Beat AML research initiative, led by the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, expands to nine industry collaborators; results from the initiative's studies to be presented at American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting
PORTLAND, Ore., Dec. 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- A coordinated push to decrypt a complex form of leukemia is delivering a trove of new drug candidates and treatment ideas, a dozen of which will be presented at the American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida (Dec. 5-8).
The research initiative generating these leads, Beat AML, is led by the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). Beat AML brings together academic health centers and biopharmaceutical companies to accelerate discoveries that will improve outcomes for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a blood cancer lacking effective treatments. Less than 25 percent of newly diagnosed patients survive beyond five years.
A total of nine pharmaceutical and biotech companies have joined the collaboration, providing 27 potential treatments for analysis on the research platform. Recent additions are: argenx; AstraZeneca; Genentech; Janssen Research & Development, LLC; Seattle Genetics; and Takeda Pharmaceuticals International Co. Among the participants that joined early on are Aptose Biosciences and Constellation Pharmaceuticals.
"Acute myeloid leukemia is now the most frequently diagnosed leukemia in adults, while the current standard of care is based on 40-year-old chemotherapy agents with a very poor cure rate," said Louis J. DeGennaro, Ph.D., LLS's president and CEO. "LLS, together with its partners in the Beat AML collaboration, has gone on the offense against this deadly disease to lead the way to new treatment options desperately needed by patients."
Beat AML is amassing data on potential drivers of the disease by sequencing cancer cell DNA from hundreds of patients who volunteer samples. In the two years since the Beat AML initiative was launched, more than 450 samples have been collected by investigators at the Knight Cancer Institute as well as the other academic health centers that are part of the collaboration. Those institutions are: Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, Stanford University, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami, UT Southwestern Medical Center and the University of Colorado Cancer Center.
To speed progress, work proceeds on two parallel fronts. A bioinformatics team pores over data sets to identify potentially significant mutations and other genomic alterations. Other researchers simultaneously test the response of leukemia cells to different drugs and combinations of drugs. This dual process better equips scientists to confirm that they have correctly identified a genetic driver of the disease, and more efficiently narrows the search for new drug leads.
Among the Beat AML findings to be presented at the ASH meeting are:
As the number of collaborators increases, so too will the variety of approaches treatment exploration can take moving forward including testing how pairs of drugs might work better in stopping some versions of the disease. The compounds already being tested deploy different means of halting disease progression, including using the immune system and targeting proteins.
By correlating the mutational profile of patient samples with the response of those samples to drugs, Beat AML researchers hope to discover biomarkers that can help determine the best treatment course for a patient.
"With the wide range of collaborators now involved in Beat AML, we are able to better explore innovative ideas for targeting the many drivers of this disease," said Jeffrey Tyner, Ph.D., a Knight Cancer Institute researcher who leads the industry collaborations that are part of Beat AML. "Integration of our strong drug-screening pipeline with the large amounts of genomic data being generated is allowing us to make great strides in understanding the connections between tumor genotype and drug response."
Of the 27 potential treatments under analysis, 20 are already in clinical trials for other diseases; if these drug compounds show promise in treating AML, they have the potential for a faster approval process. Overall, more than 10 cell signaling pathways and mutations have been identified by Beat AML researchers as potentially playing a role in disease progression. These insights into the biology of AML will help identify biomarkers that can predict individual patients' responses to treatments, uncover the mechanisms by which experimental cancer drugs work, and potentially suggest new therapeutic targets for future drug development.
About the Knight Cancer Institute
The Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University is a pioneer in the field of precision cancer medicine. The institute's director, Brian Druker, M.D., helped prove it was possible to shut down cells that enable cancer to grow without harming healthy cells. This breakthrough has led to new treatments that make once-fatal forms of the disease manageable. Building on this scientific leadership, the institute is launching a large-scale research program dedicated to advancing precision early detection of lethal cancers, one of the most significant unmet needs in cancer care. The OHSU Knight Cancer Institute is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center between Sacramento and Seattle – an honor earned only by the nation's top cancer centers. It is also headquarters for SWOG, one of the NCI's largest research cooperatives. In addition to its robust research programs, the institute offers the latest treatments and technologies as well as hundreds of clinical trials.
About OHSU
Oregon Health & Science University is a nationally prominent research university and Oregon's only public academic health center. It serves patients throughout the region with a Level 1 trauma center and nationally recognized Doernbecher Children's Hospital. OHSU operates dental, medical, nursing and pharmacy schools that rank high both in research funding and in meeting the university's social mission. OHSU's Knight Cancer Institute helped pioneer personalized medicine through a discovery that identified how to shut down cells that enable cancer to grow without harming healthy ones. OHSU Brain Institute scientists are nationally recognized for discoveries that have led to a better understanding of Alzheimer's disease and new treatments for Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and stroke. OHSU's Casey Eye Institute is a global leader in ophthalmic imaging, and in clinical trials related to eye disease.
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SOURCE Oregon Health & Science University
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