received a Special Fellow Award to optimize CAR T-cell therapy for patients with multiple myeloma. Shannon Oda, PhD, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center received a Special Fellow Award to fund research intended to enhance T-cell immunotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia by studying ways to overcome the obstacles that make some patients resistant to the treatment. Barbara Savoldo, MD, PhD, of University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center received a translational research program grant to support her team’s efforts to reduce the potentially severe side effects of CAR T-cell therapy, including cytokine release syndrome.
The society provided grants to two researchers whose work is designed to improve outcomes for patients with myeloma. Recipients were Fenghuang Zhan, MD, PhD, of University of Iowa, whose team is studying the role of the CD24 gene, in hopes of finding approaches that may prevent relapse in myeloma; and Fotis Asimakopoulos, MB BChir, PhD, of University of Wisconsin System, whose team is focused on understanding the defenses cancer cells employ to resist myeloma treatment, with the long-term goal of enhancing the ability of immunotherapy-mobilized killer cells to do their job.
The society presented two grants designed to foster novel approaches to treat AML. Recipients were Timothy Ley, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, who is using genomic technology to identify genetic markers that may help identify which patients with AML are more likely to relapse and whether performing stem cell transplant on some patients gives them a chance for a better outcome than high-dose chemotherapy; and Jacqueline Garcia, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who is conducting a clinical trial to test an epigenetic targeting agent that may enhance the activity of a checkpoint inhibitor.
Enrico Tiacci, MD, of University of Perugia in Italy, and Jae Park, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, received grants to fund research of the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib (Zelboraf, Genentech) in combination with other drugs for treatment of hairy cell leukemia. Carl Allen, MD, PhD, of Baylor College of Medicine received a grant that will fund research into the utility of inhibiting the BRAF pathway in children with Langerhans cell histiocytosis.
“As a patients-first organization, [Leukemia & Lymphoma Society] is uniquely positioned to convene academic researchers, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and the government to work together toward the common goal of accelerating treatments and cures for the 1.3 million people in the United States living with a blood cancer,” DeGennaro said. “We are seeing extraordinary progress in blood cancer research but, with one-third of blood cancer patients still not surviving 5 years past their diagnoses, we clearly have more work to do. The research we invest in today could be the next cure, helping make someday today for more cancer patients.”