The following is an excerpt from the May Research Commentary written by our Vice President of Research, Deborah Banker, Ph.D. You can read her future commentaries by subscribing to our monthly eNewsletters.
The Evolving Big Picture in Cancer Research
I recently attended the 2008 meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), where more than 14,000 of the world's top cancer investigators gathered in San Diego, CA to share groundbreaking new findings and ideas.
Many of the research themes that I have brought to your attention in previous commentaries were discussed in the opening plenary session, presented by eight distinguished biomedical researchers.
Carol W. Greider, Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University, talked about the ends of chromosomes called "telomeres." These protective caps normally get shorter each time a cell divides until they become so short that chromosomes deteriorate and aged cells die. Cancers can occur when the telomerase enzyme that elongates telomeres in young, healthy cells is reactivated in older cells, allowing these cells to divide beyond their normal lifespan. Dr. Greider discussed work showing that short telomeres limit tumor growth, suggesting that telomerase inhibitors might be useful targeted cancer treatments. Continued research in this area may lead to new treatments for blood cancer patients and for patients diagnosed with aplastic anemia and myelodysplastic syndrome.
Brian Druker, M.D., Oregon Health & Science University, finished this exciting session by talking about how to accelerate the pace of cancer drug development. It was Dr. Druker who developed the highly effective and safe targeted drug Gleevec®, for patients newly diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). LLS was a primary funder of this advance which was built on knowledge of the kinase molecule that causes CML. We now know that other kinases are involved in a wide range of cancers, including blood cancers beyond CML.
Using Gleevec as a paradigm, Dr. Druker talked about target identification (finding the cancer-causing abnormalities) and clinical trials as the two points at which drug development could be streamlined. He and his colleagues are using batteries of gene-inactivating miRNAs to learn which kinase(s) is most involved in particular cancer cases; they have already had some success predicting which kinase-targeting drug will work for an individual leukemia patient. Dr. Druker said that this individualized target information will also allow clinical trials to be done in the "right" patients so that effective drugs can be more readily validated.
LLS is funding research in the laboratories of Drs. Greider and Druker. You can find more details regarding the blood cancer research advances presented at this year's AACR meeting by visiting their Web site and by staying tuned right here.
-Deborah Banker, Ph.D.
