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Beatson Cancer Charity awarded a £25,000 research grant to Wenjing Huang (William & Margaret Forrest Scholar at the Paul O’Gorman Leukaemia Research Centre) for supporting her proof-of-concept research project focusing on Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML).
Acute Myeloid Leukemia or AML is an aggressive fast-growing blood cancer which arises when too many abnormal white blood cells are produced by damaged/mutated DNA.
AML can happen in children and young adults, but it mainly affects older adults. The number of AML cases is increasing worldwide and outcomes for older adults are particularly poor. As a result, researchers are looking to move clinical practice towards personalised/tailored medicine based on a patient’s unique genetic information to improve outcomes.
DNA contain genes which are instructions to carry out specific activities in each cell of the body, this can include activities such as cell repair and cell maintenance. Damaged/mutated gene, called ‘KDM4A’ can prevent cells from repairing themselves properly. This produces a buildup of damaged and unrepaired white blood cells which eventually leads to AML cancer. KDM4A does not act alone, it relays messages to other gene products within the cells.
Wenjing and her colleagues discovered a set of 9 genes controlled by KDM4A (A gene signature – a group of genes which express a unique outcome). This gene signature can predict the overall survival of AML patients in advance which could help doctors to choose the right treatment options for individual patients with AML. As a result, Wenjing plans to unravel the contribution made by the individual genes within the KDM4A-9 gene signature and highlight the most important one to increase our understanding of its role in AML cancer.
Wenjing aims to stop the activity of these genes within the KDM4A-9 gene signature by testing different drug combinations in the laboratory setting. Wenjing will specifically look at which drug combinations are the most effective at killing AML cancer cells. The best drug combinations could then be tested in future clinical trials involving AML patients.
In her spare time, Wenjing volunteers for Beatson Cancer Charity at a variety of events.
