Tania Jain, MBBS (Johns Hopkins University): “Immunotherapeutic targeting of SLAMF7 in myeloproliferative neoplasms.”

Gabriela Hobbs, MD (Massachusetts General Hospital) & Peter van Galen, PhD (Brigham & Women's Hospital): “Identification of genetic and biological markers of risk of relapse in myelofibrosis patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.”

Robert Kralovics, PhD (Medical University of Vienna): “Exploiting the anti-cancer antibody response in MPN patients and mouse models for the development of new immunotherapeutics.”

Simón Méndez-Ferrer, PhD (University of Cambridge) & Jose Antonio Perez Simon, MD (Institute of Biomedical Research of Seville: “Immunogenic clearance of senescent neutrophils to prevent pathogenic cell-cell interactions in MPN.”

Brandi Reeves, MD (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) & Steffen Koschmieder, MD, PhD (University Medical Center RWTH Aachen): “Neutrophil tissue factor and molecular biomarkers of MPN-related chronic kidney disease.”

Daniel Royston, MBChB, BMSC, DPhil, FRCPath (University of Oxford) & Rosalin Cooper, PhD (University of Oxford): “Spatial transcriptomic analysis of the bone marrow landscape: a novel approach to improve AI-based assessment in MPN.”

Sara Buhrlage, James Griffin, Jarrod Marto, and Ellen Weisberg (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute): “JOSD1 as a novel targeted therapy for JAK2V617F dependent myeloproliferative neoplasms.” Dr. Buhrlage’s project is being supported in part by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Anandi Krishnan, Jason Gotlib, Holden Maecker, and James Zehnder (Stanford University): “Platelet, blood and plasma signatures of MPN subtype-specific risk.”

Bridget Marcellino and Cansu Cimen Bozkus (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai): “Characterization of immune landscape and determinants of immune dysregulation in myeloproliferative neoplasms.

Josef T. Prchal (Huntsman Cancer Institute), Jihyun Song (University of Utah), Perumal Thiagarajan (Baylor College of Medicine), Tomas Ganz (University of California, Los Angeles) and Victor Gordeuk (University of Illinois): “Role of iron deficiency in thromboses of polycythemia vera.”

Stephen Oh (Washington University, St. Louis): “Functional interrogation of an aberrant DUSP6-RSK1 signaling axis driving MPN pathogenesis.“

Matyas Ecsedi, MD, Ph.D., Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center “A JAK2 V617F -directed T cell receptor transgenic T cell immunotherapy for the treatment of myeloproliferative neoplasms” Partial funding in year one is being provided by the Fred Hutchinson’s Cancer Research Center’s Evergreen Fund

Yelena Ginzburg, MD (Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai): “Dysregulated iron metabolism plays a pivotal role in polycythemia vera.”

Vikas Gupta, MD, (Princess Margaret Cancer Center, University Health Network): “Feasibility of a patient preferences-controlled study of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation versus best available non-transplant therapies in patients with myelofibrosis (ALLO-BAT Study).”

Catriona Jamieson, Ph.D., (University of California, San Diego): “Detection and Inhibition of Malignant RNA Processing Deregulation in Myelofibrosis.”

Alison Moliterno, MD, (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine): “Targeting Thrombopoietin Signaling in the MPN.”

Jyoti Nangalia, MD, Ph.D., (Wellcome Sanger Institute)": “Origins of MPN: Understanding the timing of acquisition of driver mutations and dynamics of clonal expansion.”

Vijay Sankaran, MD, Ph.D., (Boston Children’s Hospital): “Dissecting Germline Genetic Risk for Myeloproliferative.”

Read the full report about the research findings of the 2019 MPN Challenge Award cycle in the Summer 2022 Newsletter (pages 3-5).

Angela G. Fleischman, MD, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine

Project Title:  Inflammation as a Driver of Clonal Expansion inMyeloproliferative Neoplasm The goal of this project is to determine how JAK2 mutated cells react to inflammation in comparison to normal blood-producing cells. If inflammation plays a role to accelerate the progression of MPN, this study would help define possible pathways to suppressing this inflammation. 

James D. Griffin (MD), Martin Sattler (PhD), Sara J. Buhrlage (PhD), Ellen L. Weisberg (PhD), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Project Title:  Inhibition of deubiquitinating enzymes as a novel targeted therapy for JAK2-dependent myeloid malignancies The goal of this project is to find a strategy to specifically target the JAK2-V617F mutation while leaving the wild type JAK2 mutation alone. The existing JAK2 inhibitors don’t differentiate between the wild type JAK2 and the mutation which is correlated with the diagnosis of MPN.

Vivian G. Oehler, MD, Marie Bleakley, MD, PhD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center  

Project Title:  Characterizing myeloproliferative neoplasm neoantigens and T cell responses for therapeutic applications

The goal of this project will be to further our understanding of the potential of immunotherapy as an option for MPN.

Stephen Oh, MD, PhD, Washington University in St. Louis

Project Title:  Leveraging NFKB Pathway Dysregulation for Therapeutic Benefit in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms

The goal is to test the therapeutic potential of pevonedistat, which has been shown in a preliminary study in mice to reduce white blood cell counts and target the NFkB pathway which can become hyperactivated in MF and AML.

Rebekka K. Schneider, MD & Rafael Kramann, MD, Department of Hematology, Erasmus University Medical Center, Cancer Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands & Department of Nephrology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

Project Title:  Functional and molecular dissection of the fibrotic transformation and clonal selection in myeloproliferative neoplasms