Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), a disease for which treatment has remained relatively unchanged for the past 30 years, is the subject of a new clinical trial featuring a drug aimed at boosting the efficacy of standard induction chemotherapy

Based largely on original research from a team of DF/HCC investigators, a new clinical trial has launched to determine if combination therapy with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (neratinib) in combination with an mTOR inhibitor (temsirolimus, Torisel®) can more effectively shut down an important signaling pathway involved in solid tumors like lung and breast cancers

The many breakthroughs in understanding the pathways involved in leukemia have delivered a double-edged sword: hundreds of new drugs await testing but an insufficient patient pool exists to conduct clinical testing in a timely way

The study of genes, mutations, and collective pathways contributing to leukemia is a cornerstone of the DF/HCC Leukemia Program, led by Thomas Look, MD (DFCI) and co-leaders David Scadden, MD (MGH), Pier Paolo Pandolfi, MD, PhD (BIDMC), and Scott Armstrong, MD, PhD (CHB)

Twenty-four individuals have recently joined DF/HCC