Grant: Operating Grant

Leukemias are a significant cause of death among cancer patients. Great strides have been made in understanding the factors causing leukemia and numerous new types of drugs are being continuously explored for therapy. However, the traditional chemotherapy is still the treatment of choice for most leukemias, but it is rarely curative and it loses its effectiveness on the long-term therapy. The main reason for this is that the leukemic cells adopt and become resistant to chemotherapy. This project is intended to develop a new approach for therapy of leukemia by developing a new type of drug for therapy. We plan to achieve this by silencing (or eradicating) the molecules responsible for uncontrolled growth of cancerous cells. Engineered biomaterials effective for silencing will be paramount to accomplish the desired goal. The biomaterials are intended to deliver the silencer molecules into leukemic cells without harming the healthy cells. Animal models will be utilized to determine the effectiveness of the proposed biomaterials. If successful, our approach will introduce a new treatment modality for leukemia.