Monday, November 10, 2014

New Discovery Revels Potential for Blood Cancer Treatment

Researchers working together from the Centre for Immunology and Infection at York University as well as the Department of Medicine at Stony Brook University have made a significant discovery that may lead to the development of new treatments for specific blood cancers. The therapeutic target discovered has potential to lead to improved therapies for a group of specific haematological cancers, myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs).


These cancers are characterized by increases in one or more blood cell types, specifically red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen around the body as well as prevent bleeding and bruising from easily occurring. It is important for tight control of the number of red blood cells in circulation in the body; however, in the bulk of patients with MPN have a mutation in the JAK2 protein. The mutation in the protein causes the patients’ blood cells to propagate too quickly.



The research team discovered that the protein molecule Mpl is necessary for the occurrence of the mutation in the JAK2 protein. Specifically, the team identified that turning off half the gene in the Mpl receptor reduced the expression enough so that the mutation did not occur in the JAK2 protein; therefore, the disease does not develop.

Dr. Ian Hitchcock, of the Centre for Immunology and Infection at York University, stated, “This is potentially important medically because it means we can target Mpl. If you can disrupt its activity you have a completely novel treatment for the disease. We found that it is unnecessary to get rid of the receptor entirely, you just need to reduce its expression to have a significant effect on the development of MPN.”


This article was very interesting because of the potential the research team’s discovery has. Despite the significant improvements made in cancer research there still remains a lot to be discovered. This research has the potential to completely change how specific blood cancers are treated. I am curious to see the results of further research,  in particular clinical trials that compare the outcomes of subjects/patients using treatments based off of this discovery compared to subjects/patients who are treated using current treatments. 


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