COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has awarded a five-year, $6.25 million Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) grant renewal to a team of investigators at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC-James) who will use the funds to further their work in developing experimental therapeutics for the treatment of adult leukemia. The funding period will be October 2010 through September 2015. Dr. John Byrd, associate director for translational research at OSUCCC-James, is principal investigator for the SCOR grant, which initially was awarded in 2005 for the same amount and involved more than a dozen researchers working on five projects and four clinical trials. In the previous grant period, the SCOR projects aimed to develop and improve experimental drugs that block specific molecules needed by chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells to survive. As a result of this work, several new drugs were brought to the clinic for testing. The work focused on cases of CLL with genetic changes that make the disease most resistant to therapy. Almost 15,000 American are diagnosed with CLL annually, according to the American Cancer Society. The disease has no cure. In the newly awarded grant, Byrd and his team will build upon their previous work to include investigations not only of CLL, but also acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which in many cases present similar challenges. Despite improvements in our understanding of these diseases, the outcome of adult patients with CLL, AML or ALL remains poor and new therapeutic options are desperately needed. This new grant continues to expand the theme of the previous SCOR grant through investigation of therapies that target tumor cell survival pathways in each type of leukemia. One project, led by Dr. Michael Grever, focuses on understanding how the drug flavopiridol induces CLL cell death, why some patients do not respond, and what biological or clinical features predict response or resistance to treatment. The second project, led by Dr. Guido Marcucci, investigates how lenalidomide works in AML and how to further optimize this activity, including combination strategies with current therapies. The third project, led by Raj Muthusamy, investigates how a specific group of proteins called kinases maintain leukemia cell survival, and how to develop drugs to block such proteins. The fourth project, led by Dr. Danilo Perrotti, studies how a group of proteins called phosphatases can be activated to inhibit leukemia cell survival and will develop novel agents that have this effect. The fifth project, led by Ching-Shih Chen, will generate new molecules that affect each of these processes and will perform structural modifications to add even greater potency and specificity to the drugs now available. The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (cancer.osu.edu) is one of only 40 Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States designated by the National Cancer Institute. Ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the top cancer hospitals in the nation, The James is the 180-bed adult patient-care component of the cancer program at The Ohio State University. The OSUCCC-James is one of only seven funded programs in the country approved by the NCI to conduct both Phase I and Phase II clinical trials. # # # Related Links: Click here for a high-resolution photograph of Dr. John Byrd: Eileen Scahill Medical Center Public Affairs and Media Relations 614-293-3737 Eileen.Scahill@osumc.edu