Novel Target for Blood Disease—Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a diverse group of incurable diseases that affect the bone marrow and are common among the elderly. MDS cause low blood counts, and 25 to 30 percent of MDS cases develop into an aggressive disease called acute myeloid leukemia. Amit Verma, M.B.B.S., and colleagues have shown that abnormally elevated levels of microRNA-21 (miR-21) in bone marrow may play a key role in causing MDS—and that miR-21 inhibitors have the potential for reversing the diseases. The NIH has awarded Dr. Verma a four-year, $1.4-million NIH grant to carry out further research on miR-21’s role in MDS. For example, he will investigate why miR-21 is upregulated in MDS. And he will study the effectiveness of novel inhibitors of miR-21 in human MDS cell samples and in mouse models of bone marrow failure.
Posted on: Monday, February 09, 2015