Leukemia SPORE

Leukemia SPORE UCSD Cancer Center Anza Borrego Retreat May 4, 2002 Leukemia SPORE • Mission – Develop novel therapies for patients with leukemia (e.g. AML, ALL, CLL, CML) • Plan – Enhance interactions between basic scientists and applied scientists – Generate investigator initiated phase I/II clinical trials in leukemia Accomplishments - I • Discovery of c-abl and role in apoptosis • Discovery of p16 and role in T cell ALL • Defined novel stromal elements that support leukmemia cell survival • First to organize multicenter trials using monoclonal antibodies for adult leukmias • Among the first to use monoclonal antibodies in childhood leukemia • First clinical trial of gene therapy for leukemia Accomplishments - II • Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of America SCORE (Specialized Center Of REsearch) – 1 of 6 centers selected as finalists for SCORE (from a pool of 29 centers competing worldwide) • Coordinating Institution for the CLL Research Consortium • Pediatric Oncology Group Center for childhood leukemia Internal Advisory Committee • E. Ball, M.D. – Program Director in Translational Oncology • I. Goodman – Chief Administrator, UCSD Cancer Center • D.A. Carson, M.D. – Director, Institute Research on Aging • J. Wang, Ph.D. – Associate Director of Basic Research, UCSD Cancer Center • T.J. Kipps, M.D., Ph.D. – Deputy Director of Research, UCSD Cancer Center Pilot Projects To Date • • • • • • • • • Targeting Bcl-2 Related Proteins for the Treatment of Acute Leukemia, Associate Clinical Professor Elizabeth Broome, M.D. Targeting Leukemia and Lymphoma with Novel Immunostimulatory Oligonucleotides, Professor Dennis Carson, M.D. A New Target for Immunotherapy of Leukemia, Professor Boris Minev, M.D. Identification of Small Molecule Inhibitors of E2A-Pbx1/Hox Cooperative DNA Binding, Professor Cornelis Murre, Ph.D. Induced Overexpression of the Proto-oncogene BCL-6 in a Mouse Model for BCL-6-associated Lymphomas, Associate Professor, Robert Rickert, Ph.D. Research Project Title: Therapy of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia by targeting CDK 4/6, Professor Alice Yu, M.D., Ph.D. In Vivo Models of Human Primary Leukemia for Studying Leukemogenesis & Therapies, Professor John Yu, M.D., Ph.D. Enabling Apoptosis in Leukemia Cells, Professor Jean Wang, Ph.D. In vivo models to assess clinically relevant therapies for B cell malignancies, Helen Tighe, Ph.D. Proposal • Organizational Meetings • Pilot Project Funding • Develop Tissue Core and Biomedical Informatics • Leukemia Fellowship in Translational Research • Coordinate with the National Cancer Institute to Develop a SPORE Leukemia SPORE Application June 1, 2003