![Targeting Blood Cancers]()
Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) often progresses to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Both conditions are triggered by mutations in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), which generate all of a person’s blood cells. Mutated HSCs have so far proven resistant to treatment efforts. But in a new study, published online on September 25 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Aditi Shastri, M.B.B.S., Britta Will, Ph.D., Amit Verma M.B.B.S., Ulrich Steidl, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues describe a new therapeutic strategy that might work. Dr. Verma and Dr. Steidl’s team had previously found that overexpression of the gene that codes for the transcription factor STAT3 is associated with MDS/AML cases that have a poor prognosis. In the study, they tested the experimental STAT3 inhibitor AZD9150 on MDS/AML stem cells from patients and on MDS/AML mouse models and found that AZD9150 successfully suppressed both STAT3 production and HSC proliferation. These promising preclinical results suggest that AZD9150 may be an effective MDS/AML therapy. Dr. Shastri is an assistant professor of medicine at Einstein and an attending physician in oncology at Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care. Dr. Verma is professor of medicine and of developmental and molecular biology at Einstein and attending physician in oncology at Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care. Dr. Will is an assistant professor of medicine and of cell biology at Einstein. Dr. Steidl is the Diane and Arthur B. Belfer Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research, director of the Stem Cell Isolation and Xenotransplantation Facility and a professor of cell biology and of medicine at Einstein and associate chair for translational research in oncology at Montefiore.
Posted on: Friday, December 07, 2018