Amit Verma Laboratory

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a varied collection of blood diseases characterized by refractory cytopenia, a condition where one or more blood cell types are lower than normal and resistant to treatment. These are conditions are the result of ineffective hematopoiesis, the process by which blood cells are produced by the body. These preleukemic disorders are common causes of anemia in the elderly and are rapidly increasing in incidence. 

The Amit Verma Lab has four areas of focus to investigate and address MDS:

• Cellular signaling: by identifying and characterizing the signaling involving cytokines (an important immune cell), we can develop drugs that interfere with destructive signaling
• Aberrant stem and progenitor cells: we have demonstrated how cancer stem and progenitor cells drive relapse and have identified novel targets against MDS and Acute Myeloid Leukemia disease initiating stem cells.
• Epigenomic analysis of tumors:
  We are using high throughput assays to analyze DNA methylation across the genome.
• Clinical studies: We have a center of excellence clinic for patients with MDS and offer a variety of clinical trials for patients.