Congratulations to Dr. Golam Mohi for receiving a 1.6M three year DOD award entitled “Targeted Therapies from Myeloproliferative Neoplasms”
Background: M yeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) including polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (E T), and myelofibrosis (MF) are myeloid malignancies characterized by abnormal production of myeloid lineage cells such as, red blood cells (RBC), platelets and neutrophils. There are more than 250,000 MPN patients in the USA. MF is the deadliest among MPNs . The median survival for patients with MF is ~5 years . A somatic JAK2V617F mutation, which results in constitutive activation of the JAK2 tyrosine kinase, has been found in ~95% cases of PV and 50-60% patients with ET and MF 2-6. Ruxolitinib, a JAK1/JAK2 inhibitor, has been approved for treatment of MF and PV. Although Ruxolitinib treatment can reduc e splenomegaly and constitutional symptoms, it failed to cure or prevent fibrosis in patients with MPN/MF. Given that current chemotherapies and JAK2 inhibitors are not sufficient to produce disease remission or cure MPN, there is a critical need to develop novel targeted therapies for MPN.