UIC receives $19.6M grant to research blood disorders
By Sherri McGinnis Gonzalez
The
National Cancer Institute has awarded the University of Illinois at Chicago
(UIC) College of Medicine a $19.6 million grant to advance basic and
clinical research for incurable blood disorders.
It is the largest grant in UIC history.
Ronald Hoffman, MD, Eileen Heidrick Professor of Oncology at UIC and the project’s principal investigator, will lead an international team of scientists and physicians from 15 institutions in the United States, Canada, Italy, and Germany to establish the Myeloproliferative Disorders Research Consortium.
"This is an important collaboration among more than 20 investigators who will share their expertise to study the cellular and genetic basis for specific myeloproliferative disorders," said Hoffman. "The goal is to develop novel clinical treatment programs and to identify specific biomarkers that will be useful indicators of response to therapy and risk reduction in patients."
The consortium will focus on two myeloproliferative disorders, polycythemia vera and idiopathic myelofibrosis. These conditions occur when the body overproduces certain types of blood cells, often leading to bone marrow failure.
The grant will fund six primary research projects and allow the consortium to maintain an interactive website for investigators, an international tissue bank, and an online database to help researchers understand the clinical differences among patients with myeloproliferative disorders.
Three of the research projects will address the cellular and molecular biology of polycythemia vera. Two others will focus on abnormal stem cell trafficking in myelofibrosis, while a sixth conducts clinical trials for each of the disorders.
Of four myeloproliferative disorders (myeloid leukemia, polycythemiavera, essential thrombocythemia and idiopathic myelofibrosis), scientists know much about chronic myeloid leukemia. The others, however, are among the least understood malignant blood disorders and the most understudied, Hoffman said.
Until now, medical advances have been limited because the small numbers of patients at any institution prevent rapid clinical trials and only a handful of basic and clinical researchers worldwide specialize in these uncommon blood disorders.
The prevalence of polycythemia vera and idiopathic myelofibrosis in the United States is unknown, but recent estimates from other countries indicate the combined annual incidence to be approximately three per 100,000.
Patients with polycythemia vera produce too many red blood cells; some also produce large amounts of white blood cells and platelets. The disorder can lead to blood clots, heart attack, and stroke.
Those with idiopathic myelofibrosis have abnormal blood stem cells in bone marrow that make too few red cells, and usually their bodies make too many white cells and platelets as well. This potentially fatal condition also may cause fibrosis or scarring in the bone marrow and often causes an enlarged spleen and anemia. The only current therapy is a stem cell transplant from a donor.
Recently, Arkansas Lt. Gov. Winthrop Paul Rockefeller died from complications of a myeloproliferative disorder following two failed bone marrow transplants.
The Myeloproliferative Disorders Research Consortium comprises clinicians and researchers from UIC; the University of Utah, Salt Lake City; Consorzio Mari Negri Sud, Santa Maria Imbaro, Italy; Georgetown University, Washington, DC; Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Rome; IRCCS Policlinico S. Matteo, Pavia, Italy; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore; McGill University, Montreal; MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston; Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York Blood Center, and Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York; Ospedali Riuniti de Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy; and University Hospital, Freiburg, Germany.
