CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers have received $13 million from the National Cancer Institute to advance innovative new approaches to treating acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the deadliest form of blood cancer.
The researchers are targeting molecules called sphingolipids found inside the cancer cells. These molecules, the scientists believe, are essential for the cancer’s growth and spread – and could be its Achilles’ heel.
UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center Director Thomas P. Loughran Jr., MD, and his collaborators will use the NCI funding to better understand and characterize sphingolipids. They ultimately hope to replace one type of sphingolipid, called ceramides, with a substitute that will kill the cancer…