Dr. Joseph Moore Excellence in Oncology Grant*
Myeloma is a blood cancer that causes bone and kidney damage. Myeloma is the second most common blood cancer. New treatments are improving patient lives, but patients have to take medicine for the rest of their life. The cancer eventually adapts to these drugs and harms patients.
We will study myeloma that has become drug resistant. We are testing new therapies that can overcome drug resistance. This new therapy targets something called a co-activator. Co-activators turn on genes that enable the cancer to grow. Our research will treat cancer models with inhibitors of co-activator to understand how they work. We will also test different co-activator inhibitors to see which are most effective. Finally, we will look for genes that cause drug resistance. These studies will help guide ongoing clinical trials in myeloma. The long-term goal of this research is to find the right combination of therapies that will stop myeloma from growing.
