Grant: Project Grant

DNA is the language of life written in 20,000 blueprints or genes. The amount of a gene made is as important as the DNA sequence of the gene, and changes in the amount of a gene that is produced can cause disease. Some cancers are caused by over-production of certain genes. Inherited, small chemical modifications to the proteins associated with DNA, control gene production. This field is known as epigenetics. The types and positions of chemical modifications constitute an epigenetic code controlling production of the gene. Some types of leukemia result from misprinting of this epigenetic code causing inappropriate changes in the production of specific genes. Current therapies that target misprinted modifications do so at every gene even though a cancer may only be caused by one of those genes. Therefore this type of cancer therapy needs to be made gene specific. The objectives of this research are to make new cancer therapies that are directed to particular gene, altering the small chemical modifications to the proteins associated with that gene. This will be done by making drug carriers that target only the specific genes involved in a particular type of leukemia. This will target the effect of the drug only to the gene involved in that type of leukemia. This project will result in the creation of a totally new series of cancer treatments that are directed to the particular genes involved in disease. These treatments will have increased efficacy and specificity while reducing side effects when compared to current cancer therapies. Moreover, the strategy employed could potentially be expanded to produce treatments for many different cancers. This will result in a reduction of cancer mortality rates and enhanced quality of life.