Department of Biochemistry
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Proteasome inhibitors (PIs) are the standard drug therapy for multiple myeloma (MM). PIs kill MM by provoking cellular stress conditions. However, resistance to the stress eventually develops, and the disease relapses. The project identified a unified pathway that endows MM with adaptation to PIs. When compromised, MM succumb to PIs more readily. This pathway, named mTOR, involves a factor that has not been recognized as druggable. Using computerized methods for drug discovery, this project identified a potential compound that can be turned into a first of a kind drug for MM. This research project aims to develop these drugs and explore their efficacy and mechanisms of action.
Funded by Miracles for Myeloma
Department of Medicine, Hematology & Medical Oncology
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Systemic immunoglobulin light chain (AL) Amyloidosis arises from precancerous or cancerous plasma cells in the bone marrow. Normally, plasma cells produce antibodies that help fight infections. In AL amyloidosis, they can produce toxic pieces of antibodies called light chains (LCs), which can seriously damage organs, including the heart. Up to 30% of patients with advanced heart amyloidosis die within the first year of diagnosis. The key to preventing and treating this terrible disease is to improve our understanding of how it develops. The goal of this proposal is to explain how light chains cause heart damage at a molecular level.
Funded by Laughs for Life
Department of Medical Oncology
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
New treatments have extended the lives of many patients with multiple myeloma. However, the disease remains incurable and, in some patients, changes to the myeloma cells can cause a treatment to stop working, which is known as resistance, and allow the disease to return. This project proposes to study the mechanisms underlying these changes in the myeloma cells to prevent treatment resistance and predict response. To this end, the researchers will use computational and experimental approaches. Their goal is to eventually develop new treatment approaches that can overcome these changes; and therefore, prevent treatment resistance in patients with multiple myeloma.
Funded by Schleicher’s Hikers