Grant: CIHR Clinician Scientist - Phase 1

Most blood cells are made inside the marrow of long bones, arising from blood-forming stem cells. These stem cells reside in a supportive environment called the stem cell niche. There is mounting evidence that cancers of the blood cells, such as leukemias and lymphomas, tend to grow inside the bone marrow because they benefit from factors found inside the stem cell niche. It is thought that cancers begin by suberting this natural support system for their own growth, and to become more resistant to conventional anti-cancer treatments. The goal of this project is to identify which adhesion factors are particularly important for the homing and survival of cancerous cells inside the stem cell niche. Using RNA interference techniques, we plan to downregulate the expression of selected cell adhesion factors in leukemic cells, and test their impact on leukemic cell proliferation after implantation in mice. This work will potentially identify new pathways affecting cancer cell growth and survival that could eventually lead to the development of new anti-cancer treatments.