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The Daily OrangeSU research team makes leukemia breakthrough
By Rebecca Kheel
Posted: 11/12/08, 12:57 AM EST Section: News
Fatigue, abnormal bleeding, excessive bruising. Thousands of leukemia victims suffer these symptoms every day. But with a breakthrough by Michael Cosgrove, assistant professor of biology at Syracuse University, and his research team, a cure for leukemia may soon be on its way.
Cosgrove and his team found that the mixed lineage leukemia protein, an enzyme in white blood cells, works at a faster than normal pace in leukemia patients as a result of an interaction between MLL and another protein.
"It works too fast, and you can't shut it off," Cosgrove said. "We've devised a way to be able to shut that off. What we're hoping to do is to find a way to turn it back down into its normal activity."
He said he believes this can be done by adding a chemical to the cells. If that is the case, then that chemical can be made into a medicine to be administered to leukemia patients as a cure.
Cosgrove started the MLL project in 2001 while doing his postdoctoral research at Johns Hopkins University. But circumstances forced Cosgrove to put the project on the backburner, and he did not revisit his idea until 2005 when he came to SU.
His research is ongoing, and the practical effects of it may not be seen for years after more experimentation.
One of the things Cosgrove mentioned that will advance his research is the approval of pharmaceutical companies to help with clinical trials.
"Pharmaceutical companies are looking for pipeline drugs," Cosgrove said. "A lot of the patents that they hold are running out, and they're looking for new things to put through the assembly line."
A drawback is that at this point, the only way to take a peptide drug is through injection, Cosgrove said.
Cosgrove is focusing on publicizing the findings to attract pharmaceutical companies to the project. He plans to contact them directly in about a year.
Cosgrove's research had some roadblocks. He and the research team had difficulties getting the proteins to behave the way they needed them to during their research.
Cosgrove and his team found that the mixed lineage leukemia protein, an enzyme in white blood cells, works at a faster than normal pace in leukemia patients as a result of an interaction between MLL and another protein.
"It works too fast, and you can't shut it off," Cosgrove said. "We've devised a way to be able to shut that off. What we're hoping to do is to find a way to turn it back down into its normal activity."
He said he believes this can be done by adding a chemical to the cells. If that is the case, then that chemical can be made into a medicine to be administered to leukemia patients as a cure.
Cosgrove started the MLL project in 2001 while doing his postdoctoral research at Johns Hopkins University. But circumstances forced Cosgrove to put the project on the backburner, and he did not revisit his idea until 2005 when he came to SU.
His research is ongoing, and the practical effects of it may not be seen for years after more experimentation.
One of the things Cosgrove mentioned that will advance his research is the approval of pharmaceutical companies to help with clinical trials.
"Pharmaceutical companies are looking for pipeline drugs," Cosgrove said. "A lot of the patents that they hold are running out, and they're looking for new things to put through the assembly line."
A drawback is that at this point, the only way to take a peptide drug is through injection, Cosgrove said.
Cosgrove is focusing on publicizing the findings to attract pharmaceutical companies to the project. He plans to contact them directly in about a year.
Cosgrove's research had some roadblocks. He and the research team had difficulties getting the proteins to behave the way they needed them to during their research.
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satria
posted 11/22/08 @ 3:14 PM EST
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