BC Cancer Agency
Vancouver, British Columbia
UFCW Special Recognition Award Recipient 2019
Bypassing resistance to lenalidomide in del(5q) MDS
Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a type of blood cancer that have poor outcomes and for which few therapeutic options exist. About 1/3 of MDS patients progress to an incurable acute leukemia, with the rest dying of bone marrow failure. One type of MDS (del(5q) MDS) is normally treated by a medicine called lenalidomide (LEN). However, more than half of these patients do not respond or stop responding to treatment, indicating a need for new therapies. Our goal is to determine whether MDS patients who are resistant to lenalidomide might benefit from blocking a cell signaling pathway called IGF1R. Our work will lead to the potential of new treatment options for LEN-resistant MDS patients