UNC Lineberger member and Assistant Professor of Medicine Steven Park, MD has been awarded the American Cancer Society (ACS) Mentored Research Scholar Grant in Tumor Biology and Genomics for his project titled “Combined Targeting of Myc-associated Pathways for Treatment of Lymphoma.” The award is for $729,000 over five years.
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is the most common type of blood cancer with over 74,000 people newly diagnosed annually in the U.S., and more than one third of patients with aggressive lymphoma eventually relapse after initial chemotherapy, and the disease becomes progressively more resistant to conventional treatment. Notably, some lymphoma patients with abnormalities in a gene called Myc have very aggressive disease course, cancers resistant to standard chemotherapy, and significantly inferior survivals. New treatment paradigms are needed, possibly by targeting this unfavorable gene, directly or indirectly, to improve survival of lymphoma patients with Myc abnormalities. Although Myc is an attractive target for anticancer treatment for the reasons mentioned above, no effective treatment has been discovered to date against this gene because it has proven extremely difficult to target.
The research aims to research ways to overcome this longstanding problem by optimally targeting the communication system in the cell that is critical in controlling expression of Myc. In essence, if we can control the communication between the Myc genes and other functions of the cell, we can effectively suppress this unfavorable gene that leads to aggressive behavior and drug resistance in cancer cells. In turn, this approach could result in death of cancer cells that are dependent on the Myc gene.
Ultimately, the successful outcome of this approach will lead to improved survival of patients with cancers that are dependent on the Myc gene. This study will have a broad impact on treatment of a variety of cancer types beyond lymphoma since the Myc gene has been associated with up to 50% of all human cancers, including breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma. The targeted inhibition of Myc will not only allow identification of new anti-cancer treatment against Myc-dependent cancers but may also serve to extend our understanding of the various biological functions and drug resistance related to the Myc gene in many human cancers.