The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) today announced it has awarded two new grants through its prestigious Marshall A. Lichtman Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) research initiative, bringing the program's total funding to $210.5 million since its inception in 2000.
Both recipients have long-time connections to LLS. They are John C. Byrd, M.D., Associate Director for Translational Research, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center in Columbus, OH, and Brian J. Druker, M.D., Director, Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute, in Portland OR.
The innovative SCOR program funds teams of researchers representing different disciplines and engaged in collaborative efforts to discover new approaches to treat patients with leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. The Byrd and Druker teams will each receive $1.25 million a year for five years, for a total of $6.25 million each.
Byrd, who first received an LLS grant in 2001, is continuing his work aggressively investigating therapies that target molecular processes that allow tumors to evolve and to survive today's standard therapies. In one project, his team is identifying the biological and clinical features that predict which patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) will benefit from the drug flavopiridol, and which will be resistant. In another project, researchers are learning how the targeted drug lenalidomide can best be used to weaken leukemia cells and help patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). A third project group is developing drugs to target particular proteins called kinases that enable leukemia cells to survive and grow, and a fourth group is studying how other proteins called "phosphatases" can be targeted to inhibit leukemia cell survival. The fifth project generates small molecule drugs that target pathways explored in each of the other four projects.
Druker first received funding from LLS in 1996 that was instrumental in his discovery and development of Gleevec as a frontline treatment for patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Gleevec targets a "tyrosine kinase" protein that is integral to CML, and has thereby substantially improved outcomes for most CML patients. Druker and his colleagues are continuing to study other members of this class of proteins that are involved in a wide variety of leukemias and other cancers. They are developing new diagnostic tests and target treatments for patients with AML, acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), and myeloproliferative disorders.
"Drs. Byrd and Druker both have illustrious careers and successful track records of productivity in blood cancer drug discovery that has translated to new treatments. LLS is honored to be able to help advance their work and bring more therapies to patients in the near future," said Louis DeGennaro, Ph.D., LLS chief mission officer.
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